PCB Contamination in Pittsfield, MA and the Housatonic River

From 1929 through 1977, the General Electric company (GE) used PCBs (polychlorinated bipheyls) in the production of electrical transformers at its manufacturing plant in Pittsfield, Massachusetts. As with many manufacturing facilities, leaks and spills of the PCBs occurred in the manufacturing process. PCBs have been found not only at the factory site, but also in the adjacent Housatonic River, in sites used to landfill the factory wastes, and at municipal and residential properties that received contaminated fill from the factory site. PCBs have been detected in the Houstonic River downstream of the facility through Connecticut and down to Long Island Sound.

Throughout the 1970s, 1980s, and 1990s, the problem has been studied and some cleanup of the contaminated sites has occurred. Concerned citizens and state and federal agencies have worked to get GE to identify the contaminated sites and clean them up. It has been a long, complicated process.

Housatonic River Watershed

On September 24, 1998, GE and the U. S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) reached an agreement to clean up PCB contamination in Pittsfield and along the Housatonic River. One year later, the consent decree, a legally binding document that specifies the details of the clean up process, was made public. The estimated cost of the clean-up ranges betweeen $150 million and $250 million. A separate settlement was made to clean up the contaminated residential properites. And future studies of how to clean up the areas greater than 2 miles downstream is ongoing.

This web site contains detailed information on PCBs, the history of the PCB contamination in Pittsfield, and the clean up process. It was created for use in an Environmental Science course at Middlebury College. Your comments and suggestions are most welcome. Please contact Mary Gaudette at mgaudett@middlebury.edu.