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EPA and DOJ Request That Cleanup Agreement Receive Final Court Approval

Release Date: 07/21/2000
Contact Information: Peyton Fleming, EPA Press Office (617-918-1008)


BOSTON - The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and the US Department of Justice today requested in federal court that the proposed Consent Decree for cleaning up PCB contamination in the Housatonic River and Berkshire County receive final approval.

"We believe more than ever that the Consent Decree is the best option for getting this massive PCB contamination problem cleaned up," said Mindy S. Lubber, regional administrator of EPA's New England Office. "The agreement is comprehensive and it requires that the cleanup work be done immediately. It's a golden opportunity for residents of Berkshire County and those living along the Housatonic to erase this PCB chapter once and for all."

"I am pleased to learn that the EPA has formally completed its final evaluation of the comments and is requesting court approval of the Consent Decree," added Pittsfield Mayor Gerald S. Doyle Jr. "I have said right along that a negotiated settlement was in the best interest of our environment, our city and our county. EPA's leadership in this matter was paramount. As the mayor of Pittsfield, I and others feel that this is a monumental agreement that will service our environment and our city for decades to come. With this agreement, we will have immediate river cleanup and a massive redevelopment of the former General Electric site that will serve as a huge economic engine for job creation in Berkshire County."

The request comes after an extensive review of more than 100 public comment letters - and numerous follow-up meetings in response to those comments - regarding the proposed 400-page Consent Decree which was first unveiled last fall.

"The extensive public comments have helped us to improve the overall cleanup plan," Lubber said. "Without having to open up the Consent Decree, we've strengthened the entire package in a number of ways, particularly in terms of public involvement in cleanup decisions and actual work. Just yesterday, EPA and GE took citizens on a tour of the river cleanup project and the GE facility to get a close up look at the work that's being done under the Consent Decree."

Among the recent improvements was establishing a formal process for Connecticut residents to participate in the cleanup process regarding the Housatonic River, especially those portions below a two-mile section in Pittsfield already subject to cleanup plans. Also in response to public concerns, EPA agreed last spring to additional legal protections for property owners with contaminated parcels, to explore innovative treatment technologies for remediating the "rest of the river" below the top two-mile section and to boost public education and outreach activities related to monitoring and sampling at various cleanup and consolidation sites.

EPA's formal responses to the public comments will be available next week at the Berkshire Athenaeum Public Library and nine other information repositories in western Massachusetts and Connecticut. Copies will also be sent to individuals and parties who submitted comments and will be posted at EPA's new web site on the cleanup at www.epa.gov/region01/ge.

Although the Consent Decree still awaits final court approval, much progress has been made in the PCB cleanup over the past year. Among the highlights:

* Cleanup of First Half-Mile of the Housatonic: Excavation of river sediments and bank soils in several segments of the top half-mile of the river in Pittsfield has been completed and EPA is still working to have the overall job done by May 2001. In some sections, cleanup crews have excavated as deep as eight feet to remove contaminated sediments. To date, GE has excavated and restored 2,000 cubic yards of river sediments, 450 cubic yards of contaminated bank soils, collected and removed 4,500 gallons of oil, and treated 42 million gallons of river water.

* Cleanup of Next 1½ Miles of River: On July 14, EPA announced the agency's preferred plan for cleaning up the next 1½ miles of the river below the top half-mile section. The 1½-mile section runs from the Lyman Street Bridge to the confluence of the river's east and west branches. The cleanup plan, which will be subject to extensive public comment in the coming weeks, would involve excavating about 94,000 cubic yards of PCB-contaminated sediments and bank soils. Work will begin immediately upon GE's completion of work in the first half-mile. Public information meetings on the cleanup plan will be held at 7 p.m. July 25 at the Berkshire Athenaeum Public Library in Pittsfield and at 7 p.m. on Aug. 8 at the Kent Town Hall in Kent, Conn. A public hearing will be held at 7 p.m. Aug. 15 at the Berkshire Athenaeum Public Library.

* Source Control Work at GE Plant Site: EPA's goal under the Consent Decree is to eliminate all sources of contamination that pose a threat to the Housatonic - among the biggest priorities being discharges from GE's 250-acre property in Pittsfield. At EPA's direction, GE is continuing to move forward with work to investigate and eliminate all potential sources of contamination from the property and other filled oxbow areas that abut the river. In addition to extensive subsurface investigations, cleanup crews have installed more than 80 additional soil borings/monitoring wells, constructed several oil recovery systems and installed containment barriers to prevent any oil from entering the Housatonic. The Consent Decree also includes provisions requiring GE to address any new discoveries of oil that could potentially impact the river. Last year alone, this program resulted in 40,000 gallons of oil being removed and 50 million gallons of groundwater being treated.

* Redevelopment Work at GE Property: GE has begun demolishing many of the property's most unsightly features, including several tanks, large smokestacks used by the old powerhouse and a utility bridge that extended over Bridge Street. Large scale demolition is slated to take place through next year, after which time new modern business facilities will be built, much of it at GE's expense. The City of Pittsfield and the Pittsfield Economic Development Authority have already attracted some prospective tenants, including EV Worldwide, an electrical vehicle manufacturer that is expected to use up to one million square feet of space at the GE site and other locations in the county and provide upwards of 1,000 jobs over the next five years.

* Allendale School Cleanup: This unprecedented cleanup last summer resulted in the removal of 42,000 cubic yards of contaminated soils from the school's backyard and a restoration that has made the playground an attraction to both children and adults.