For decades, PCB contamination from General Electric, using chemicals supplied by Monsanto, polluted the Housatonic River, damaging ecosystems and embedding long-term environmental, economic, and public health consequences across Massachusetts and Connecticut.
The issue risked being reduced to a technical cleanup decision, obscuring accountability for decades of industrial pollution. Proposed local disposal would have transferred long-term risk from the original polluter to nearby communities, particularly downstream, without consent or recourse.
Caplan helped lead the Save the Housatonic campaign, aligning community voices, policy concerns, and media strategy into a unified narrative. We elevated resident leadership, integrated environmental-justice framing, and applied pressure at key public and policy moments.
The debate turned from a technical remediation plan to a clear environmental-justice conflict, focused on who is exposed, who decides, and who bears the long-term consequences of legacy pollution.
The campaign increased scrutiny of GE's approach and elevated demands for safer alternatives, establishing that cleanup decisions are civic choices about responsibility, risk, and accountability.