General Electric had a large plant in Pittsfield that polluted the Housatonic River, seen here, with PCBs. (Joe Difazio for WBUR)
The federal Environmental Protection Agency issued a revised final permit Thursday for the next stage of cleanup of the Housatonic River. General Electric polluted the river with PCBs for decades when it operated a plant in Pittsfield, Massachusettts.
According to a press release from the EPA, the permit spells out the required cleanup measures to be followed by General Electric Company (GE) to remove contamination caused by polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs).
Appeals can be filed over the permit until Feb. 3, 2021.
EPA Finalizes Landmark Cleanup Plan for Housatonic River | U S EPA News Releases epa.gov - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from epa.gov Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
A Revised Final Permit for the Rest of River cleanup plan has been issued under the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act spells out the required cleanup measures to be followed by General Electric Co. to remove contamination caused by polychlorinated biphenyls used in the manufacture of transformers at its former Pittsfield plant. The final permit updates EPA s 2016 cleanup plan for the river, its floodplains and other surrounding areas. The permit requires GE to clean up contamination in river sediment, banks, and floodplain soil that pose unacceptable risks to human health and to the environment. The excavated material will be disposed of in two ways: materials with the highest concentrations of PCBs will be transported off-site for disposal at existing licensed disposal facilities, and the remaining lower-level PCB materials will be consolidated on-site at a location in Lee.
EPA issues final permit for GE’s $576 million cleanup of PCBs in the Berkshires
Updated Dec 17, 2020;
Posted Dec 17, 2020
The former General Electric plant in Pittsfield sat between Silver Lake, shown in the 2001 file photo above, and the Housatonic River.
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The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency issued a revised final permit Thursday for the Rest of River plan to clean up PCBs from the Housatonic River left behind by General Electric’s operations in the Berkshires.
The plan, first announced in February 2020 by U.S. Sen. Ed Markey and others, was met with resistance from some Berkshire County residents and from environmental groups. That’s because a compromise allows GE to move waste with lower levels of polychlorinated biphenyl contamination to a single disposal site adjacent to the Lane gravel pit in Lee.
EPA Issues Final Permit For Next Phase Of The Housatonic River Cleanup nepm.org - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from nepm.org Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.