CTSB, Community Television of South Berkshire, videotaped three public meetings on the 2020 Settlement Agreement for the Housatonic Rest of River.

Watch here: https://vimeo.com/392257605

 

EPA/GE “Rest of River” Settlement Agreement Public Information Session – February 19, 2020 – Lee, MA – Watch here: https://vimeo.com/392751847

EPA/GE “Rest of River” Settlement Agreement Public Information Session – February 20, 2020 – Great Barrington, MA – watch here: https://vimeo.com/3930028

Tim Gray
HRI Community Meeting Lenox MA March 3, 2020
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m8VPUGgX7og&feature=emb_logo

 

HRI Board Member Benno Friedman’s

A Riff on the Recent Settlement

My folks and I came to live in Sheffield on the banks of the Housatonic in 1951. One of my first questions; could I swim in the river? Their answer, “No. It’s dirty. Someday, they will clean it up.”

In the mid-1970s, the Clean Water and Clean Air Acts were legislative victories, a pushback against general corporate indifference to and outright hostility towards anything and everything other than maximizing profit. Pretty cold, not unexpected; a mantra taught in business-school seminaries. With few exceptions, the folks who run corporations are not your friends, despite assurances to the contrary. The needs of living creatures are antithetical to those that fuel corporate growth; how often do we hear their complaints, that regulations stifle the free market, are bad for economic prosperity and so on. Human and environmental health on the chopping block.

Listen up corporate chieftains; In the beginning, there were no regulations. A government, protective of its people, responded to the corporate, “What, Me Worry?” attitude towards environmental degradation and human health. The passage of laws and regulations expressed a vision of a better life, attempting to rein in bad behavior and support societal improvements. But a law without its enforcement is like chicken soup without the chicken.

Years, decades passed. Raw sewage no longer flowed directly into the River, nonetheless the original question/response remained relevant; can I swim in (drink from) the River?

In the early 1990’s, a few, like-minded folks sat around the kitchen table and came up with the Housatonic River Initiative. “…they will clean it up” became “we will become the “squeaky wheel” and will not stop squeaking until “they clean it up,”  Our tagline: A fishable, swimmable river.

Fast-forward almost thirty years, skipping over the countless meetings, the listening and informational sessions, the arrivals and departures of employees of and appointees to a variety of organizations and administrations, the promises and commitments that were made, only to be broken and unfulfilled.

The river’s fate is almost certainly a fait accompli. Signed and sealed.

Many elements within the settlement are river-and-people positive. No argument. Another toxic disposal site in Berkshire County? From my perspective, a huge disappointment, another broken promise and what ultimately will likely be a (another) tragic misstep. Unquestionably, G.E.s a winner. For the rest of us, the crystal ball clouds over. If the past informs the future, landfills eventually leak. All of them. At best, this new one is a mismatch, a temporary patch on a long-term problem. Under the rug, out of sight, everyone else leaves town.

From the tree-tops, the signers’ chorus sings that it’s the best of all possible outcomes, a win/win document…They may be right. But in this moment I only see the shame, their public embrace of the single element everyone one of them vowed to unequivocally prevent from ever occurring. I cannot ignore the man in the shadows, handing out dollar bills outside the voting booth. This capitulation is a painful lesson, a recognition of the power ceded to corporations whose interests trump those of the communities in which they exist, the endless pursuit of profits over the health and well-being of people. As they say when looking for clues or answers; follow the money.

A ray of light shines on our Department of Environmental Protection. Honoring their commitment to oppose any new landfills, they declined to participate in the mediation, withholding their consent. Leading by example.

I won’t take up any more of your time to discuss and further defend my/HRI’s position. The settlement’s terms are being opposed/defended by good people with the best intentions; their positions have not come easily. But once again as it has previously been, this settlement, affecting the health, well-being and safety of all of us was made behind closed doors, in secret. We thought/hoped this time it would be different.

It is not even the outcome that has provoked me, it’s the manner by which it was arrived at. The unruly public was not to be trusted, not permitted to decide our own fate. A case of representative government gone wrong, foregoing the bedrock of democratic decision-making, the town-meeting. Discuss, then decide; we vote on budgets, on banning plastic bags and water bottles, on cannabis-related issues, proposed developments, on almost every issue of importance facing our towns. Except on this one.

