BERSKHIRE COUNTY, Mass. - The Housatonic River Initiative [HRI] is going to court to appeal the Housatonic River cleanup plan, which calls for the creation of a landfill in Lee for contaminated soil.

"They're trying to make a case that this is wanted by people in the Berkshires, yet it's really only wanted by a small group of sort of business types," said HRI Executive Director Tim Gray.

Gray has been an outspoken critic of the plan since it was announced last year. He said his organization wants to make sure the landfill doesn't happen.

"We're advocates for treating the PCBs [polychlorinated biphenyls] and trying to take care of them on our watch you might say, by tring new technologies and moving ahead, and they're here now," Gray said. 

The E.P.A. finalized the plan in December and last month, the Lee select board voted not to withdraw from the agreement, despite calls to do so from some residents.

Now, Gray and the H.R.I. will file an appeal with the Environmental Appeals Board, but he's not optimistic because of the Board's connections to the E.P.A.

Gray said, "We're there because we have to be to preserve our rights to go to the First Circuit in Boston, which we think will be the only place that we have an independent judge that will actually look at this."

Gray says there is a real sense of urgency to get the best plan possible because this could be their one opportunity to clean up the long polluted river.

"There's only one chance in history to do the best we can probably, because once they go ahead and let them do it, I doubt they'll ever go back and be able to get them to do more," Gray said.