Pittsfield Cooperative Bank Appoints VP OfCommercial Banking

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PITTSFIELD, Mass. — The Pittsfield Cooperative Bank has announced that Matthew P. Lauro has joined the bank as Vice President/ Commercial Banking.
 
Matthew's 10 plus years of industry experience is wide ranging and comprehensive, working for Fidelity Management and Research as a Credit Research Associate, Longfellow Investment Management as a Senior Credit Analyst and State Street Bank as Vice President, Credit Analyst for Leveraged Lending. Most recently, Matt held the title of Vice President of Emerging Markets. In this role he ran a foreign exchange and rates product specializing in the Latin American region of behalf of State Street Bank.
 
Matthew recently moved to Berkshire County with his wife Susanna, an attorney, and their dog Tony. He earned his degree at RPI, where he was a member of the football team, 2 years as Captain.
 
"Matthew brings a much-needed high level of expertise in the area of industrial and commercial real estate financing to the Berkshires and we are proud to welcome Matthew and his wife to the Berkshires as we
believe in local talent," said J. Jay Anderson, President and CEO of the Pittsfield Cooperative Bank.
 
In this position, Matthew will be responsible for managing and growing the bank's commercial loan portfolio.
 
"Banking is a personal business. Matthew is an experienced lender who will help make our community a better place to live, work and play and he joins a team that – as a whole- is truly invested in our little niche in the Berkshires," said  Anderson.
 
Matthew is located in the South Street Main Office at 70 South St., Pittsfield and may be reached at 413.629.1644.
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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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