Southern Berkshire County — With a looming February 1 deadline for comments to General Electric Company’s proposed transportation plan in conjunction with the Housatonic Rest of River remediation project, the push by affected town residents and officials for rail as the primary mode of transporting dredged toxic materials just garnered additional support.
In a joint January 24 correspondence addressed to Environmental Protection Agency Project Manager Dean Tagliaferro, State Sen. Paul Mark (D – Berkshire, Hampden, Franklin, and Hampshire District) and State Rep. Smitty Pignatelli (D – 3rd Berkshire District) strongly endorsed the use of rail transportation for the dissemination of all polychlorinated biphenyl (PCB) soils, whether those dredged materials are destined for the Upland Disposal Facility (UDF) or out of state facilities, “where it is technically feasible and safe to do so.”
GE released its transportation plan on October 31, heavily favoring trucking as the transport method over rail for the Rest of River, the third segment of the Housatonic River to be remediated pursuant to a 2020 permit for the waterway’s cleanup. For decades, GE deposited the now-banned PCBs into the stream. The remediation project involves carrying the most toxic materials out of the area while leaving the less contaminated sediment dredged from the river in a to-be-constructed UDF in Lee.
The Mark/Pignatelli letter rebuked GE and its contractor, Arcadis, for their proposal that “downplays the use of rail and highlights the use of trucks.” The letter states, “This appears to be a proposal made with significant disregard to the short and long term benefits to the people and communities of our region,” the letter states. “Our disappointment in this proposed plan is sharp and shared by the vast majority of the people and elected officials of the affected towns we jointly serve.”
According to Mark and Pignatelli’s scathing correspondence, money is the sole motivating factor for GE’s emphasis on truck transportation and the ability for the company to reduce its costs “to cleanup a region it polluted and largely abandoned.”
The state officials cited safety factors as the impetus for supporting a rail option, including reducing traffic and vehicle emissions, providing less wear and tear on local roads, and offering a better outcome for residents in terms of their quality of life and health. Their stated rationale also supports using hydraulic dredging to reduce truck traffic, with PCB-laden particles being directly transported to staging areas or the UDF. However, the document cautions that some trucking will still be needed but asserts that rail “will exponentially reduce the number of trucks while making the cleanup more efficient and economical,” possibly reducing the projected length of the remediation from 13 years to [eight to 10] years.
Finally, Mark and Pignatelli urged the EPA to heavily consider plan comments from residents and local officials of the affected towns, citizens who “stand to bear the brunt of the impact from the proposed cleanup.”
EPA spokesperson Jo Anne Kittrell stated in an email to The Berkshire Edge that her agency will consider all public input until the February 1 deadline, with the group evaluating those comments before issuing a response to GE “that will either agree with their plan, revise the plan, or request a new plan.”
“As we have indicated, EPA expects to require additional investigation of use of rail,” she stated.
Once a revised report is submitted by GE, the EPA will offer another public comment period to receive input, Kittrell stated.
Given that the UDF is slated to be constructed within its borders, Lee Select Board Chair Robert “Bob” Jones weighed in on the recent correspondence and stated in an email to The Berkshire Edge that his constituency is “encouraged” by the support of its local legislators. “Each time GE and the EPA release a portion of the project, it becomes more and more apparent there are numerous shortcomings that need to be corrected,” he stated.
Lee Town Manager Christopher Brittain agreed. “We are particularly happy to see that the letter from our legislators mentions the use of rail for out-of-state materials,” Brittain stated in an email. “The current GE plan shows these materials being trucked through Lee’s Main Street. The town finds this to be completely unacceptable.”
On the heels of its January 23 Open House that aimed to provide a response to questions Lenox residents have regarding the remediation and proposed transportation plan, Lenox Town Administrator Christopher Ketchen said he wasn’t surprised by the January 24 correspondence and its promotion of rail for the transportation plan. Earlier this month, the Lenox Board of Health submitted an email to the EPA urging a rewrite of the GE transportation plan.
“Smitty [Pignatelli] and I have talked about rail for several years,” Ketchen said in a phone call with The Berkshire Edge. “Lenox’s comments on the preliminary plan last summer [are] on record as promoting not only the use of rail but also hydraulic dredging to the maximum extent possible.”
Pleased with both Mark and Pignatelli’s support, Ketchen said their advocacy as the area’s state delegation “carries a great deal of weight … particularly in light of the fact that the state owns the railroad corridor.”
Click here to view the letter submitted by State Sen. Paul Mark (D – Berkshire, Hampden, Franklin, and Hampshire District) and State Rep. Smitty Pignatelli (D – 3rd Berkshire District) endorsing the use of rail transportation for the dissemination of all polychlorinated biphenyl (PCB) soils.
