Lee — Although, last month, General Electric Company (GE) provided information on its draft final design plan for the upland disposal facility (UDF) to be constructed in Lee, residents clamored for a visual of what that structure would look like, and questioned how far and from what points the facility would be visible. On May 6, those citizens and other interested parties received a response in the form of a visual representation of the landfill released by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) that depicts its height relative to the surrounding area. The full release, including renderings, can be found here.
Matthew Calacone, GE-Aerospace senior project manager for the UDF, stated on April 18 that the landfill would rise to a maximum of 1,099 feet above sea level, higher than the 1,030 to 1,050 feet above sea level ground surface currently at the site. The project will accommodate up to 1.3 million cubic yards of dredged material within a 20-acre section of the UDF tract, with the area dug out and then sloped to accommodate the UDF, he said.
Although the renderings depict a walking trail that would be constructed following the closure of the UDF when the project has been completed, EPA Community Involvement Coordinator Ashlin Brooks stated in an accompanying email that the town of Lee has proposed a pollinator garden in lieu of the walking trail.
A 2020 agreement between the EPA, GE, and five towns—Great Barrington, Lee, Lenox, Sheffield, and Stockbridge—resulted in a remediation plan for the Housatonic River following decades of GE depositing polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) into the waterway. That agreement provided for the most toxic materials dredged from the river to be taken out of the area, leaving the lower-PCB-concentrated materials to be stored in a UDF in Lee, a provision the town’s residents have long opposed.
