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EPA Cleanups: GE-Pittsfield/Housatonic River Site

Cleanup Agreements for the GE-Pittsfield/Housatonic River Site

Consent Decree

The comprehensive remediation and restoration of the GE-Pittsfield/Housatonic River Site is being performed pursuant to a court-ordered Consent Decree. The parties to the Decree include EPA, the U.S. Department of Justice, the Commonwealth of Massachusetts'; Attorney General's Office, Executive Office of Environmental Affairs, and Department of Environmental Protection, the State of Connecticut's Attorney General's Office and Department of Environmental Protection, the U.S. Department of Interior, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, the City of Pittsfield ("City"), the Pittsfield Economic Development Authority ("PEDA"), and the General Electric Company. The Decree was approved by the U.S. District Court on October 27, 2000.

The Consent Decree provides for cleanup of the Housatonic River, the former General Electric facility, several former oxbows of the river, contaminated floodplain properties along the river, contaminated groundwater, Allendale School, Silver Lake and Unkamet Brook. The Decree also provides for recovery by the governments from GE of costs incurred in implementing the Decree cleanups, and provides for activities and funding by GE to address damage to natural resources.

In addition, a Definitive Economic Development Agreement among GE, the City, and PEDA became effective as of the entry of the Decree, and provides for economic redevelopment of the GE facility. Moreover, to facilitate successful redevelopment, on April 30, 2002, EPA entered into a Prospective Purchaser agreement with the City and PEDA to eliminate potential legal hurdles to PEDA's redevelopment.

  • Summary of Remediation and Restoration Agreements
  • Consent Decree and Motion to Enter
    Note:
    In reviewing this electronic version of the US et al. v. General Electric Consent Decree, please be aware of the following:
    While the paragraph and section numbers of this electronic version are the same as the Consent Decree filed with the Court, the page numbers on this electronic version differ from those in the Consent Decree filed with the Court because of formatting differences. So, for persons who are referencing a portion of the Consent Decree, please use references to the particular paragraph number (noted by arabic numerals, e.g. 1, 2, 3) you are referencing. Thank you.