Lee — Following an October 22 PCB Advisory Committee discussion, Lee filed its formal comments on October 24 to the Upland Disposal Facility (UDF) Site Preparation Supplemental Information Package, a 360-page plan submitted by General Electric Company (GE) on October 8 to the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) outlining the preparations the conglomerate will take before it begins constructing the toxic-waste repository within the town’s borders.
The filings are in conjunction with a 12-plus-year Superfund site remediation project stemming from GE depositing the now-banned polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) from its Pittsfield plant into the Housatonic River for decades, with those toxins used in its transformer production. A 2020 agreement provided the cleanup remedy that includes routing the materials with the highest toxicity out of the area while transporting the remaining lesser contaminated dredged soil and sediment to a to-be-constructed UDF in Lee, near October Mountain, actions that have long been opposed by residents as hazardous to the health of the town’s citizens and way of life.
The October 8 GE document provided the method its contractors will use to prepare the UDF site, including the delivery of equipment and materials, clearing of trees, altering the existing fence surrounding the project area, creating two temporary construction entrances to the property, installing utilities to be needed for the system, and removing a former house and barn adjacent to the UDF site. J. H. Maxymillian Inc. is named as the contractor, and plans for the overall construction of the UDF itself will be addressed in an upcoming document.
A copy of the October 8 GE document can be found here.
However, due to the quick timeline of the preparations project set to begin November 3, EPA officials stated that the usual comment period would not be available to the public. Although general comments were invited to be filed by mid-October, that period was recently extended to October 31. The EPA statement clarified that the early November start was needed to avoid clearing trees during the roosting period for a rare bat species in the area, with the activities only possible between November 1 and March 31.
In his response on behalf of the Lee Select Board and the PCB Advisory Committee, Brittain questioned the safety of the plan and asked for monitoring and inspection details regarding removing an on-site heating oil tank and the house that contains asbestos materials, including a plan for soil assessment, remediation, and rodent control during the demolition of the structures. He also asked what entity will be overseeing the health and safety aspect of the plan and urged more specificity as to the truck travel routes that will be employed “where necessary,” with an eye toward hopefully avoiding truck traffic in residential neighborhoods or down Main Street. Brittain pursued answers on how possible “spills” of waste materials from the demolition site during their transport will be addressed and pushed for the project’s work hours to conform with daylight savings times of sunrise and sunset.
Local communication during the project is an issue, with the Brittain letter requesting a commitment by GE “to adhere to procedures for responding to community concerns” as well as copies of all reports related to anticipated testing of soils and materials on the UDF preparation site.
A copy of the October 24 response can be found here.
At the PCB Advisory Committee session, Town Planner Brooke Healey, who has experience as a wildlife specialist, noted several issues with the surveys performed to determine the prevalence of endangered species, including the American Bittern and Common Gallinule birds and Northern Long Eared Bat, animals that may nest in the trees slated to be removed from the site. Brittain’s letter asks what plans are in place to replace the habitat that will be removed for these species as no similar marsh locations exist nearby and questioned whether any studies were performed for other species—turtles and salamanders—known to exist in the region.
Committee member Robert Heinzman suggested the surveyors “didn’t try very hard to find endangered species.” “They need to feel from us that we’re paying attention,” he said.
For committee member Robert “Bob” Jones, who also sits on the town’s Select Board, the issue for the group falls to one of “who’s going to monitor this and who’s going to enforce it.” “I’m not asking for an answer, I’m just saying it’s a very difficult thing to do,” he said.
With each report produced in compliance with the 2020 agreement encompassing hundreds of pages, PCB Advisory Committee member Robert Wespiser commented on the daunting task of reviewing such documents and the need for the town’s consultant, Kleinfelder, to produce additional comments. “I mean I was overwhelmed when I tried to read it,” he said of the October 8 submittal. “It’s very difficult, but I promised myself I was going to get into the weeds, and the weeds are really thick.”
The group’s next meeting is scheduled for November 17 at 6 p.m.
