PITTSFIELD, Mass. – The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and General Electric Co. held a meeting Wednesday in Pittsfield to discuss their revised plan for cleaning up toxic PCBs in Berkshire County.

What You Need To Know

  • G.E. and EPA held a meeting on a revised cleanup plan Wednesday

  • The revised plan includes rail and hydraulic transport to clean up PCBs

  • The former plan relied on trucking, which was unpopular with residents

  • People can comment until Jan. 15

The original plan leaned heavily on trucking and was unpopular with residents. G.E. now plans to use hydraulic transport, which sucks sediment into a pipeline, and rail service during the cleanup. 

EPA project manager Dean Tagliaferro said the new plan was in direct response to resident concerns. 

“Focusing on the transportation plan I think were very well received, and I think it just shows working together with the community, there’s certain places where we can’t always do what the community asks, but we listen and were appropriate in where we can push to GE to be responsive,” Tagliaferra said.

Lee Selectboard member Robert Jones said he feels better about using rail for transport. 

“I think that it’s a step in the right direction. Rail was always the obvious way of transporting this stuff. The rail follows the river. The sidings are next to the damns, where the highest concentrations are, and so I think that’s a step in the right direction,” Jones said.

However, many Lee residents, including Robert Jones, remained opposed to a plan to dump PCB’s from the cleanup at a toxic waste site in Lee.

“We’re talking about the health of our residents. We’re talking about the health of not only people today, but generations from now. I’ll be long gone but my grandchildren and their grandchildren will still be living with hot PCB’s forever chemicals in their backyard,” said Jones.

The EPA said the new plan can still be changed and welcomes public feedback. 

“We want to get through it all, so I don’t want to prejudge it. And we want to get the public input, but we don’t expect anywhere near as extensive a revision as this one and it’s to be determined if it needs a revision or there will just be supplemental information when they get the actual area work plans which will also have to have more detail on transportation,” said Tagliaferro.

The public is invited to comment on the plan by Jan. 15. You can send input to R1Housatonic@epa.gov.