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Allendale School
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The Allendale School property was originally part of the 1,250 acre Allen Farm that was used to breed horses. In 1950, the 12 acre parcel on which the school sits was donated to the City of Pittsfield for use as a school. The school building occupies approximately 30,000 square feet on the northern section of the property.
At the time of the school's construction in 1950, GE entered into an agreement under which GE allowed the City to remove soil from GE property for use as fill material at the school property. The fill material placed on the school property originated from the Hill 78 Area located south of the school property. Concerns regarding the potential presence of polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) at the school property were initially raised during the construction of the Pittsfield Generating Company facility located at the Hill 78 area. Due to the presence of PCBs in soil at this area, the potential existed for PCBs to be present in the fill at the Allendale School property. As a result, the Massachusetts DEP conducted soil sampling at the Allendale School property in January 1990 and found detectable levels of PCBs in the soil. At the Massachusetts DEP's request, GE then conducted additional soil sampling at the Allendale School property between April and September 1990 to characterize the extent of PCBs at the property.
In 1991, in response to soil sampling results collected by the Massachusetts DEP and GE, GE conducted an evaluation of various potential remedial options for the Allendale School property, and the Massachusetts DEP selected a capping option as a Short-Term Measure for the property. In accordance with the Massachusetts DEP's approval, GE then installed a 2-foot soil cap (with geotextile) over much of the playground area. In addition, in 1998, some soil in the top three feet outside the existing soil cap was found to contain PCBs exceeding 2 ppm and was removed by GE.
On September 25, 1997, pursuant to Section 105 of CERCLA, 42 U.S.C. § 9606, EPA proposed the overall Site for inclusion onto the National Priorities List (NPL). In October 1997, EPA, in combination with the United States Department of Justice, the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, the State of Connecticut, the City of Pittsfield and State (both Massachusetts and Connecticut) and Federal Natural Resource Trustees, formed an intergovernmental team and, with the assistance of a mediator, initiated negotiations with GE. In October 1998, the parties reached an agreement-in-principle that included a comprehensive cleanup of the overall Site, including the Allendale School property.
In the Spring of 1999, GE performed additional investigations at the Allendale School to further characterize the horizontal and vertical extent of PCB contamination. Results of the investigations were used to develop a detailed design for the removal action.
The Removal Action was performed between July, 1999 and November, 1999. Actual soil excavation began on July 22, 1999 and was completed by August 25, 1999. As the contaminated soil was excavated and removed from the site, clean soil was brought onto the site as backfill. In areas where asphalt was disturbed, new asphalt was installed after backfilling. Approximately 42,000 cubic yards of contaminated soil were removed from the schoolyard and brought back to the GE Facility.
Once backfilling was complete, restoration of the schoolyard began. Restoration of the playground included placement of topsoil and grass sod, reassembly of an existing playset, installation of a soccer field, installation of two baseball fields, construction of a walking track, and installation of a paracourse system. Restoration also included planting new shrubs and trees.
After completion of the excavation and backfill activities, GE also conducted a thorough cleaning of the inside of the school building. The cleaning was completed prior to the beginning of the new school year and included washing all interior walls and ledges, students desks, and interior windows and frames. All bathrooms were cleaned, vinyl floors were stripped and refinished, carpets were cleaned, and all heating and air conditioning vents were cleaned and filters replaced.
On January 20, 2000, a pre-certification inspection was conducted by representatives of GE, the U.S. EPA and the MA DEP. On February 18, 2000, GE submitted a Final Completion Report for the Allendale School Removal Action.