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Massachusetts Joins With Others To Boost Electric Vehicle Market

By Andy McKeever, iBerkshires Staff
07:17PM / Thursday, May 29, 2014

PITTSFIELD, Mass. — It would require a significant change to transition away from gasoline to power vehicles. But, it is a change Gov. Deval Patrick believes can happen.

Massachusetts has joined with seven other states to launch a partnership to bring 3.3 million zero-emission vehicles into the market by 2025.

Through tax incentives, purchasing vehicles themselves and installing charging stations throughout the states, the coalition hopes to trigger growth in the electric vehicle market. Zero-emission vehicles include hybrids, batter electric and hydrogen-powered fuel cell electric cars.

"We have to take efforts at the early stages because we are looking at a big

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Williams Students Call on College to Reduce Carbon Footprint

By Stephen Dravis, iBerkshires Staff
09:46PM / Wednesday, May 21, 2014

WILLIAMSTOWN, Mass. — About three dozen Williams College students Wednesday took a break from final exams week to press the college president for action on climate change. President Adam Falk told them that the college is working on the issue but that "patience" is required to make sure the job is done right. "I want us to set goals we know how to meet," Falk told the students who climbed three flights of stairs to wait outside his office in Hopkins Hall. "That means getting a process that involves the Zilkha Center [for Environmental Initiatives], students and faculty, that doesn't just have goals but has a path that we understand how

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Earth Day Speaker: Break Carbon Addiction, Go After 'Pushers'

By Stephen Dravis, iBerkshires Staff
04:54PM / Sunday, April 27, 2014

WILLIAMSTOWN, Mass. — The Earth's ecosystem is diseased, and it is humanity's sickness that is the cause. That was the message delivered Tuesday evening at Williams College by Michael Klare, the director of the Five College Program in Peace and World Security Studies at Hampshire College. Klare was on campus to deliver the college's keynote address for Earth Day, and he said that Earth's days are numbered — at least Earth as we know it. Citing recent dire reports from the United Nations' Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, Klare emphasized that the planet is warming at an accelerated pace and carbon dioxide emissions driving that

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BRPC Sees Opportunity in Forestland Program

By Jack Guerino, iBerkshires Staff
10:34PM / Tuesday, March 11, 2014

ADAMS, Mass. — Northern Berkshire County could tap into federal assistance to promote and maintain its forestry resources.

A forestry conservation program being promoted by the Berkshire Regional Planning Commission looks to use a new model that links communities, property owners, businesses, state agencies and federal agencies.

"The predominate reason we want to do this is to access some of the federal resources that may be associated through the U.S. Forest Service," Thomas Matuszko, assistant director of BRPC, said Monday night. "[Massachusetts] does not have a national forest currently, and we are missing out on a lot of those resources."

The first of

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Residents Untrusting Of Latest Wind Siting Investigation

By Andy McKeever, iBerkshires Staff
03:32AM / Tuesday, January 28, 2014

PITTSFIELD, Mass. — After five years of questioning attempts to pass a Wind Energy Siting Reform Act, there is little wonder anti-wind activists don't trust the newest state investigation into the issue.

The Department of Public Utilities held a hearing on Monday on the latest try at developing a wind siting policies. This study is an interagency look at developing guidelines and suggestions for how to permit land-based wind power facilities.

"I want to emphasize that the task at hand for the DPU is to develop a voluntary guidance document on the siting of wind energy facilities. The department is not developing enforceable standards, requirements or regulations,"

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State Schedules Wind Energy Hearing At BCC

Staff Reports,
04:16PM / Wednesday, January 15, 2014

PITTSFIELD, Mass. — The state's renewed look at wind siting regulations will return to the Berkshires on Jan. 27.

The Department of Public Utilities scheduled the hearing on Monday, Jan. 27 from 5 to 8 p.m. at Berkshire Community College. The DPU has taken up the research into how to choose and permit the location of land-based wind energy facilities.

The DPU is leading this investigation that became a hot topic statewide in 2011, when Gov. Deval Patrick proposed a law that would create one group to permit all of the state's wind-turbine projects. That law was opposed in the Berkshires because there are numerous wind sites identified in area and the statewide group could

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Williamstown Con Comm Hears Project Updates

By Stephen Dravis, Williamstown Correspondent
08:48PM / Sunday, January 12, 2014

WILLIAMSTOWN, Mass. — The Conservation Commission received updates recently on several projects — including a couple of its own. The commission had just one public hearing on the its agenda Thursday and OK'd in short order: a Williams College plan to resod its two varsity soccer fields at Cole Field. The bulk of the meeting was spent getting reports on the ongoing construction at the Clark Art Institute, improvements to the Con Comm-managed Margaret Lindley Park and the panel's efforts to update the town's Open Space and Recreation Plan. Engineer Charlie LaBatt of Guntlow and Associates told the commission the redesign of the Clark's campus

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North Adams Hospital Food Waste Welcome at Pig Farm

By Tammy Daniels, iBerkshires Staff
02:20AM / Wednesday, December 18, 2013

WILLIAMSTOWN, Mass. — The trend in Berkshire County may be "farm to table" but one farming partnership is reversing the order — from table to farm. Or more accurately "almost table" to some very hungry pigs. Big pigs. Jennifer LaValley and her brother, Peter, are continuing a farming tradition begun by their grandfather on land along the Green River, raising Hereford cattle and Yorkshire and Duroc heritage breed pigs. "We have a novel approach ... like our cows, there are things pigs are meant to be fed," LaValley said during a visit to Big Pig Farm. "A lot of commercial farms use corn GMO grains and

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Williams Students: Potential for More Farmland Matching

By Stephen Dravis, Williamstown Correspondent
10:19AM / Tuesday, December 17, 2013

WILLIAMSTOWN, Mass. — A study by Williams College students suggests area agriculture advocates think big by thinking small. The key to expanding local food production in Northern Berkshire County lies in promoting small-scale partnerships between landowners and new or existing farmers, according to "A Future for Farming: Land Leasing in Williamstown and Adams." Four students in professor Sarah Gardner's Center for Environmental Studies class presented the results of their research at this month's meeting of the Williamstown Agricultural Commission. The students queried the owners of 370 properties of 4.5 acres or more in Williamstown and

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Berkshire Grown Sets Holiday Farmers Markets

05:26PM / Friday, November 22, 2013

GREAT BARRINGTON, Mass. — Berkshire Grown will host its 5th annual Holiday Farmers Markets on two weekends this season in both Great Barrington and Williamstown.

The market runs from runs from 10 to 2 on Saturdays, Nov. 23 and Dec. 14, at Monument Valley Middle School in Great Barrington and on Sundays, Nov. 24 and Dec. 15, at Williams College Towne Field House in Williamstown.

The events feature locally grown and produced foods, including fruits and vegetables, cheese, eggs, meat, poultry, bread, pies, pickles, jams and more. Admission is free.

"The 5th annual Berkshire Grown Holiday Farmers' Markets will be more festive than ever," said Barbara Zheutlin,

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