GE Turns Over Parcels To PEDA
Begining in March, 2005, GE stared turning over some of its property, the 20s & 30s complexes, to the Pittsfield Economic Development Authority (PEDA). Certain restrictions have been placed on the use of those properties. (see below) The former GE buildings that were located on these properties have been demolished. PEDA has submitted an Environmental Notification Form for its plans to begin building at the new William Stanley Business Park. BEAT still has questions about the pipes, tunnels, and other structures left underground.
Begining in March, 2005, GE stared turning over some of its property, the 20s & 30s complexes, to the Pittsfield Economic Development Authority (PEDA). Certain restrictions have been placed on the use of those properties. (see below) The former GE buildings that were located on these properties have been demolished. PEDA has submitted an Environmental Notification Form for its plans to begin building at the new William Stanley Business Park. BEAT still has questions about the pipes, tunnels, and other structures left underground.
June 6, 2007 – The area that was under discussion at the PEDA meeting (see 4/24/07) is not, as far as EPA can tell, the area where crushed building debris has been placed since the Consent Decree was signed. EPA believes the area where PEDA proposes to put its new building is the “20s Complex” and is in the location where buildings were demolished 10 to 20+ years ago.
BEAT is extrememly concerned, in that GE workers have said that buildings were demolished with basements full of PCB oil. How well has this location been tested? Is anyone testing the material that is currently being drilled into? Where did all the water go that disappeared during the drilling process?
April 24, 2007 – At the Citizens Coordinating Council meeting, EPA said that the buildling debris on the PEDA site was crushed to a size of, they believed, three inches in diameter or less. However, at the May 16, 2007 PEDA board meeting, the contractor said that the four different drilling rigs brought in to test the ground where the new building would go have all run into big problems. The rigs have hit large solid objects, steel plates, and rebar. This does not sound like the way this site was supposed to be left. BEAT contacted EPA and DEP to ask.
The Environmental Notification Form was posted in the Environmental Monitor
EOEA No. 13634
Project Name William Stanley Business Park of the Berkshires
Location Pittsfield
Comments due 11-04-05
For Copies Thomas Hickey (413) 494-7332
MEPA Analyst Briony Angus (617) 626-1029
PEDA REQUEST FOR PROPOSALS, Nov 8, 2005
The Pittsfield Economic Development Authority, acting through its Chairman and its Executive Director, will receive sealed proposals for: RFP #05-005 Integrated Marketing Services Proposal procedures will be in accordance with the latest edition of M.G.L. Chapter 30B. Said proposals will be addressed to the Executive Director, 81 Kellogg Street, Pittsfield, MA 01201. These proposals will be received until 2:00 P.M. November 22, 2005. Any proposals received after the specified time will not be accepted. All proposals will be submitted in a sealed envelope clearly marked “SEALED PROPOSAL ENCLOSED RFP#05-005 Integrated Marketing Services”. Price proposals must be submitted in a separate sealed envelope clearly marked “SEALED PRICE PROPOSAL ENCLOSED RFP#05-005 Integrated Marketing Services” All general Proposers may obtain complete sets of plans and specifications at the PEDA Office after 12:00 Noon November 8, 2005. PEDA’s Executive Director reserves the right to accept or reject any or all proposals or to waive any informality in the proposing. Also reserved is the right to reject, for cause, any proposal in part or whole, if it is judged by the Executive Director that the best interests of PEDA will be served thereby. Wages are subject to the prevailing wage requirements of M.G.L. Chapter 149, 26-27F, inclusive. Attention is called to the “Equal Opportunity Clause” and the standard Federal Equal Employment Opportunity Construction contract specifications. All Proposers will receive consideration without regard to race, color, creed, age, sex, religion, or national origin. Thomas E. Hickey, Jr. Executive Director
GE Restriction on PEDA Site – 30s complex
Legal notice March, 2005
NOTICE OF GRANT OF ENVIRONMENTAL RESTRICTION AND EASEMENT EPA SITE NAME: GE-Pittsfield/Housatonic River Site DEP Site Name: GE Pittsfield Disposal Sites DEP Disposal Site No. GECD120 SITE LOCATION: Tax Parcel No. I10-4-101 (known as the 30s Complex) Pittsfield, MA 01201 In accordance with the requirements set forth in 310 C.M.R. 40.1403(7), as amended, and a Consent Decree executed by the General Electric Company (“GE”), the United States, the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, and other parties, and entered by the United States District Court for the District of Massachusetts on October 27, 2000 in United States et al. v. General Electric Company (Civil Action No. 99-30225-MAP et seq.), notice is hereby given that a Grant of Environmental Restriction and Easement on a portion of the above disposal site, namely, the portion known as the 30s Complex, located at GE’s facility in Pittsfield, Massachusetts (which portion is referred to herein as the “Property”), has been recorded with the Berkshire Middle District Registry of Deeds on February 10, 2005. This Grant of Environmental Restriction and Easement (the “Grant”) was executed by GE (the “Grantor”) and accepted by the Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection (the “Grantee”). The Grant will limit the following site activities and uses on the above Property, except as otherwise provided in the Grant: A. residential activity or use; B. day care and educational (for children under eighteen (18) years of age) activity or use; C. community center (for children under eighteen (18) years of age) activity or use; D. recreational activity or use; E. agricultural activity or use; F. extraction, consumption, or utilization of groundwater underlying the Property, including without limitation, extraction for potable, industrial, irrigation, or agricultural use; G. excavation, digging, drilling, or other intrusive activity into or disturbance of the surface of the ground and/or the underlying soil (with various exceptions set forth in the Grant); and H. any activity or use that would interfere with, or would be reasonably likely to interfere with, the implementation, operation, or maintenance of any aspect or component of the Response Actions already constructed or under construction, or of which Grantor has notice, including, without limitation, interference with any component of the Response Actions situated within the Building Demolition Barrier Area, any groundwater contaminant containment measures or barriers situated within the Groundwater Response Action Component Area (if any), or any groundwater monitoring wells, or any activity that would exceed the bearing load of, or pierce, any barrier or membrane situated within the Building Demolition Barrier Area (all capitalized terms as defined in the Grant). GE intends in the near future to convey the Property to the Pittsfield Economic Development Authority (“PEDA”), at which time PEDA will become the Grantor under the Grant. Any person interested in obtaining additional information regarding the Grant or in reviewing the Grant may contact the following: Michael T. Carroll, Manager, Pittsfield Remediation Programs, General Electric Company, Corporate Environmental Programs, 159 Plastics Avenue, Pittsfield, MA 01201, at (413) 448-5902. The disposal site file may be reviewed at the Berkshire Athenaeum, 1 Wendell Avenue, Pittsfield, MA 01201. (3/01/05)
Location: MA Date: 3/1/2005
Source: Berkshire Eagle