Site history: Between 1932 and 1977 General Electric Company
(GE) used Polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) at its Pittsfield, Massachussetts
facility. PCBs were released into the Housatonic River from the site.
Location: From the GE facility in Pittsfield, Massachusetts
into Connecticut along the Housatonic River watershed to Long Island Sound.
Trustees:
Case status: NOAA currently is working with co-Trustees to
create a Restoration Plan to compensate the public for injuries to natural
resources.
Overview: The General Electric Housatonic River Site is located
in Pittsfield, Massachusetts, extending along the river from the GE facility in
Pittsfield into Connecticut. The waste site consists of waste sources at the GE
facility in Pittsfield, other areas in Pittsfield where PCB wastes from the GE
facility have been disposed, and sediment and water contaminated by the
migration of PCBs via the Housatonic River. The presence of PCB contamination
in river sediments, soils, and groundwater has been documented through a series
of investigations conducted by GE, the Massachusetts Department of
Environmental Protection (MA DEP), and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
(EPA) spanning two decades.
The Housatonic River was closed to all but catch and release fishing from
Dalton, Massachusetts to the Connecticut border by Massachussetts Department of
Environmental Protection in 1982 as a result of PCB contamination in river
sediments and fish tissues. Concerns expressed by local residents regarding
possible health effects resulting from exposure to PCB contamination were
investigated by the Massachusetts Department of Public Health. PCBs may have
reached anadromous and estuarine species well downstream of the site.
In 1997, General Electric, the City of Pittsfield, the United States Government,
the State of Connecticut and the Commonwealth of Massachusetts entered into
negotiations with the goal of achieving a comprehensive settlement of all
outstanding environmental issues, including remedial action and natural
resource damages. A tentative agreement was reached in September 1998. That
agreement was translated into a Consent Decree, which was approved in October
2000.
Pursuant to the requirements of the Consent Decree, General Electric has paid
over $15 million in natural resource damages. This sum has been divided between
Connecticut and Massachusetts so that roughly half of the $15 million will be
available for restoration projects in each state. These funds have been
deposited into interest-bearing accounts held in trust by the Department of the
Interior on behalf of all of the Trustees.
Before the funds allocated to Connecticut can be used to implement natural
resource restoration projects, the Natural Resource Trustees for the
Connecticut SubCouncil (composed of representatives from the State of
Connecticut, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, and NOAA) must develop a Draft
Restoration Plan. In the draft plan, the Trustees will present their evaluation
of a number of restoration alternatives and explain the rationale behind their
selection of the preferred restoration alternative/s that will be implemented
to compensate the public for natural resource injuries. The public will have
the opportunity to review and comment on the draft plan before it is finalized.
