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EPA and MADEP to Hold Public Meeting on Permit for General Electric Company Facility in Pittsfield

Release Date: 01/13/2005
Contact Information:

Contact: Angela Bonarrigo, EPA Community Affairs Office, (617) 918-1034, bonarrigo.angela@epa.gov

For Immediate Release: January 13, 2005; Release # ab050102

BOSTON - The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s New England Office and the Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection will be holding an informational meeting at 7 p.m. on Wednesday, January 19, 2005 at the Berkshire Athenaeum Library Auditorium, 1 Wendell Ave., Pittsfield, MA, from 7:00 to 8:45 p.m. to present the draft National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) permit for the General Electric Company facility in Pittsfield, MA. The permit authorizes discharges to the Housatonic River (East Branch), Unkamet Brook, and Silver Lake. The effluent limits and permit conditions imposed have been drafted to assure that State Water Quality Standards and provisions of the Clean Water Act will be met.

The draft permit was released for public comment from December 22, 2004 through February 19th. In response to a request from members of the public, EPA has granted an additional 30-day extension to the original comment period. The comment period now runs through March 21, 2005. A public hearing, at which formal oral and written comments will be accepted, will be held on February 10, 2005 at the Berkshire Athenaeum Library Auditorium, 1 Wendell Ave., Pittsfield, MA, from 7:00 to 8:45p.m.

Comments on the draft permit should be submitted no later then March 21, 2005 to:

Janet Labonte
NPDES Permit Program
EPA Office of Ecosystem Protection
One Congress Street, Suite 1100 (CPE)
Boston, Massachusetts 02114-2023
Email: labonte.janet@epa.gov

Berkshire Athenaeum Library
Reference Desk
1 Wendell Ave.
Pittsfield MA
Telephone: 413-499-9480
EPA Records Center
One Congress Street (Suite 1100)
Boston MA
Telephone: (617) 918-1546.