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Michael Case, seen here at a veterans event two years ago, took over the DCR position on Feb. 1.

Governor Appoints Michael Case to DCR Regional Director Post

By Andy McKeeveriBerkshires Staff
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PITTSFIELD, Mass. — The governor has tapped Michael Case to head the Western Regional office of the Department of Conservation and Recreation.
 
Case took over the job on Feb. 1 and now oversees 39 parks from Mount Holyoke west, including Pittsfield State Forest, Mount Tom, and Mount Greylock. 
 
"I've been a Berkshires guy all my life. I'm an outdoors guy. I couldn't say no," Case said on Friday. 
 
The position is administrative and manages all of the state parks in the region. He oversees a team of district managers. The goal under Commissioner Leo Roy is to encourage usage of the state parks and "open up opportunities", whether it be hunting or hiking or other types of recreation. 
 
"Commissioner Roy is focused on getting people to use the parks," Case said. 
 
Case said one of his goals would be to increase the opportunities for camping by bringing more cabins and yurts to state parks. At October Mountain, there are three yurts that sell out quickly and Case said, "I would like to put some more in some of the other parks."
 
He added "we're putting a lot of money on the gravel roads" through parks, allowing residents to have better access.
 
Case spent 38 years in the military, retiring as a command sergeant major, and served four tours of duty. He said the governor's office picked him partially because of the leadership qualities he'd shown in the military. Beyond that, he also was an officer with the Pittsfield Police Department, seats on the Central Berkshire Regional School Committee and is a selectman in the town of Washington.
 
He also has been active in local veterans affairs and Republican politics, and is on the ballot this March 1 for Republican State Committee member.
 
The governor also appointed him on Monday as chairman the board of trustees at the Soldiers Home in Holyoke. There his focus will be first on finding a new superintendent after both the superintendent and the deputy resigned last year. 
 
"The rest is to provide oversight and leadership," Case said. 
 
The Soldiers Home is a fully accredited facility providing health care and full-time residential accommodations for veterans. It is state funded.
 
That unpaid position intrigued him because he wants to help serve veterans when they are at their most vulnerable. And being an avid outdoorsmen, Case said he leaves the DCR offices on South Street everyday with a smile on his face.
 
"I'm just really excited to fill them both," Case said.
 
Robert Mellace had been the DCR regional director until July 2015, when he retired. Since then the position has been filled on interim basis until Case's appointment. Case also replaces Steven Como as the chairman of the Soldiers Home. 

Tags: appointments,   DCR,   state officials,   veterans services,   

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EPA Lays Out Draft Plan for PCB Remediation in Pittsfield

By Brittany PolitoiBerkshires Staff

Ward 4 Councilor James Conant requested the meeting be held at Herberg Middle School as his ward will be most affected. 

PITTSFIELD, Mass. — U.S. The Environmental Protection Agency and General Electric have a preliminary plan to remediate polychlorinated biphenyls from the city's Rest of River stretch by 2032.

"We're going to implement the remedy, move on, and in five years we can be done with the majority of the issues in Pittsfield," Project Manager Dean Tagliaferro said during a hearing on Wednesday.

"The goal is to restore the (Housatonic) river, make the river an asset. Right now, it's a liability."

The PCB-polluted "Rest of River" stretches nearly 125 miles from the confluence of the East and West Branches of the river in Pittsfield to the end of Reach 16 just before Long Island Sound in Connecticut.  The city's five-mile reach, 5A, goes from the confluence to the wastewater treatment plant and includes river channels, banks, backwaters, and 325 acres of floodplains.

The event was held at Herberg Middle School, as Ward 4 Councilor James Conant wanted to ensure that the residents who will be most affected by the cleanup didn't have to travel far.

Conant emphasized that "nothing is set in actual stone" and it will not be solidified for many months.

In February 2020, the Rest of River settlement agreement that outlines the continued cleanup was signed by the U.S. EPA, GE, the state, the city of Pittsfield, the towns of Lenox, Lee, Stockbridge, Great Barrington, and Sheffield, and other interested parties.

Remediation has been in progress since the 1970s, including 27 cleanups. The remedy settled in 2020 includes the removal of one million cubic yards of contaminated sediment and floodplain soils, an 89 percent reduction of downstream transport of PCBs, an upland disposal facility located near Woods Pond (which has been contested by Southern Berkshire residents) as well as offsite disposal, and the removal of two dams.

The estimated cost is about $576 million and will take about 13 years to complete once construction begins.

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