PITTSFIELD, Mass. (AP) — The Environmental Protection Agency has upheld its plan to require General Electric to clean chemicals from a western Massachusetts river.

The EPA had proposed cleaning PCBs, or polychlorinated biphenyls, from more than 400 acres along a 10.5-mile stretch of the Housatonic River in Pittsfield and Lenox. It includes dredging and trucking contaminated soil and sediment to an out-of-state facility.

General Electric has challenged the $613 million proposal, saying it's not a "common-sense solution."

The Berkshire Eagle reports that the decision announced Tuesday by the EPA's Boston office says GE's argument that the removal requirements are "arbitrary" and "unlawful" fails to present sufficient information to dispute the agency's plan.

An agency spokesman says the EPA plans to issue its formal cleanup requirements to GE in the form of a permit.