Town planner Chris Rembold told The Edge that the assessment work under the previous grant would be completed at the end of this calendar year, and clean-up work under the EPA grant will begin next year.
The questions I pose are prompted from years working to create strong coalitions to fight General Electric - a rare coalition of former GE workers, sportsmen and women, local Lakewood homeowners whose front- and backyards were contaminated with high levels of PCBs, and environmentalists.
In a letter to the editor, Pooja Prema of Great Barrington, Mass., writes, "I advocate for leaving the river alone until more effective natural remediation technologies are discovered within the next two to 10 years, which could be done in situ (without dredging). This technology most likely already exists"
In a letter to the editor, Nan Wile writes, "Many of us danced around the block with the board and DEP several years ago, over the fate of a brownfield in downtown Great Barrington, and the decisions were permissive and disappointing."
A draft analysis of the cleanup alternatives essentially presented two options: Excavate and dispose of soil and remediate groundwater under the footprint of the demolished dry cleaning building; or do so in a larger area around the footprint.
Community Development Corporation of South Berkshire executive director Tim Geller said he expects environmental remediation to begin late this month and construction on the apartments to commence in late October.
The monument and park were built to commemorate what Thomas Reed, who now lives in Tennessee but grew up on Boardman Street, calls an “off-world incident.”
Yesterday, after the boil order was imposed, five more samples were collected from the Green River pumping station, where the sample was taken that originally prompted the order. None of the five tested positive for E. coli.
The language that is always being used is that the CDC is ghettoizing our poor, or low- and moderate-income families ... We think that description is absurd, given where the site is ... and the fact that ... 50 percent of the families in Great Barrington qualify for these units."
-- Tim Geller, executive director of the CDC
With the remediation that has already been conducted, along with ongoing and future clean-up, potential sale of the Main Street property could put it back on the tax rolls, thus generating revenue.
Abrahams doubts anything will come of it because the ethics commission told him earlier there was no conflict of interest so long as he did not have a financial relationship with the applicant or otherwise stand to benefit financially.
The selectboard announced that, about a year ago, it had commissioned a report by David Prickett of DPC Engineering to gather information on the water systems in the town, what the capital needs are and whether there are redundancies.
"We have mothers putting babies in dirty water for baths. Come on. I'm just furious over this. I'm grinding my teeth over this."
-- Housatonic resident and Housatonic Water Works customer Michelle Loubert
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.
The funds will provide the final financing for the $17.2 million 100 Bridge Street project that will build 45 new affordable rental units and simultaneously remediate the entire 8-acre site.
Incumbent Andrew Petersen replaced Rene Wood, who, in 2015, opted not to run for re-election. Now Wood has decided to try to get back on the Selectboard again.
