WGXC-90.7 FM

GE plan to remove PCBs from Housatonic River gets opposition

Mar 06, 2020 12:31 am
Mikhaela Singleton reports for News10 in Albany that environmental activists in Massachusetts are upset about General Electric's plan to scoop PCBs out of the the Housatonic River, and put the toxic chemicals on the riverside. “Take it out of the river and dump it on the side of the river, that’s what they want to do. It’s absurd,” said Tim Gray, director of the Housatonic River Initiative. The contaminated river soil would be out of the river, but still remain in Lee, Massachusetts. "There are three schools in the proximity of this dump. Our property values around here are already dropping. Realtors have already told us that people have backed out of sales for homes around this neighborhood because they find out about the toxic dump,” Gray said. But Bryan Olson, director of the EPA’s Superfund Program, does not think the landfill will be a problem. “We are more concerned about their exposure to the river itself right now and the floodplains and the people living in the floodplain than we are with the landfill itself,” Olson said. “We feel that the landfill can be absolutely safe, because we will completely eliminate exposure.” Read more about this story at the News10 website.