BEAT Discusses Possible Impacts of Constitution Pipeline

10:19AM / Tuesday, August 11, 2026Print Story | Email Story

PITTSFIELD, Mass. — Berkshire Environmental Action Team (BEAT), Pipe Line Awareness Network for the Northeast (PLAN-E), and Stop the Con are inviting concerned citizens to partake in a discussion on the possible impacts of the Constitution Pipeline for New England.

Join Cathy Kristofferson of Pipe Line Awareness Network for the North East (PLAN-NE) and Rosemary Wessel of Berkshire Environmental Action Team (BEAT) for a presentation and discussion of the Constitution Pipeline’s potential impacts on the Northeast region.

According to a press release:

The rise in demand for data centers is likely the most prevalent driving force behind proposals to build and expand pipelines across the country. The Constitution Pipeline would transmit natural gas from the fracking fields of Pennsylvania to a major pipeline hub in Wright, New York, just west of Albany, where it would then be brought into New England. Pipeline expansion could spur the growth of data centers in New England, with proposals for new locations at a scale of up to six times the size of the current largest centers.

Learn about the market and political factors driving current gas transmission expansion and what the construction of Constitution Pipeline could mean to our local communities and the environment, and what you can do to stop it.

This presentation is part of a series of community events throughout the region impacted by the Constitution pipeline proposal.

Tags: BEAT,

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EPA, GE Conducting Vernal Pool Study on Housatonic River

By Brittany PolitoiBerkshires Staff
11:44AM / Tuesday, August 11, 2026

PITTSFIELD, Mass. — A pilot study will determine the best way to remediate PCBs, or polychlorinated biphenyls, from vernal pools in the Housatonic River.

Last month, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and General Electric held an open house for the Vernal Pool Pilot Study on Reach 5A, a five-mile stretch between the river's confluence and Lenox border. Despite the rain, several people attended the event at the Berkshire Athenaeum.

EPA project manager Josh Fontaine explained that it is an evaluation of which remediation method to use for the remaining vernal pools in Reach 5A.

"We're going to be testing two different methods. One is an excavation method, which we already know has been very successful with another vernal pool cleaned up much earlier in the project," he said.

"And then the other is the application of two different carbon amendments. It would be the application of powdered activated carbon and the application of granulated activated carbon."

Ten vernal pools will be cleaned using these methods: five with excavation and five with active carbon; seven additional vernal pools will be monitored as controls. Construction will be complete around October, but the pools will be left to their natural processes and monitored with surveys and sampling for three years.

Fontaine said there is no frontrunner for methodology.

"We know the excavation method is effective, but we would like to see if the less invasive method of using the amendment will be as effective for potential use," he said.

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