The Consent Decree
The Environmental Protection Agency proposed the 254-acre General Electric manufacturing site in Pittsfiled and the Housatonic River to the Superfund National Priorities List in September of 1997. The federal and state government agencies and GE entered into negotiations late in 1997 in an attempt to reach a comprehensive settlement which included remediation, redevelopment, and restoration components.
In September 1998, representatives of the federal and state government agencies, GE, the City of Pittsfield, and the Pittsfield Economic Development Authority reached a tentative agreement in principle relating to GE’s Pittsfield facility, other contaminated areas in Pittsfield, and the Housatonic River.
This agreement was translated into a Consent Decree, lodged with the federal court on October 7, 1999, and approved by the court on October 27, 2000. The agreement provides for, among other things, the cleanup of the GE plant facility, cleanup and restoration of the former oxbows, cleanup and restoration of Silver Lake, cleanup of Allendale School, environmental restoration of the Housatonic River and floodplain, compensation for natural resource damages, and government recovery of past and future response costs.
Entry of the agreement also makes possible large-scale redevelopment of the GE facility, for which GE is funding approximately $45 million.
Source: http://www.epa.gov/ne/ge/sitehistory.html