Governor Healey Nominates Two to Appeals Court

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BOSTON — Governor Maura Healey nominated Hon. Gloria Tan and Chauncey Wood to serve as Associate Justices to the Massachusetts Appeals Court.

The nominees will now continue forward to the Governor's Council for confirmation.  

"I'm proud to be nominating two more highly qualified attorneys to the Appeals Court today," said Governor Maura Healey. "Judge Tan and Attorney Wood both have decades of legal experience that makes them uniquely qualified to serve on this bench, and we look forward to their continued service to the people of Massachusetts." 

The Appeals Court is the state's intermediate appellate court. The Appeals Court is a court of general appellate jurisdiction, which means that the justices review decisions that trial judges from the several Departments of the Trial Court have already made in many different kinds of cases. The Appeals Court also has jurisdiction over appeals from final decisions of three State agencies: the Appellate Tax Board, the Industrial Accident Board and the Commonwealth Employment Relations Board. The Appeals Court consists of a Chief Justice and 24 Associate Justices. 

For more information about the Appeals Court, visit its homepage. Governor Healey has previously nominated Associate Justice Amy L. Blake as Chief Justice and Associate Justice Robert E. Toone.

About Judge Gloria Tan 

Judge Gloria Tan currently serves as First Justice of the Massachusetts Juvenile Court in Middlesex County. Judge Tan joined the bench of the Juvenile Court in 2013 and has served as First Justice since 2019.  She currently serves on the Flaschner Judicial Institute Board of Trustees, the Massachusetts Trial Court Judge-to-Judge Peer Mentoring Program Advisory Committee, and the Massachusetts Trial Court Standing Committee on Alternative Dispute Resolution. She also served on the Supreme Judicial Court (SJC) Advisory Committee on Massachusetts Evidence Guide and on the SJC Jury Management Advisory Committee.  Judge Tan began her legal career as an attorney with the Committee for Public Counsel Services, serving in its Boston Superior Court Office and Youth Advocacy Project. She later joined the Criminal Justice Institute at Harvard Law School, serving first as a Clinical Instructor and then as Deputy Director. Judge Tan received a Bachelor of Arts in Political Science and Sociology from Rice University, where she graduated magna cum laude and as a member of Phi Beta Kappa. She received a Juris Doctor from Yale Law School. 

About Chauncey Wood 

Chauncey Wood is Partner at Wood & Nathanson and has been a criminal defense attorney for 30 years focused on defending individuals facing serious criminal charges at trial and on appeal, as well as handling Title IX matters, and addressing the collateral consequences of criminal convictions. He has frequently appeared in Massachusetts trial and appellate courts. He has served on the Board of Directors of the Massachusetts Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers since 2015 and chaired its Amicus Committee. Attorney Wood received a Bachelor of Arts in English from Harvard University and a Juris Doctor from Boston University.  


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GE Plans for PCB Removal Gets OK

BOSTON — The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has approved, with several conditions, the General Electric Company's Revised On-Site and Off-Site Transportation and Disposal Plan. GE's revised plan maximizes the use of rail and hydraulic pumping for the transport of sediments and soils in and along the Housatonic River that are contaminated with polychlorinated biphenyls.
 
Approximately 75 percent to 80 percent of the material to be removed from the river will be transported hydraulically without the need for any trucks. Approximately 17 percent of the material can be transported by rail (combined with trucking). As little as approximately 5 percent of the material may be transported solely by truck to the Upland Disposal Facility, depending on the final transportation plans for Reach 5A and the successful implementation of the rail option.
 
The overall local round-trip truck trips are reduced by approximately 65 percent compared to GE's original plan that was submitted in October 2023. This will reduce local truck trips from an estimated 71,000 trips to approximately 24,600 trips.
 
EPA approved three locations for rail spurs for the loading/off-loading of material: Utility Drive in Pittsfield, Woods Pond/Berkshire Scenic Railroad in Lenox, and Rising Pond in Great Barrington. GE will submit to EPA for approval a pre-design investigation work plan that will propose sufficient data collection to allow for the design of the Utility Drive and the Woods Pond rail spurs. This work plan will be submitted no later than May 15.
 
This expedited schedule is necessary to ensure the rail spurs are operational when the Reach 5A (Pittsfield reach) remediation gets underway in 2027 or 2028. The design/construction of the rail spur at Rising Pond is not needed for approximately 10 years from now.
 
Although EPA concurred with the proposed use of rail, GE will develop a backup plan for the transportation of material via trucks. This is necessary because of potential capacity limitations, potential coordination issues with the sole operator of the railroad, staffing issues, equipment limitations, conflicts with freight shipments, accidents, and other issues that may prevent the use of rail needed to maintain the remediation schedule.
 
Material from Reach 5A (Pittsfield Reach) and from Rising Pond going to the UDF can be transported by rail to the Woods Pond/Berkshire Scenic Railroad in Lenox for off-loading and subsequent truck transport to the UDF. The three rail spurs can also be used to transport the 100,000 cubic yards of material that are required by the Final 2020 Cleanup Permit to be sent to off-site disposal facilities.
 
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