The cleanup on land and in the Housatonic River of sediments and soils impacted by GE’s legacy operations in Pittsfield has progressed under an October 2000 Consent Decree reflecting a comprehensive settlement agreement among several parties, including GE, the U.S. EPA, the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, the State of Connecticut, and the City of Pittsfield.

The focus of GE’s remedial efforts over the past two decades has been GE’s former manufacturing facility in Pittsfield, the Housatonic River and floodplains in the first two miles downstream of that facility, and associated other properties and areas within the City of Pittsfield, including Silver Lake and Unkamet Brook, and the demolition and remediation of two million square feet of manufacturing space and associated property at the former Pittsfield facility.

The Consent Decree required GE to perform remedial activities in specified locations including the Housatonic River, its riverbanks and its floodplains. Remediation of the sediment and soil in all impacted areas other than the “Rest of River” (i.e., the portion of the river and floodplain downstream from the confluence of the East and West Branches in Pittsfield) is now complete. Approximately 186,000 cubic yards of soil and sediment were safely removed for appropriate disposal during earlier phases of work. All work, including remedy selection and disposal of material, was approved and overseen by the U.S. EPA and, in part, conducted by the U.S. EPA.

Post-remediation sampling of soil and sediments demonstrate that the remedial actions were effective. For example, all PCB-containing sediments were removed from the Upper ½ Mile Reach of the River adjacent to the former GE Pittsfield facility, and there has been a greater than 98 percent reduction in PCB concentrations in the top six inches of sediments over the next 1.5 miles of river cleanup, known as the 1.5 Mile Reach. With the completion of these remedial activities, GE’s focus is now on the Rest of River remediation.