From a high near 80% in the 1960’s, the public’s trust in their government currently hovers around 17%; might there be some connection between those numbers and the (public-be-damned) decision-making process under question?      

From our river to the nation, the system is topsy-turvy, often protecting those (corporate interests) who need it least, not necessarily by design but through disinterest and fatigue, consequently allowing the relentless chorus of corporate self-interest to drown out the rest of us.

The folks who have given up, believing they are powerless, their actions meaningless, who no longer vote or show up; they are just plain wrong. In speech and in silence, Greta’s eloquence makes the case. it’s a numbers game and our side has the numbers. Clinton gave us, “It’s the economy, stupid.” Let’s tape to our walls a big idea that’s easy to remember, “Democracy is not a spectator sport.” To not participate is to abdicate.

It has always been a question about who shows up. On one side, a stack of hundred dollar bills reach up to the sky. The power, influence and political races that can now legally be bought. The people-be-damned side is in active pursuit of more, of what they already have too much of. They don’t have to show up, they hire people to stand in line for them (lobbyists, trolls, misinformation campaigns etc.) But we have the people, whose power and self-interest has yet to be fully expressed, either in the voting booth or in the streets. Another candidate for the wall: you need to show up to be counted. We need to express our needs; we need to form a noisier chorus.

The fate of the river has been decided and sealed. The fate of our country is a work in progress.

Note: The HRI’s mission has been to educate about and advocate for the health and well-being of the river, the co-dependent natural systems and the people residing in Berkshire County. Our positions have been defined by our mission and not by the seduction of shortcuts or financial inducement. Our imagination and vision is not constrained by precedent or what we’ve been told is impossible. Our goals have been lofty but not unachievable. We understand the need for compromise and on many occasions have acted accordingly, but compromise is not always advisable when advocating for core principles regarding health and safety.

Benno Friedman

Benno with bucket of PCB contaminated sediment, MDEP meeting 1993

Here’s the text of HRI’s letter to EPA Attorney Tim Conway explaining HRI’s decision not to sign the Settlement Agreement:

January 30, 2020
Attorney Timothy Conway
United  States Environmental Protection Agency,  Region  1
5 Post Office Square, Suite 100
Boston, MA 02109-3912
Sent via electronic mail  to: <conway.tim@epa.gov>

Dear Tim:
Thank you and your team for trying to craft a settlement. Unfortunately, and despite several notable changes made to previous version, the Housatonic River Initiative is unable to support this “mediation” agreement as currently written and presented. At our meeting with the EPA at Lee Town Hall, we asked if GE would meet and negotiate with us. We have never heard back from EPA on this request.

In the hope that additional improvements are achievable, HRI is requesting additional time to participate in meaningful dialogue with the EPA and GE, a step as yet to be afforded to our organization.

Our position is, and has always been that no neighborhood should have to live near a PCB toxic  waste dump, especially one newly created to expedite GE’s participation in a settlement, trading  an improvement to GE’s bottom line for the health and safety of our citizens. Despite the  significant lure of reaching an illusive closure, the risk of a landfill, destined to fail (as they all  eventually do) should compel all parties, even GE, to put aside the promise of cost savings for  the greater good and moral imperative of human and environmental health and safety. Berkshire  County residents have too long been exposed to too many sources of PCBs, deposited by GE in  its hasty pursuit of increased profits.

On Wednesday, the EPA provided us the most recent (Final?) Version of the mediation agreement  with significant material changes, missing monetary figures and a constellation of other  specifics. With only a 24 hour deadline to review and to craft comments and accompanied by considerable pressure from the EPA for HRI to make the decision to accept this as the Final  Version or not, we’ve experienced this most recent phase as a burden placed on us, citizens who  are trying to participate in the public process yet who have other, competing professional  commitments in our lives.

