MassDOT Sets Public Meetings on Capital Investment Plan

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BOSTON — The Massachusetts Department of Transportation will hold a series of public meetings throughout the commonwealth to solicit public input on its draft multibillion dollar MassDOT and MBTA Capital Investment Plan Update for fiscal years 2019-2023. 
 
This program covers long-term highway, aeronautics, rail, and transit investments.
 
The meetings will begin on Tuesday, May 15, in Boston and continue for two weeks. The draft CIP includes all MassDOT highway and municipal projects, regional airports, rail, and transit, including MBTA and Regional Transit Authorities as well as the Registry of Motor Vehicles.
 
MassDOT will hold two meetings in Western Massachusetts at Springfield and Pittsfield: 
 
Thursday, May 17, 6:30 p.m.
 
Pioneer Valley Planning Commission, 60 Congress St., Springfield
 
 
Tuesday, May 22, 5:30 p.m.
 
Berkshire Regional Planning Commission, 1 Fenn St., Suite 201, Pittsfield
 
A copy of the Draft CIP presentation is available at www.mass.gov/massdot/cip. Public comments may be submitted via email to masscip@state.ma.us.

Tags: capital budget,   MassDOT,   public hearing,   public transportation,   

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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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