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EPA, Massachusetts and Connecticut Host Public Meetings on Housatonic River Status

Release Date: 06/11/2012
Contact Information: Jim Murphy, (617) 721-2868 (cell)

(Boston, Mass. – June 11, 2012) EPA and the states of Massachusetts and Connecticut  will be holding a second round of public meetings next week to discuss next steps for the potential clean up of the Housatonic River in western Massachusetts and Connecticut.

EPA and the states have been working cooperatively for the last several months to discuss potential approaches to clean up the Rest of River portion of the Housatonic River contaminated with pollutants from General Electric’s former Pittsfield, Mass. facility.  These discussions have focused, in part, on the need to address the risks from polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) to humans, fish, wildlife and other organisms while avoiding, mitigating or minimizing the impacts of the cleanup on the unique ecological character of the Housatonic River.

EPA and the states recently released a document called the “Status Report of Preliminary Discussions of Potential Remediation Approaches to the GE-Housatonic River Site “Rest of River” PCB Contamination.”  This summary document, which recognizes that no remedy decisions have yet been made, reflects the current status of EPA and the states’ efforts to discuss and identify potential remedial approaches for the Rest of River in light of their shared goals and interests.  The summary report, which is available on EPA’s web page will be the topic of the public meetings.

 https://www.epa.gov/region1/ge/thesite/restofriver/reports/508662.pdf

The Connecticut meeting will be on Tuesday, June 12, 2012, 6:30 to 9:00 PM at the

New Milford High School, 338 Danbury Road in New Milford, CT.  The Massachusetts Meeting will be on Wednesday, June 13, 2012, 6:30 to 9:00 PM at the Lenox Memorial Middle and High School, 197 East Street in Lenox, MA.  Both meetings will be available for listening and viewing via webcast at:

http://public.streamhoster.com/resources/Flash/JWFLVMediaPlayer/Flashplayer.aspx?media_url=rtmp%3a%2f%2ffss29.streamhoster.com%2flv_cuttingedgevid%2fbroadcast1&pwidth=540&pheight=424&autostart=true&pmiuri=&is_broadcast=true

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