The Tri-Town Board of Health was unanimous in its December 13 discussion to advocate for the Environmental Protection Agency and General Electric Company to thoroughly investigate using rail as a method of transporting toxic-laden soil and sediment dredged from the Housatonic River to a slated Upland Disposal Facility (UDF), or dump site, in Lee. The board is the local public health agency serving the towns of Lee, Lenox, and Stockbridge.
The measure stems from a 2020 remediation plan approved by the EPA following years of GE depositing the now-banned polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) into the Housatonic from its Pittsfield plant. Agreed to by officials—including a representative from each of five affected towns of Great Barrington, Lee, Lenox, Sheffield, and Stockbridge—during closed negotiations, the plan allows for the most contaminated materials to be transported out of the area, with those materials containing the lowest contamination destined for the Lee UDF.
On October 31, GE released its transportation plan for the Rest of River, with that plan showing that the materials would be mostly moved by trucks and, to a lesser extent, via hydraulic measures. The Rest of River is the third segment of the Housatonic to be remediated, from the confluence of its east and west branches in Pittsfield to Connecticut.
Executive Director James Wilusz said he and Dr. Charles Kenny, chair of the Tri-Town Board of Health, met with Housatonic Railroad Company attorney Parker Rodriguez following an email Rodriguez submitted to the Lee Select Board stating that rail is the preferred transportation method and the company could contribute to the project. According to Wilusz, State Sen. Paul Mark (D – 2nd Berkshire District) was also included at the meeting with Kenny and Rodriguez, with the group conversation centered on the February 1 deadline for public comment on the transportation plan and the lack of research given to rail as a feasible option.
“When I look at the transportation plan … it was really a missed opportunity by GE and EPA to really spend money diving into the feasibility of rail,” Wilusz said.
Since then, other towns involved in the 2020 agreement have been vocal about their support for rail, with more local advocacy groups forming, as well as petitions promoting the investigation of rail as an option. The Lenox Board of Health recently voted to submit a comment of its own to the plan, Wilusz said. “When that transportation plan came out, I think it was an eye opener, when people started looking at that plan … seeing transportation routes in residential zones and the thought and idea of diesel trucks driving down Main Street in the middle of summer, or in the middle of the James Taylor concert, or, God forbid, Christmas in downtown Stockbridge, coming up Routes 7 and 183,” he said.
Kenny said the plan lacked a cost-benefit analysis. He said Rodriguez stated rail would be more efficient in the long run, in terms of greenhouse gases, environmental impacts, and monetarily. “What we made very clear at our last meeting is that a lot of us have concerns about the trucks, but we are also concerned that we didn’t have enough information to really make a determination,” Kenny said.
Wilusz pointed out the severe mental health and anxiety toll on residents stemming from the project, and Kenny said the research so far doesn’t include a study of the individual towns the transportation will be routed through, with possible ill effects on the health of residents in the pathway.
Although the board could not take action to approve submitting a public comment on the transportation plan as the vote wasn’t on the meeting’s agenda, members agreed that the action will be slated for the next session.
At the meeting, the board unanimously approved its fiscal year 2025 operating budget, tallying $483,320.76, as presented by Wilusz, with a 2.6 percent increase in the budget appropriated for fiscal year 2024.
Within the Southern Berkshire Public Health Collaborative (SBPHC), Wilusz said the Board plans to continue to build on its public health nursing program that provided 23 vaccine clinics over the past fiscal year and administered 444 high flu doses, 793 regular flu doses, 486 COVID vaccines, and 27 vaccines to homebound individuals, in addition to offering monthly blood pressure clinics and investigating communicable diseases. The SBPHC shares nursing services among its member towns of Alford; Great Barrington; Monterey; Mount Washington; New Marlborough; Otis, Sandisfield; Sheffield; Tyringham; and the Tri-Town Board of Health towns of Lee, Lenox, and Stockbridge.
The group is also working on how best to support its Councils on Aging regarding foot care clinics, along with continuing its car seat program and expanding a project of sharps collection bins, or kiosks. Sharps include needles, auto-injection devices, and lancets.
Looking ahead, the board will still be providing a response to COVID-19 as needed, implementing a regional prescription drug-take-back program, and ensuring credentialing and training for its staff, among other actions.
