PCBs in Connecticut section of Housatonic River still a concern

 “The Rest of the River.” That is the name of the plan to clean the Housatonic River from south of the former General Electric plant in Pittsfield, Mass., to its confluence with Long Island Sound. 

Decades and hundreds of millions of dollars will be spent removing polychlorinated biphenals (PCBs) from the sediment under the 139 miles of river and along the shorelines. At the Pittsfield plant, just south of the river’s headwaters, the toxic chemical used in the manufacture of electrical transformers made its way into the river for 45 years, until PCBs were banned in 1977.

Those who have been involved with the process for many years fear that even the settlement agreement between the federal Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and GE won’t be enough — especially for the Connecticut portion of the river, which will receive far less from the consent decree than other parts of the river up north.

At a meeting of the Citizens Coordinating Council, held at Kent Town Hall on April 15, an update by representatives of the federal EPA, the state Department of Energy and Environmental Protection (DEEP) and a testing contractor offered a lot of data.

The council usually meets in Massachusetts, but has a Connecticut subcommittee that includes Lynn Fowler, a North Canaan representative to the Housatonic River Commission, and Judy Herkimer, of Cornwall and the Housatonic Environmental Action League. 

The latest sediment sampling report for PCB levels was given by Project Manager Dean Tagliaferro. A summary compares PCB levels in samples collected at various depths and reaches. There are 16 divisions in Connecticut for testing purposes; the statistics compare those taken prior to cleanup activities and from 1998 to 2005. 

There is a notable decrease. A maximum concentration tested at 2.33 milligrams per kilogram, down from a high of about 8. While Connecticut has no set standard for an “acceptable” level, Tagliaferro said 1 mg/kg is the guideline typically used.

Since 1977, an advisory to not eat fish from the Housatonic has been in force — but it was noted that lots of people still do. Many area residents rely on hunting and fishing to augment their food supply. There was also mention of missing warning signs that had been posted along the river, Herkimer said. 

In  1991, the EPA issued a Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA) Corrective Action Permit to GE, which appealed for modifications. Since 1994, cleanup has been focused in Pittsfield, at the 254-acre, now-abandoned facility, Silver Lake was a hotbed of PCBs. It now has a sealed bed. The river was diverted and a portion dredged. 

Downstream, a list of potential impacts await clean-up.  Major storms have proven the theory that more PCBs may still be stirred up from sediment and can wash downstream.

Testing of fish has been ongoing. The fish eat plants and larvae and store contaminants they may contain, such as PCBs, in their flesh and fat. It is a good barometer of river health. Studies are conducted every two years. 

PCB levels dropped considerably at the start of the cleanup and have leveled off, Dick McGrath, of the environmental consultant  The Isosceles Group said, during a presentation that included numerous graphs.

Susan Peterson of DEEP is involved with the fish testing. The area near the Covered Bridge in Cornwall is one of a handful of testing sites. She agreed that signage is an issue. Over the years, they are destroyed or likely stolen. She promised to work on getting more posted.

She is also very concerned about the six dams, including the Great Falls dam in Salisbury and Falls Village; and Bull’s Bridge in Kent. All but one of the dams on the Housatonic are owned by power company First Light. 

Even without the testing, no one is disputing the assumption that the highest concentrations of PCBs are behind those dams. 

What happens when a dam is disturbed, either for removal, repair or by catastrophe? 

A massive release of PCBs is the fear. Peterson raised the concern that cleanup costs, no matter how far into the future, should be GE’s responsibility, and not fall to dam owners or the state.

Chilling words were offered by Tim Gray, of the Lee, Mass., Housatonic River Initiative and Peter deFur, PhD., an environmental scientist with Environmental Stewardship Concepts and an expert in the field of PCBs and other toxins. DeFur, a  Connecticut native, has consulted on the project for 12 years.

Gray, a Housatonic Riverkeeper in both states, talked about the far-reaching effects. 

“PCBs and mercury are the most prevalent contaminants in the world’s food supply,” he said. “The high PCBs in whale blubber eaten in Alaska could have come from the Housatonic or the Hudson. Sites like Pittsfield are still leaching them.” 

As far as the “rest of the river” goes, “The consent decree is generally called a 25-percent cleanup because it’s not going to be enough. I always feel like we have one shot to get this right.”

None of the environmental experts on hand disagreed with deFur’s assessments, which included a call for testing in the state’s floodplains, and that the situation remains very serious.

He referred to reports that indicate Connecticut is underestimating the use of river for consumption, and doesn’t account for all the fish and other aquatic life that people catch and eat. 

“I don’t know of any other state that would not put out a complete ban based on the numbers in the Housatonic. The levels may have dropped significantly since the dumping stopped, but the fact is, recent tests show the fish are still extremely contaminated.”

The consent decree and all reports having to do with the project are available at www.epa.gov/region1. Rest of River is filed under miscellaneous.