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A public Q&A session with the EPA last night about the controversial Housatonic River cleanup plan last night underscored ongoing frustration among Berkshire County residents. WAMC Berkshire Bureau Chief Josh Landes has more.
The EPA signed the final draft of the plan it brokered between corporate polluter General Electric and communities along the river south of its former plant in Pittsfield in December. Despite that, frustration and concerns around the 15-year, almost $600 million project persist in Lenox, Lee, Stockbridge, Great Barrington and Sheffield. Environmental groups like the Housatonic River Initiative quickly pledged to appeal the plan in court, and the town of Lee – where a new landfill for toxic materials would be built – has been roiling with complaints from residents to elected officials over the deal. At Wednesday night’s quarterly Citizens Coordinating Council meeting, EPA representatives like Dean Tagliaferro answered questions about the cleanup –
Four years ago, the EPA ordered a cleanup that called for all PCBs to be shipped to licensed disposal sites outside Massachusetts. Now, as widely expected, the agencyâs revised final permit allows GE to save millions by placing about 1 million cubic yards of low-level PCB soils and sediment into a lined and capped landfill in a former Lee quarry.
Cleanup efforts along the Housatonic River would be significant in Woods Pond in Lenox Dale, which contains a high level of PCBs. BEN GARVER â THE BERKSHIRE EAGLE
Dennis Deziel, the EPAâs regional administrator, said in an interview that the agency believes that the material can be stored safely, with no risk to human health.