An informational public meeting detailing the U.S. EPA’s proposal to clean the Housatonic River will be held in Lenox tonight.
The 13-year, $613 million Rest of the River plan would involve active corrective measures along 10-and-a half miles of the river from Pittsfield to Lenox.
General Electric would pay for the project as its Pittsfield plant released PCBs, or polychlorinated biphenyls, into the waterway from the 1930s until the substance was banned in 1977.
“I have questions like I think a lot of people do about just how much of the PCBs we are going to get out and how long that process will take,” said State Senator Ben Downing, a Democrat from Pittsfield. “I’ve heard those questions in particular from the neighbors in the neighborhoods along the river who have some concerns about how this is will impact their quality of life.”
The meeting at Lenox Memorial Middle and High School begins at 6 o’clock with a poster session. A presentation starts at 7, followed by a question and answer period.
