Lee — In a March 14 email addressed to members of the Environmental Protection Agency’s GE-Housatonic River Citizens Coordinating Council (CCC), the group’s moderators shared a “message” from the EPA canceling a slated April 4 CCC tour of the proposed Upland Disposal Facility (UDF), or toxic-waste dump, “due to safety issues.”
According to the message, a CCC member extended an invitation to Lee residents to tour the UDF “without authorization or coordination” with the agency. Although the email referenced that the tour may be rescheduled in the future, it was unclear as to what individuals or groups the tour was initially intended for or whether it would possibly be rescheduled for only CCC members or include Lee residents. EPA Spokesperson Jo Anne Kittrell confirmed to The Berkshire Edge that the tour was “was scheduled for CCC, but a member extended the invitation to thousands of others.”
The CCC was formed to promote a discussion of issues surrounding the cleanup of the waterway following GE disposing of polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) for decades. Its membership is comprised of resident stakeholders as well as representatives of nonprofit groups and other organizations, with the council conducting quarterly meetings.
“The UDF is private property that is not owned by EPA, and the Agency does not have the ability to provide open access to the UDF,” the message stated. “EPA also intended to limit the number of tour attendees to minimize safety concerns involved with accessing moderately rough terrain.”
The email points out that other tours of the UDF have been made, including to CCC members and town representatives, as well as a guided October media tour attended by The Berkshire Edge. However, the message distinguishes these tours as being held in an effort to “disseminate information to the greater public.”
Although the statement acknowledges that a tour open to all CCC members would be valuable to provide transparency of the project and information, canceling the upcoming tour is necessary “to avoid any injuries or trespassing complaints.” Referencing the CCC operating procedures of 2005, the EPA states that the group’s diverse individual and entity membership offers, or liaises, input and feedback between the community and the agency.
“In scenarios where participation may be limited, such as a UDF tour, CCC members are expected to share the information they receive with their constituency,” the EPA stated.
Joshua Bloom, Lee’s representative to the CCC, responded to the message in an email, calling the tour cancellation and refusal to provide UDF access to the public “a cowardly failure of [the EPA’s] responsibility to the citizens [it is] entrusted to serve and protect.”
A 2020 permit provided for the remediation of the Rest of River, the area stretching from the east and west confluences of the Housatonic River in Pittsfield to Connecticut, with the most toxic materials to be carried out of the area while the less contaminated sediment would be deposited in a UDF to be constructed in Lee.
