Pittsfield City Council: Make Polluters Pay

PITTSFIELD, Mass.— The City Council supports statewide efforts to make the largest polluters pay. 

On Tuesday, it voted to back Bill H.1014/S.588, "An Act Establishing a Climate Change Superfund," which is expected to generate $75 billion over 25 years from the largest oil and gas companies.  Councilor At Large Alisa Costa and Ward 1 Councilor Kenneth Warren requested their colleagues' support for the legislation. 

"I think it's really important to hold businesses accountable in ways that we are not able to do right now," Costa said. 

"…We see the impacts of climate on our community every day, whether it's our drought, fires, the increasing cost to just maintain our homes, upgrade, or build now. I mean, it just impacts so much in our community and our ability to thrive, never mind the rising of asthma in children and all those other things. So I think it's really important that we create the tools that will hold businesses accountable, because their goal isn't to protect us. Their goal is to make money. It's our job as city council and as government to protect our citizens and our climate." 

Earlier this month, climate activists gathered at Westside Riverway Park to discuss the Make Polluters Pay bill and how climate change has affected the region. 

Warren explained that municipalities are supporting this, and Pittsfield would be the first in Berkshire County.  He pointed to the city’s struggles with PCB pollution after General Electric vacated the area, and the struggle to mitigate damage even after a legal settlement. 

"So I think the Superfund is a great idea," he said. 

"It leverages pay in from the companies that do this, and all we're doing is approving it so that the state can see that there is interest in this." 

Jane Winn, former executive director of the Berkshire Environmental Action Team, said those who polluted the atmosphere should pay for the damage.

"Even as climate costs rise, fossil fuel profits continue to soar. The payers into the Climate Superfund will be fossil fuel extractors that were responsible for the most emissions, limiting the total number of payers to the biggest polluters, those who polluted the most," she said during public comment. 

"Community members shouldn't have to pay for the full cost of bigger, better road stream crossings that won't wash away with our more intense storms. We shouldn't have to bear the full cost of fighting wildfires made much more likely by drought caused by climate change. We shouldn't have to pay for retrofitting municipal buildings to add air filters to keep wildfire smoke from polluting our indoor air and add air conditioning, something that wasn't necessary when I was growing up in Pittsfield."

"Municipal resolutions show power. When our city council shows their support for Make Polluters Pay, they send a clear signal along with a literal letter to the State House: We want climate resilience, and the worst polluters should have to pay their fair share." 

The resolution explains that Pittsfield needs additional funding for necessary climate adaptation and resilience projects, and the proposed state legislation allocates 40 percent of the funding to projects

benefitting environmental justice communities.  

"If passed, this bill would establish a climate change superfund into which the largest oil and gas companies would pay $75 billion over 25 years, with each company's share proportional to their contribution to global greenhouse gas emissions between 2000 and 2018 and would provide the means for Pittsfield and other cities like it to adapt to climate impacts more adequately, equitably and meaningfully," the resolution reads. 

Ward 3 Councilor Matthew Wrinn voted in opposition.  

"I don't think I know enough, and I've talked to a few of my people that I represent, and this is more of a want than a need, I think, so I don't think I could support it tonight," he explained. 

"But I definitely, personally think this is a good idea in the right direction, but I'm leaning towards respecting my constituents." 

Horizons Program Helps Miss Hall's Students Find Their Path

By Breanna SteeleiBerkshires Staff
04:49PM / Sunday, November 09, 2025

The Horizons program at Miss Hall's School teaches civic engagement, social justice and self-awareness. The last two years of the program include volunteering and internships in students' fields of interest. 

PITTSFIELD, Mass. — Students at Miss Hall's School are honing in on their interests with the Horizons program.

 

The program helps students focus on the personal and civic development. Starting in Grade 9, they explore their identity, do a ceramics project and work in the greenhouse. As sophomores, they focus on civic engagement and global citizenship. As juniors and seniors, they are able to volunteer and intern at places that interest them.

 

"We take that piece of looking at self and the student as a whole person, and then applying that sophomore year, looking at what does being civically engaged look like. What does it look like here at Miss Hall's, what does it look like in our community? And then what does it look like globally?" said program Director Caterina Penna.

 

"We do have international students, and also students from all over the country. ... it is the issues that they care about most that we talk about here."

 

Penna said the dicussions include how they could advocate on these issues and what pathways are available locally and globally.

 

Miss Hall's is a day and boarding high school for girls, educating about 200 students from more than 20 countries and a dozen states. 

 

The school has had more than 75 site partners throughout the county; this year, about 50 organizations and businesses are working with students. One of the newest partners is Berkshire Design Inc., as some students had brought up an interest in architecture and working with local architects.