To the editor:
Why are we fighting the Rest of River contract? Because we don’t want PCBs in the Housatonic to be taken out and deposited in local landfills or carted out by truck to other places. We do want the PCBs destroyed!
There is a better way for PCB remediation that eliminates the need to take them out of the river. The problem of transporting PCBs elsewhere would, therefore, be eliminated. No trucks or trains needed!
There is tested scientific evidence that there is a viable solution to destroying the PCBs in place and restoring the river.
There are a number of ways to do this. I found one in an NIH Environmental Health Sciences article in Environmental Factor from July 2023: “Nature-based remediation technologies help clean up PCB contamination.”
A second article in Science Direct-Chemosphere from 2010: “Extraction of PCBs and water from river sediment using liquefied dimethyl ether as an extractant.”
A third article from ScienceDirect’s Journal of Environmental Chemical Engineering, June 2022: “An overview on bioremediation technologies for soil pollution in E-waste dismantling areas.”
These are just a few publications of the information that is out there on PCB remediation.
In addition, there is a new EPA rule that will be effective February 26, 2024 that could allow for changing the way the river is cleaned of PCBs.
And, lastly, this is a much cheaper way of handling the cleanup and will not do further damage to the environment. We can move on to the Restoration of the Watershed contract that has already been funded. Connecticut has already done this, and their riverbanks are restored and usable for recreation.
Shirley Franz Miller
Stockbridge
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