“The retreat brings people together, builds community in the forest, gets participants outside and off their screens, and uses nature sustainably to heal and inspire minds and souls,” stated Great Mountain Forest Executive Director Michael Zafros. Retreat registration closes on July 30.
In a letter to the editor, Pooja Prema of Great Barrington, Mass., writes, "I advocate for leaving the river alone until more effective natural remediation technologies are discovered within the next two to 10 years, which could be done in situ (without dredging). This technology most likely already exists"
In a letter to the editor, Nan Wile writes, "Many of us danced around the block with the board and DEP several years ago, over the fate of a brownfield in downtown Great Barrington, and the decisions were permissive and disappointing."
I am all for science and sadly EPA, in this fight, has proven they are only as good as the standards we hold them to. Let the EPA know there will not be a local dump, period.
"At EPA there’s a big morale issue at the staff level. It’s awful. Some employees wouldn’t normally think of leaving, but after two years of this, they wonder what they should do. I was counseling people in their 30s to hunker down for the longer run. But how can the EPA people work for a President who lies every day?”
-- Jim Murphy, former Community Involvement Coordinator for Environmental Protection Agency Region 1 that comprises New England
GE has also challenged the EPA's order to dispose of the contaminated sediment at an out-of-state facility, insisting it wants to establish dumps for the material dredged from the river in Lenox Dale, near Goose Pond in Lee and on land adjacent to Rising Pond, an impoundment on the river in the village of Housatonic.
When asked about one of the biggest, and longest running, environmental issues in the Berkshires—cleaning up the Housatonic River from PCB pollution dumped decades ago by General Electric—Gonzalez said he agrees with local communities and the EPA that the toxins should be “safely disposed offsite.”
The summer-long event combines a gallery space featuring paintings of the outdoors by local artists, environmental literature on display, and a live panel of speakers featuring prominent movers and shakers in the Housatonic River and Hudson River cleanup efforts.
Berkshire County residents have been vehemently and consistently opposed to dumping PCB waste in any of the three locations that GE has proposed – Woods Pond, Rising Pond, and Lenox Dale. EPA’s final permit required GE to transport all PCB waste off-site to a licensed PCB disposal facility.
If the Region were to roll up its sleeves, as it were, and revise the remanded permit, the Housatonic could yet remain free from the risks and burdens of PCB landfills.
Steingraber said she cannot protect her children from harm or plan for their future without taking climate action. For her, engaging in climate activism is of the same importance as other safety precautions like vaccinations or paying attention to car seat recalls.
Neal added, however, that even though great gains have been made in the field of renewable energy, "plentiful natural gas" should remain an option, in part because it "does less harm" to the environment.
In his letter to the editor, Benno Friedman writes: “In a fair and accurate fashion, the article did not shy away from describing a complex and complicated set of issues and arguments.”
GE has formally objected to EPA’s final cleanup remedy, challenging the agency’s directive to transport and dispose of the PCB waste to an off-site facility.
Although EPA’s final remedy requires the General Electric Company to transport and dispose of PCB waste in a federally approved landfill, the company is fighting tooth and nail to dispose of contaminated waste locally.
