The summer-long event combines a gallery space featuring paintings of the outdoors by local artists, environmental literature on display, and a live panel of speakers featuring prominent movers and shakers in the Housatonic River and Hudson River cleanup efforts.
Housatonic Water Works Co-owner Jim Mercer explained that there is no threat to public health. Nor does the unilateral administrative order from DEP state that there is such a threat.
“It’s a very tough and competitive situation for Low Income Housing Tax Credit Projects right now — a situation exacerbated by the uncertainty that has been created at the national level.”
— Tim Geller, executive director of the Community Development Corporation of South Berkshire
Following nearly four years of struggle against a powerful company (Kinder Morgan and its subsidiary, Tennessee Gas Pipeline) backed by laws and a Federal commission, it seems that now is an appropriate point to judge performances of the various participants and agencies that could have made more of a difference to avoid this calamity.
So where were the Massachusetts officials who could have negotiated with Connecticut to save Otis State Forest because the gas wasn’t really needed after all?
Although EPA’s final remedy requires the General Electric Company to transport and dispose of PCB waste in a federally approved landfill, the company is fighting tooth and nail to dispose of contaminated waste locally.
Depressed consumer demand for natural gas in Connecticut, could yet save beleaguered Article 97 of the Massachusetts’ Constitution. Reduced demand for gas in Connecticut could allow Massachusetts to continue to protect pristine, specially designated Commonwealth terrain.
One of the conditions is that the CDC continues to accept public comments on its plan. And if changes are made as a result of those comments, the CDC will amend its plan.
In 2008 Hazen Paper Company bought the building from Neenah Paper Company for $785,000 according to John Hazen, whose company has never had any dealings with GE but whose building is subject to the restriction allowing only industrial use for 12 more years.
In her letter to the editor, Christine Ward writes: “We respectfully request the Select Board endorse/adopt the comprehensive Lake Mansfield Recreation Area improvement plan as provided in the KZLA report. It is a balanced, expert report.”
The GE-owned parcel at Rising Pond here — earmarked by the company for a PCB (polychlorinated biphenyl) dump –is zoned for residential use only, according to Great Barrington Town Planner Christopher Rembold, who said the town’s zoning regulations “do not allow an industrial-type use.”
In her letter to the editor, Sharon Gregory of Great Barrington writes: “Let us spend NO additional public dollars until a formal proposal has been presented and approved by the DEP. Full remediation is critical to the community.”
“The idea of bringing this into a residential neighborhood is hard for me to swallow. So many things that have happened…things we bet on and lost.”
— Great Barrington Selectboard Chair Sean Stanton
“It is my observation that it’s too bad that [the affordable housing] is wedged between a sewer waste plant and a toxic waste field.”
— ZBA member Michael Wise
In her letter to the editor, Jane Wright of Housatonic, Mass., writes: “I do not believe the Mercers have been good Stewards of our water supply. I believe the state should take a closer look at the quality of our water.”
Privately-owned Housatonic Water Works, which draws water from Long Pond, says it needs the increase to deal with higher operating expenses and state-mandated upgrades to an antiquated system.
General Electric proposes to stash PCBs from the river in three landfills: one next to Woods Pond in Lenox Dale, another near the Mass Pike in Lee, close to Goose Pond, and the third adjacent to the Rising Pond dam in Housatonic.
Town Manager Jennifer Tabakin noted that it was hard to justify the rate increase without more details about repairs and upgrades – and the schedule to implement them.
Removing contaminants attributable to Ried Cleaners may cost up to $1.6 million. “We have to hold the responsible parties’ feet to the fire but also be practical. We want it cleaned up and on the tax rolls.”
— Great Barrington Town Manager Jennifer Tabakin
“From a practical standpoint, and from a health and safety standpoint, if we cap rather than bioremediate, there is virtually no impact on development schedule. This project has an incredible benefit for the entire community and entire region.”
— Tim Geller, executive director, Community Development Corporation of South Berkshire
Any time a state agency performs such an abrupt about face, it’s reasonable to suspect the presence of an unseen actor. Who got to the DEP? Consider this: the Log Homes site has another neighbor, the Housatonic River, which as we all know is the special responsibility of a certain Fortune 500 corporation.
While the Community Development Corporation is “committed to the bioremediation process,” it will do whatever it has to move ahead with the the construction of the 100 Bridge Street complex. That may mean “capping” –– or covering –– the polluted soil to eliminate exposure.
It is “disappointing” that while there will be some drainage improvements to Great Barrington’s Main Street from the reconstruction project, there aren’t more significant changes. He expressed concern about a large stormwater pipe that releases into the river, near the skateboard park off Bridge Street.
—Landscape designer Craig Okerstrom-Lang
Great Barrington Town Manager Jennifer Tabakin said it will soon be a question of whether to continue the pilot bioremediation, cap the site, or do a combination of both. State Rep. Pignatelli said that it would be “great” if the pilot cleanup worked. “If not, we move on to the next thing.”
“There is no room for error when you’re dealing with a public water supply. There was insufficient regulation around public drinking water in Great Barrington until this zoning code was put in.”
— Richard Dohoney, attorney for Building Inspector Edwin May
The land in question falls under Department of Environmental Protection (MassDEP) regulations that prohibit working land within 100-feet of a reservoir and wetlands, and the town’s rules that put a 500 foot buffer between a reservoir and any permitted activity.
“Any significant structural work to the road — beyond a simple paving job — will require the extensive environmental permitting.”
— Town Planner Christopher Rembold
Selectmen and life-long Lenox resident Dave Roche invoked the concept of an environmental legacy. “Let’s leave something better for our children,” he said.
Bioremediation at the Log Homes site costs only a fraction of the traditional dredge-it-up and haul-it-away method of toxic waste management. Preliminary results should be available by the end of September.
“We never anticipated that the site’s cleanup would be concurrent with the heaviest rainfall in 227 years.”
— Chris Young, Biotech Restorations CEO
If successful here, the bioremediation could revolutionize the way thousands of industrial parcels are cleansed of pollutants.
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