The moon has been an important subject in English poetry dating back to Chaucer in the 14th century, who was an astronomer as well as a poet. There is a crater on the far side of the moon named for Chaucer.
In his letter to the editor, Benno Friedman writes: “In a fair and accurate fashion, the article did not shy away from describing a complex and complicated set of issues and arguments.”
Front and center in the arguments was GE’s insistence on site disposal at Woods Pond on the Lee-Lenox border, Rising Pond in Great Barrington, and near Forest Street in Lee.
An emailed statement by a GE spokesperson indicates the company will take the matter to court, and continue to argue over how much of the 125-mile stretch of river to clean, and how.
If this decision holds strong against what will likely be a protracted legal fight from GE, the $613 million cleanup will go forward eventually, and the PCB-contaminated waste will be shipped out of state.
Interviewed by Jim Frangione, Berkshire Edge Managing Editor Heather Bellow discusses the issues she's been covering: proposed PCB dump in Housatonic; the new Jane Iredale/Louisa Ellis store in Great Barrington; the redevelopment of the top of Railroad Street; access to broadband Internet in the rural Berkshires; and the Democratic primary election.
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.”
Housatonic homeowners are now worried about their property values — not to mention potential health risks from a nearby dump — and prospective homebuyers are now saying they won’t buy in Housatonic.
In her letter to the editor, Pooja Prema writes: "To ask the people of Great Barrington to pay for protesting an ongoing ecological atrocity that was committed by corporate greed – to put the bill on citizens instead of taking up the responsibility as a town government – is both ridiculous and shameful."
Rose will discuss the life of the Berkshires' Mum Bett -- who later changed her name to Elizabeth Freeman -- the first black enslaved person to gain her freedom in a court of law based on the principle of general equality.
