Pittsfield Mayor Concerned About Next PCB?s Cleanup Phase (USA)

Saying the city lacks a ?seat at the table? like it had leading up to previous phases of PCB removal, Mayor James M. Ruberto is questioning the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency?s receptiveness to the city?s concerns with the next cleanup phase.

?We?re going through people?s backyards in the city of Pittsfield, and that is what makes it critical for Pittsfield to have a voice,? Ruberto told The Eagle.

Ruberto said he wishes the city had a ?seat at the table like we did for the Consent Decree.?

The Consent Decree, an agreement between the city, state agencies in Massachusetts and Connecticut and the EPA, was signed by a federal judge in 2000. It laid the framework for remediation of PCBs, or polychlorinated biphenyls, that General Electric Co. either dumped or leaked into the Housatonic River and around its former Pittsfield plant.

Ruberto, who met last month with EPA Regional Administrator Curt Spalding, calls the relationship with the EPA ?cordial and professional,? while adding, ?We surely have had input, but I would wish there was a lot more.?

?We?re certainly aware of [Ruberto's concerns] and we?ve heard a lot of comments from the public,? said Jim Murphy, an EPA spokesman. ?We?re going to try to reflect those in our proposal.?

Murphy did say, however, that the Consent Decree laid out the process for the Rest of River, and the EPA has no plans to change their decision-making process.

?This is what everybody agreed to at the time,? said Murphy. ?We have no intention of trying to re-open the Consent Decree at this time.?

Ruberto said he would like to see a resolution similar to the one recommended by the state Department of Environmental Protection. The state Executive Office of Energy and Environmental Affairs, which owns 80 percent of the land in the most contaminated 10-mile stretch below Fred Garner Park, has recommended dredging Woods Pond in Lenox and limited excavation of contaminated soil in the flood plain.

PCBs are probable cancer-causing chemicals GE used at its former Pittsfield plant until 1977, when most uses of the toxins were banned by the federal government.

Ruberto said he doesn?t want to see the kind of ?bank-to-bank? dredging that took place in the first two miles of the Housatonic, instead calling for a ?common sense? approach of leaving certain areas untouched and excavation in potential hot spots.

Murphy wouldn?t rule out bank-to-bank dredging, saying the contamination is evenly spread in areas north of Woods Pond, adding, ?We do need to do enough remediation to meet our criteria to protect human health and the environment.?

Ruberto went on to say that because of the EPA?s national presence, he doesn?t want to see a ?cookie cutter? approach to a solution. He also said he doesn?t want to see the Housatonic used to set precedent for future projects through adaptive management.

Murphy said adaptive management, which would allow the agency to change its approach as new alternatives become available, is possible, casting a wide net of more than five years and less than 50 for the cleanup process.

?Whatever we start with, we?re committed to re-evaluate it along the way on a regular basis,? said Murphy.

A draft of that proposal will submit to the EPA?s National Remedy Review Board by the end of July, a step necessary of any EPA projects costing more than $25 million. The EPA sent a letter to all towns within the affected area letting them know their comments would be welcomed by the board.

By Trevor Jones (berkshireeagle)

Source: berkshireeagle, June 17, 2011; Image: Panoramio, May 10, 2009

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/DredgingToday/~3/nC-F2t9oJgU/

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