With a unanimous vote, the Tri-Town Board of Health approved inviting staffers from either the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) or another group or agency to an upcoming meeting to explain the methods to be used to transport soil and sediment containing polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) excavated from the Housatonic River to a toxic landfill, or upland disposal facility (UDF), slated for Lee.
The Tri-Town Health Department is the regional health department in Berkshire County and is a collaboration of board members from Lee, Lenox, and Stockbridge. This new measure was sparked by an agenda item to discuss the group’s role in the Housatonic River remediation plan—specifically, the transportation portion of the project.
From 1932 to 1977, General Electric (GE) deposited toxic waste and industrial chemicals, particularly polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), from its Pittsfield electric transformer plant into the Housatonic River. In 1979, the EPA banned the production of PCBs, and in 2000, prompted by the EPA and other government agencies, GE began its process of cleaning up the river. That process includes a hybrid approach in which the lower-level contaminated materials dredged from the waterway would be transported to a UDF in Lee, with the more highly contaminated products removed to an offsite facility.
“I would be interested in having them potentially educate us in what we see as our role,” Member Dr. Robert Wespiser said of EPA officials.
Led by Chair Dr. Charles Kenny, the discussion focused on the routes of trucks leaving the dredging site; a comparison of truck versus rail transportation modes for the PCB-laden soil and sediment removed; the safety of the trucks, including bed liners, tailgate seals, and tarps; the condition of the roads that the trucks will travel on; risks of the toxic waste spilling or being aerosolized from the truck; the staging area for the process; and the plan to dewater the excavated materials.
“On a broader scale, there have been a lot of issues raised that are all intertwined,” Member Dr. Noel Blagg said.
Kenny said the flow of communication about the remediation plan was impeded once COVID hit in 2020, during the period between the time the 2016 plan was replaced with the current 2020 permit issued by the EPA. “I believe firmly in education and understanding what’s going on,” he said. “The whole purpose of this should always be—in the front of our mind—is that we have a responsibility to our [communities] to do the best job that we can and that we wish to cooperate as best we can to ensure the public’s health and safety is preserved.”
Although Kenny advocated the informational session be conducted in two weeks, Executive Director of Public Health James Wilusz added that stakeholders from individual board members be included in the meeting, with that task possibly taking longer.
At the meeting, board members also discussed the following:
- Certified foot-care specialists are lacking in the area for senior residents;
- COVID vaccine clinics for the newest innoculation will be offered, with dates to be determined;
- The launch of the 2023 flu program began Sept. 11, with vaccine clinics beginning Oct. 5;
- Possibly expanding its vaccine program to include shingles and other innoculations;
- The last quarter of 2023 noted 22 COVID cases in Lee, 24 in Lenox, and 11 in Stockbridge;
- Berkshire County is at “moderate risk” for West Nile Virus; and
- With equal financial contributions of its three member towns, the board purchased a $5,000 device that could confirm signs of detrimental algae bloom in waterways such as Stockbridge Bowl. In June, the Stockbridge Bowl was under an advisory due to a sighting of algae bloom, an outbreak that could cause illness in humans and pets.
Click here to view the Tri-Town Board of Health’s vaccine schedule for October, including flu vaccines.
