Four staff members of the Environmental Protection Agency site team are set to appear in person at the November 1 meeting of the Tri-Town Boards of Health, the regional health department in Berkshire County that is a collaboration of board members from Lee, Lenox, and Stockbridge, according to an October 25 release by the EPA.
The EPA was originally requested to present the transportation route plan for toxic materials dredged from the Housatonic River following decades of General Electric Company contaminating the waterway with the now-banned polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) from its Pittsfield transformer manufacturing plant. A 2020 remediation plan puts an Upland Disposal Facility (UDF) in Lee for the least toxic of the substances, with the remaining products to be sent off site.
However, the October 25 release states that the agency’s staffers will “discuss the process for public input for the plan but not the document itself,” and won’t offer information on the transportation plan since that plan is being submitted by GE to all stakeholders on October 31, the day before the meeting. Drafted by Community Involvement Coordinator Ashlin Brooks, the statement provides that, to date, “GE has proposed only preliminary transportation routes, specifically for input by the municipalities of Lee, Lenox and Pittsfield,” with the company slated to provide a presentation on its transportation plan November 28, at 6:30 p.m., at the Lee Middle/High School auditorium. (Click here to read the EPA’s response to the Tri-Town Boards of Health’s request.)
Once the transportation plan is released, Brooks states that the EPA plans to provide a 90-day public-input period on the document, “longer than the typical 30 to 45 days.” The plan will then be evaluated by the EPA, along with public and state input, after which the agency will either approve the document without changes, approve it with conditions, or direct GE to revise the document.
The October 25 correspondence also lists examples of what its presenters would be able to discuss with the Boards of Health on November 1, including that the 2020 permit is final; the plan is in its “remedy implementation phase;” and, the EPA hasn’t ruled out rail as a method of transportation. During a recent Boards of Health meeting, members questioned the use of trucks as opposed to rail—what many considered to be a safer option—to move the dredged toxic materials.
According to the email, UDF construction may start as early as September, with remediation in Pittsfield (Reach 5A) to start in late 2025 or early 2026. Remediation from the confluence of the East and West branches of the Housatonic River in Pittsfield to and including Woods Pond is estimated to take place from late 2025/2026 through 2035, with remediation further downstream to Rising Pond estimated to occur from 2035 onward for about three years.
The November 1 Boards of Health meeting will be in person at 45 Railroad Street in Lee, as well as streamed on Zoom, and will include an opportunity for citizens to address members and EPA staff.
Click here to see the agenda for the November 1 meeting.
