CATEECHEE — Removal of two dams along the Twelve Mile River will not take place in July as ordered by a federal judge; but forward progress is still being made and new dates have been set.

In an interview with The Pickens Sentinel, Senior U.S. District Judge G. Ross Anderson called the July deadline he set for the dams’ removal “unrealistic” and that he is pleased with the work being done.

Anderson said he set the July 7, 2010 deadline in order to motivate Schlumberger Technology Corp. to comply with his 2006 order to remove the dams.

The order was part of a settlement between the company and natural resource agencies stemming from polychlorinated biphenyl (PCB) contamination of the Twelve Mile River and Lake Hartwell.

“I was hoping I’d get something done, and I did,” he said. “They’re moving right along.”

Anderson said that according to a report he received from Schlumberger Friday, the Woodside I dam is scheduled for removal in January 2011, and the Woodside II dam is scheduled to come down in February 2011.

He said dredging of sediment from behind the dams is still ongoing.

By removing the dams, environmental officials hope that clean sediment will flow down the river to cover up PCB-contaminated sediment.

PCBs entered the system at the former Sangamo-Weston plant site in Pickens, as well as six satellite dump sites.

The manufacture, which has been closed for several years, produced PCB-laden capacitors from 1955 to 1977.

Environmental officials estimate that about 400,000 pounds of PCBs, a known carcinogen, were dumped into the Twelve Mile River, a tributary of Lake Hartwell.

Schlumberger Technologies bought the company in 1978 and assumed responsibility for the contamination and cleanup.

Anderson said a final decision has not been made as to whether or not a third dam along the river will be removed.

Some environmentalists are calling for the removal of that dam, owned by Easley-Central Water, to complete the cleanup process by returning the river to a natural, free-flowing state.

But last October, officials with the S.C. Department of Natural Resources told Anderson that removal of the third dam was not necessary to meet the goals of the Natural Resource Trustees – which are remediation, as well as compensation for lost fishing opportunities caused by the contamination.

SCDNR attorney Paul League did tell the judge, however, that it is possible small amounts of PCBs could still be behind the Easley-Central dam.

The PCB contamination prompted health advisories about not eating certain types of fish caught in the river and lake, which have been in place for the past 30 years.