The General Electric Pittsfield Plant, which included Air Force Plant 69, was a plant of

General Electric General Electric Company (GE) was an American Multinational corporation, multinational Conglomerate (company), conglomerate founded in 1892, incorporated in the New York (state), state of New York and headquartered in Boston. Over the year ...

located in

Pittsfield, Massachusetts Pittsfield is the most populous city and the county seat of Berkshire County, Massachusetts, United States. It is the principal city of the Pittsfield, Massachusetts Metropolitan Statistical Area which encompasses all of Berkshire County. Pittsfi ...

. GE acquired the facilities of the Stanley Electric Manufacturing Company in 1903. From ''circa'' 1932 until 1977, the Pittsfield Plant discharged

PCB PCB may refer to: Science and technology * Polychlorinated biphenyl, an organic chlorine compound, now recognized as an environmental toxin and classified as a persistent organic pollutant * Printed circuit board, a board used in electronics * P ...

pollution Pollution is the introduction of contaminants into the natural environment that cause harm. Pollution can take the form of any substance (solid, liquid, or gas) or energy (such as radioactivity, heat, sound, or light). Pollutants, the component ...

to the

Housatonic River The Housatonic River ( ) is a river, approximately long,U.S. Geological Survey. National Hydrography Dataset high-resolution flowline dataThe National Map , accessed April 1, 2011 in western Massachusetts and western Connecticut in the United ...

. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) designated the Pittsfield plant and several miles of the Housatonic as a

Superfund Superfund is a United States federal environmental remediation program established by the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act of 1980 (CERCLA). The program is administered by the United States Environmental Pro ...

site in 1997, and ordered GE to remediate the site. EPA and GE began a cleanup of the area in 1999. GE demolished some buildings on the site in the 1990s. Other buildings were demolished between 2001 and 2010. GE transferred some of the cleaned-up properties to the Pittsfield Economic Development Authority (PEDA). As of 2022 GE has completed remediation and restoration of the 10 manufacturing plant areas within the city, and GE and PEDA are conducting inspection, monitoring and maintenance activities. Cleanup of the polluted downstream river areas has not been completed as of 2022.

References

{{MAMilitary Plants of the United States Air Force Buildings and structures in Pittsfield, Massachusetts General Electric Superfund sites in Massachusetts