It’s fascinating how far a head will turn away from or toward a position, lubricated by the promise of unexpected money. Although the current positions held by the various town-executives have not yet been publicly revealed, subsequent to the visual impact of the landfills gifted to the city of Pittsfield, the people living along the Housatonic’s north-south corridor have  appeared to be almost unanimous in their opposition to the creation of an additional PCB landfill  in Berkshire County. The HRI has done its best to be the intermediary advocate for those people.  Despite the sounds of coins dropping into the towns’ coffers, providing for the purchase of a  new police cruiser or snowplow, I suspect they will not be pleased.

Note:  One clause in the mediation agreement is quite concerning:

“GE shall identify all non-community and private water supply wells currently within 500 feet of the Upland Disposal Facility consolidation area. Unless the well owner does not consent, GE shall pay the installation cost of a connection to public water. In the event any new water users (e.g. new construction) move within 500 feet of the Upland Disposal Facility consolidation area during construction or operation and maintenance, GE shall pay the installation cost of a connection to public water.”

To decommission citizens’ domestic wells that are in proximity to the proposed TSCA level dump,  this appears to indicate that the EPA believes the wells and the respective aquifer(s) and surrounding groundwater could be at risk of becoming contaminated by PCBs and other toxins that will be placed in the dump.

Attached is a list of improvements that we believe will enhance the settlement. Please contact me  to arrange a meeting with EPA and/or GE.

Here is the list of additional improvements suggested by HRI and HEAL:

EPA MEDIATION HRI / HEAL ADDITIONAL PROPOSALS FOR NEGOTIATIONS November 30, 2020 (privileged and confidential)

1. Create an area for pilot testing of new technologies. This could be in the landfill or a separate staging area. Treat sediment with emerging innovative PCB-destruction technology. When effective treatment is evident, remediate entire landfill. If after 20 years no adequate treatment if found, relocate contaminated sediment to out of state TSCA licensed landfill.

2. Open up mediation ideas to the public. Allow public discussions.

3. Renew HRI TAG grant

4. Data at the site is old. New baseline studies in CT and MA for biota, sediment, banks, floodplain, tributaries, water column, air, tree bark, etc.

5. Restore an environmental science team or biologists to the site.

6. Formal public comment periods for all documents relating to Reissued RCRA Permit for Rest of River.

7. CCC will be sustained, with GE mandated to provide in person updates and answer questions at CCC meetings.

8. To be provided sufficient funds allowing the occasional hire of 3rd party consultants or advisory groups to independently corroborate achievement of clean up standards,data collected by GE, or even EPA’s consultants, regarding a variety of actions/activities prescribed by the revised clean up of “Rest of River.”

9. Comprehensive peer-reviewed human and ecologic risk assessments related to siting a 1.3M to 3M cubic yard PCB (averaged to <50ppm) TSCA-level dump at one of the proposed sites. HRI to be involved with choosing peer reviewers.

10. As relevant to the prescribed actions in Attachment C: aggressive resampling to insure removed and remaining PCB levels of soil and sediment are what they should be.

11. Technical Assistance Services for Communities (TASC) for Connecticut reaches. 

12. Install footbridge across river from West Cornwall side to Sharon side, to perhaps terminate at Housatonic Meadows State Campground.

13. Whenever bridge reconstruction is required in Connecticut, General Electric will be responsible to remove and transport any PCB contamination discovered as part of the reconstruction design.

14.Stevenson Dam: comprehensive sampling, testing, and characterizing of millions of cubic yards of heavily contaminated sediment. Removal action of sediment to be dewatered and trucked to Lenox Dale.

15. Install live streaming camera at landfill, Wood’s Pond, active working sites, and make available on EPA Housatonic River website.

16.Sample, test, and characterize COCs behind Bulls Bridge Dam. If levels are significant, removal action of sediment to be dewatered and trucked to Lenox Dale.

17. Remove Falls Village dam and contaminated sediment. Install fish ladder at Falls Village dam site

Sincerely,
Tim Gray, Executive Director, and  on behalf of the Board of Directors, Housatonic River  Initiative, Inc.
P O Box 321
Lenox Dale,  MA
413-446-2520
<housriverkeeper@gmail.com>