This is an issue of great importance to me and so many in our community. Over decades, GE contaminated the Housatonic River and surrounding floodplain, damaged our environment, and then devastated our communities by unceremoniously departing. Then, the citizens most directly impacted by GE’s acts were cut out of the negotiations leading to the 2020 Settlement Agreement.  Against this backdrop, it is, of course, reasonable to distrust the Agreement and to understand how this happened. It is within this context that I can understand why there is a deep lack of trust toward elected officials who held office in 2020 and why it is critical for me to make clear my experience and position in relation to the Rest of River cleanup to ground it in objective reality, and to dispel some rumors that have emerged on social media.

 

In the paragraphs below, I will provide a detailed account of my involvement and position in the Rest of River Cleanup, accounting for the past, present, and future. Let me be incredibly clear about the fact that I was not involved in any of the discussions leading to the 2020 Settlement Agreement. Period. I was required to recuse myself from all meetings that pertained to the issue when I joined the Selectboard. I did not vote for the dump, I was not allowed to speak against it, or learn about the negotiations as they were developing. Let me make one other point clear — I was very much opposed to the idea of a local landfill. Polluting our community to clean the river was never a trade I approved of.

 

Rest of River Negotiations & 2020 Settlement Agreement

I was elected to the Great Barrington Selectboard in May 2019. A year before the election in May of 2018, I had assumed the role of Director of Development for the Eagle Mill Redevelopment project in Lee, which is a major mixed-use affordable housing development located adjacent to the Housatonic River’s Eagle Mill Dam – one of the river’s clean-up sites. At this time, the Rest of the River Municipal Committee meeting discussions were already well underway, with representatives from the five towns, among others, in the confidential and closed-door discussions with GE, EPA, etc.

 

The first time the issue of the ROR negotiations came up at a meeting in my role as a Selectboard member, I was eager to be part of the conversation and intended to voice my strong opposition to the concept of a local dump. Because of my work with Eagle Mill, however, I was told it may pose a conflict of interest and that I must confer with the appropriate bodies to clarify whether I could be involved in advocating for a cleanup that followed the terms of the EPA’s original 2016 permit - all sediment to be shipped out of state to licensed facilities.

 

The Ethics Commission and Attorney General’s Office advised that because my concurrent employment with Eagle Mill was deemed a conflict of interest, given its location adjacent to one of the river’s cleanup sites, I was required to abstain from all conversations about the river cleanup from the outset following my election in 2019. The closed-door meetings were closed to me, too. I learned about the Settlement Agreement at the same time as the general public.

​

This March 10, 2020, Berkshire Edge article, “Selectboard to allow citizens to weigh in at town meeting on controversial GE-EPA settlement” which includes video footage of me recusing myself from discussions, describes my situation very well:

 

“Great Barrington Selectboard member Leigh Davis has recused herself from any involvement in a settlement between GE, the EPA, and the towns. She told The Edge that she had consulted with lawyers in the state attorney general’s office who told her she should abstain from any involvement in the matter because she is the director of development for the Eagle Mill Redevelopment project in Lee. According to the settlement, GE will remove contaminated sediments behind the remnants of the Eagle Mill Dam and remove the remnants of the defunct dam."

​

"Upon my election to the Great Barrington Selectboard [in 2018], it was suggested to me by a member of the Rest of the River Municipal Committee that I should seek advice from the State Ethics Commission on whether I should abstain from taking part in any of the discussions due to my employment by Eagle Mill Redevelopment,” Davis told The Edge. “Without knowing the particulars at that time I was advised to abstain completely; therefore, I did not take part in any of the discussions.””

 

Here is a direct link to the video footage of me recusing myself.

​

A Note About the Bigger Picture: The Truth Matters to Me

As your candidate and in an era where politics has grown ugly and rife with disinformation, I believe deeply that we must dispel myths, we must be accountable, and we must be transparent. I can promise you that I will bring the same degree of integrity to all of my interactions and duties, both over the course of this primary race and if I become your representative. This means that if I hear statements that I know to be false or misleading about anyone's character or track record, I intend to counter falsehoods with objective facts and truth. I firmly believe that a good public servant brings honesty to all aspects of one’s work, even when it feels strategically disadvantageous.

​

So, What About Since the 2020 Settlement Agreement?

I may not have played a role in how we got here, but I intend to make sure that the implementation of the 2020 Settlement Agreement favors our community, not GE. 

​

• On November 28, 2023 (months before Smitty's announcement of his retirement), I joined concerned Lee residents at Lee Middle and High School to listen to GE present its transportation plan. I was outraged.

​

• Read my comments on GE's presentation here: ("...Davis delivering a blistering recapitulation of the presentation. “I’m very, very disappointed––this presentation was an insult to those gathered here,” she said, adding that no attempt was made by GE to discuss the feasibility of using rail as the transportation mode. “That is our number one priority: to take this toxic material off our streets and onto someplace that does not affect us and impact our children and impact our lives.")

​

• I successfully persuaded the Great Barrington Selectboard to support the Town of Lee's request to release the ROR executive session minutes.

​

• You can watch the reading of my statement to the Selecboard here.

​

• You can read the Selectboard meeting agenda, which includes the approval of the release of minutes, here.
  ​

• I will continue to push for robust collaboration and strong modes of communication across affected towns to ensure that communities aren’t harmed by noise, air pollution, and anxiety around the cleanup. I will work to ensure that any concerns around elevated cancer incidence rates are being investigated, including by evaluating the study that Mass DPH is set to release at the end of the year.​

​

• I have attended the town of Lee’s PCB Advisory Committee meetings and am very impressed by their work and the town leaders’ foresight in creating such a body to guide them through the many challenges of this project at every level. I will continue to attend these meetings to keep the town of Great Barrington updated on the committee's efforts and to advocate for their initiatives.

​

• I will also encourage a culture of mutual aid around this and other environmentally urgent issues in the region, including by working with reps in Pittsfield and the broader region to address legacy contamination and supporting grassroots activism around water issues in Housatonic.

​

Moving Forward: How I Will Lead on Rest of River

If elected as your state representative, I will continue to advocate for a cleanup that holds GE accountable, maximizes human health and safety, and optimizes collaboration and transparency across towns. As part of my larger effort to secure more funds from the State House for Berkshire County, I will advocate for funding to support local efforts to research and develop existing bioremediation technologies with the goal of not only producing a cleanup over time that is less reliant on dredging, transporting, and disposing of sediment than the current permit calls for but also with the goal of seeding/developing startup funding opportunities for the Berkshires to become a leader in bioremediation and sustainable methods of environmental cleanup. As we learn more each day about the significant risks that forever chemicals like PFAS pose to human health and the environment, and of the thousands of other currently unregulated chemicals in our processed foods and personal care products today, there will only be more and more need for technologies that help identify and treat these toxins. Given the Berkshires’ history of innovation in manufacturing, this could be a real long-term investment and source of sustainable economic development. And one that aligns very well with our county’s proud heritage and identity as a green, environmentally forward place.

​

No one is happy, and no one should be happy with the process leading to and the current plans for implementing the Agreement. I was locked out of the process that got us here.  I will lead the fight to make a bad deal far better.

​

​