EPA to host open house for update on the GE-Pittsfield/Housatonic River Superfund Site
BOSTON (Nov. 20, 2025) – U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) will hold an open house to inform residents and answer questions on an array of topics regarding the cleanup of the Housatonic River portion of the GE-Pittsfield/Housatonic River Superfund Site. The open house will focus on construction activities at the Upland Disposal Facility (the "UDF") located in Lee, Massachusetts.
Community members are invited to stop by at any point during the three-hour session, interact directly with EPA and General Electric (GE) staff, and ask questions about the Site. There will be no formal presentation.
What: GE-Pittsfield/Housatonic River Site Open House
When: December 3, 2025 from 5-8PM ET
Where: Lee Middle and High School Cafeteria
300 Greylock Street
Lee, Massachusetts 01238
To find out the latest information on the Site, please visit: https://www.epa.gov/ge-housatonic. The open house will have stations on the following topics:
- UDF Site Preparation Work
- UDF Construction Work in 2026
- Water Treatment/Hydraulic Dredging
- Recent Improvements to Reduce Truck Traffic in the Community
- General Site-Related Information
Site Background
Since the early 1900s, GE operated a large-scale industrial facility including the manufacturing and servicing of power transformers, defense and aerospace (ordnance) and plastics, and used numerous industrial chemicals at its Pittsfield facility. From 1932 through 1977, GE manufactured and serviced electrical transformers containing PCBs. Years of PCB and industrial chemical use, and improper disposal, led to extensive contamination around Pittsfield, Massachusetts as well as down the Housatonic River.
The Housatonic River is approximately 150 miles from its headwaters on the East Branch in Hinsdale, Massachusetts and flows through Connecticut into Long Island Sound.
Cleanup of PCBs and other hazardous substances in Pittsfield and the Housatonic River has progressed under an October 2000 Consent Decree entered into by EPA, Massachusetts, Connecticut, the City of Pittsfield, the GE Company, and the Pittsfield Economic Development Authority. Cleanup was required for 20 contaminated areas outside the river, five groundwater management areas, and three river segments—the Upper ½-Mile Reach, the 1 ½ Mile Reach, and Rest of River.
The remediation of the 20 non-river cleanup areas and the first two miles of the Housatonic River are complete. GE is conducting all required post-cleanup site control activities, including inspection, monitoring, and maintenance activities.
Long-term monitoring is ongoing at three groundwater management areas (GMAs). At two of these areas, non-aqueous phase liquid (NAPL) recovery is ongoing and is anticipated to continue into the foreseeable future. GE is evaluating the treatment of groundwater at two GMAs.
The Rest of River cleanup is estimated to take 13 years of active remediation.