Complexities of the Rest of River Cleanup Plan and Lack of Transparency in Decision-Making

When news headlines refer to “the Housatonic River clean-up,” some assume that the GE-funded and U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)-approved remediation work will remove all PCB contamination and return the river to a safe, healthy state.

But as Bob Jones, chair of the Select Board in the Town of Lee, Massachusetts, explains in this podcast conversation, that’s not the case. The “Rest of River” cleanup agreement approved in 2020 by the Select Boards of Lee, Lenox, Stockbridge, Great Barrington and Sheffield will not remove all of the PCBs. Jones argues that perhaps as little as 30 percent of the contamination that makes the river and surrounding area unhealthy for people and wildlife will be removed.

As a result, he told me, “You and I will never eat fish out of the Housatonic River.”

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