2018 has provided enough Great Barrington news to keep journalists busy and observers of town politics highly amused, signaling that the community dubbed "best small town in America" by Smithsonian Magazine continues to be a place in transition.
The commissioners emphasized that, at the moment, there is no proposal. And besides, their charge was a narrow one: to interpret and enforce the state Wetlands Protection Act. Further approvals would likely be the purview of the planning board.
When asked about one of the biggest, and longest running, environmental issues in the Berkshires—cleaning up the Housatonic River from PCB pollution dumped decades ago by General Electric—Gonzalez said he agrees with local communities and the EPA that the toxins should be “safely disposed offsite.”
“I definitely share in the disappointment about the lack of net metering increases. I understand there are a lot of folks in the Berkshires and in my district who are vocal proponents of lifting and even eliminating the cap on metering credits."
-- State Rep. William "Smitty" Pignatelli
Fighting climate change can mean everything from sealing up drafty houses and driving an electric vehicle to keeping up with a fossil-free push that is gaining steam worldwide.
“We are on the front lines of environmental stewardship and forefront of sustainable brewery initiatives.”
-- Andrew Mankin, co-owner of Barrington Brewery
Inspector Edwin May did his job by interpreting what was available on the books. He treated Kearsarge’s project, which is to generate power at discounted rates for three central Massachusetts municipalities, as “light industrial” and so not allowed on the land the company planned to lease from farmer Bob Coons.
Among the usual farm stressors, lowered milk prices prevented farmer Bob Coons from expanding the cowherd, leaving him to look for new ways to survive and leasing 20 of his roughly 200 acres, mostly wetlands, being his only shot at staying on the land his family has farmed since the 1950s.
Steiner board president Tom Sternal said, while some administrators knew the school’s neighbor was considering building a solar array, neither the administration nor the school’s board understood the size and scope of the project until around one week ago.
“Until last week the school did not understand the location, the size, or the timing of the project. We’re just attempting to collect as much information as possible to share with our families, hear their concerns, and work with Kearsarge Energy to bring about a solution.
-- Tom Sternal, president of the board of trustees at the Great Barrington Rudolf Steiner School
The solar field below the Rising Paper Mill in Housatonic, built last year on a brownfield, is saving the town and the Berkshire Hills Regional School District each between $70,000 and $90,000 in annual electricity costs.
Adam Hinds, Rinaldo Del Gallo and Andrea Harrington answered questions about Berkshire County’s big issues: economic development, school transportation funding, population decline, the opioid epidemic, affordable housing, a deficiency of high speed Internet, and environmental issues like pipelines and the Housatonic River cleanup.
Under the terms of the agreement, Williams College will invest approximately $6 million to complete construction of a 1.9-megawatt solar array on the capped town landfill on Simonds Road.
