EPA Extends Comment Period for Proposed Cleanup Plan for Housatonic River “Rest of River” - Public Hearing to be Held on Tuesday, Sept. 23

Release Date: 07/10/2014 Contact Information: David Deegan, (617) 918-1017

BOSTON – EPA has scheduled a formal public hearing and is extending the public comment period regarding its Draft Modification to General Electric’s Reissued RCRA Permit (also referred to as the Proposed Cleanup Plan for the Housatonic River Rest of River).

EPA will hold a public hearing on the Draft Modification to the RCRA Permit on September 23 at 6:30 p.m. at Lenox Memorial Middle and High School (Duffin Theater). In response to several requests for extension, public comments on the Draft Permit will also be accepted through October 1, 2014.

The Draft Modification to the RCRA Permit sets forth EPA’s Proposed Remedial Action and Operation and Maintenance requirements for the Rest of River. The Rest of River begins at the confluence of the East and West branches of the Housatonic River in Pittsfield, Massachusetts and extends into Connecticut.

At the end of May, EPA released its Statement of Basis for EPA’s Proposed Remedial Action for the Housatonic River “Rest of River” and the associated Draft Modification to the RCRA Permit. Public Informational meetings were held on June 18 in Lenox, Massachusetts and June 24 in Kent, Connecticut.

Copies of the Statement of Basis and the Draft Modification to the RCRA Permit are available for review at, at the EPA office in Boston, on the EPA Region 1 website at http://www.epa.gov/region1/ge/proposedcleanupplan.html, and at local information repositories (see website for locations).

Additional information on the Rest of River can be found at: http://www.epa.gov/region1/ge/thesite/restofriver.html.

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