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110-597: Built by the Arnold Print Works, which operated on the site from 1860 to 1942, the complex was used by the Sprague Electric company before its conversion. MASS MoCA originally opened with 19 galleries and 100,000 sq ft (9,300 m) of exhibition space in 1999. It has expanded since, including the 2008 expansion of Building 7 and the May 2017 addition of roughly 130,000 square feet when Building 6

220-700: A semiconductor plant in New Hampshire in 1957 and a magnetics plant in California . As the company grew, union membership (Independent Condenser Workers Union #2) grew as well. By November 1956 straight hourly workers wages were tied to the Bureau of Labor Statistics Consumer Price Index . Additionally, workers received better benefits. The Sprague Log recorded in this in a "Special Negotiations Supplement." By 1959 Sprague Electric achieved $ 50 million in sales. Robert C. Sprague continued as Chairman of

330-1225: A 10,000 square foot building renovated for the exhibition. On view Spring/Summer/Fall through 2028. Into the Light . A multi-decade retrospective of Turrell's work in B6: The Robert W. Wilson Building. This exhibition features a major work from each decade of the artist's career. Titled after an Italo Calvino book, the exhibition featured the work of ten artists who reimagine urban landscapes both familiar and fantastical. Invisible Cities included works by Lee Bul , Carlos Garaicoa, and Sopheap Pich , as well as commissions by Diana al-Hadid , Francesco Simeti, Miha Strukelj , and local artists Kim Faler and Mary Lum. (May 24, 2012 - February 3, 2013.) The largest survey of contemporary Canadian art ever produced outside Canada, "Oh, Canada" featured work by more than 60 artists from every Canadian province and nearly every Canadian territory, spanning multiple generations and working in many media. (May 26, 2012 - April 8, 2013.) Notable participating artists: One Floor Up More Highly . Katharina Grosse applied paint to four mounds of soil which seemed to spill from

440-477: A 27,000-square-foot (2,500 m) building located at the center of the campus. More than 100 monumental wall drawings and paints conceived by the artist from 1968 to 2007 will be on view through 2033. Cambridge-based Bruner/Cott & Associates converted the historic mill building and worked with LeWitt to design the gallery space. LeWitt designed the final placement of the drawings before his death in April 2007, and

550-410: A Natural Resource Damage Assessment (NRDA). Natural resource trustees determine and quantify injuries caused to natural resources through either releases of hazardous substances or cleanup actions and then seek to restore ecosystem services to the public through conservation, restoration, and/or acquisition of equivalent habitat. Responsible parties are assessed damages for the cost of the assessment and

660-464: A Superfund site. In 1978, residents of the rural black community of Triana, Alabama were found to be contaminated with DDT and PCB , some of whom had the highest levels of DDT ever recorded in human history. The DDT was found in high levels in Indian Creek, which many residents relied on for sustenance fishing. Although this major health threat to residents of Triana was discovered in 1978,

770-539: A chemical or oil spill. From 2000 to 2015, Congress allocated about $ 1.26 billion of general revenue to the Superfund program each year. Consequently, less than half the number of sites were cleaned up from 2001 to 2008, compared to before. The decrease continued during the Obama administration , and since under the direction of EPA Administrator Gina McCarthy Superfund cleanups decreased even more from 20 in 2009 to

880-404: A comic strip or children's book. Upon closer examination, though, the disturbing narratives become clear. Ali, who is African-American, has created surreal figures that seem to have undergone numerous cultural and racial transmutations. Ali's enigmatic narratives, with so many details left unarticulated, are each easily applied to any number of historical time periods worldwide. From Nazi Germany, to

990-460: A contribution action under the CERCLA. CERCLA liability has generally been judicially established as joint and several among PRPs to the government for cleanup costs (i.e., each PRP is hypothetically responsible for all costs subject to contribution), but CERCLA liability is allocable among PRPs in contribution based on comparative fault. An "orphan share" is the share of costs at a Superfund site that

1100-407: A factor. Magnetics played a role in reducing noise interference. Sprague got into the semiconductor business in the late 1950s, somewhat later than the already established semiconductor firms. Fairchild Camera (directed by Robert Noyce ) had marketed the first commercial integrated circuit as early as 1963. Sprague wanted to be an early participant into this young product. They set up a group at

1210-503: A large research and development department. This department was responsible for research, design, and manufacturing of the trigger for the atomic bomb and components used in the launch systems for the Gemini space missions . At its peak during the 1960s, Sprague employed 4,137 workers in a community of 18,000. Essentially the factory was a small city within a city with employees working alongside friends, neighbors and relatives. The company

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1320-477: A lesser chance of successful listing and cleanup than areas with higher income levels. After the executive order had been put in place, there persisted a discrepancy between the demographics of the communities living near toxic waste sites and their listing as Superfund sites, which would otherwise grant them federally funded cleanup projects. Communities with both increased minority and low-income populations were found to have lowered their chances of site listing after

1430-459: A major labor strike started and affected all areas of the company. The strike lasted 10 weeks and was ultimately settled by a federal mediator. While Robert C. Sprague and the Union representatives shook hands after the settlement, the results had a negative effect on future of the company, its management and employees. With the end of the 1970 strike, Robert C. Sprague retired as chief executive and

1540-552: A massive installation, "Training Ground for Democracy", the exhibit was to include a rebuilt movie theater, nine shipping containers , a full-size Cape Cod –style house, a mobile home, a bus, and a truck. On May 21, 2007, MASS MoCA filed a one-count complaint in the United States District Court for the District of Massachusetts 's Judge Michael A. Ponsor , stating that the museum was entitled to present to

1650-488: A mere 8 in 2014. In November 2021, Congress reauthorized an excise tax on chemical manufacturers, under the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act . The new chemical excise tax is effective July 1, 2022, and is double the rate of the previous Superfund tax. The 2021 law also authorized $ 3.5 billion in emergency appropriations from the U.S. government general fund for hazardous site cleanups in

1760-419: A polluter could not be identified, could not or would not pay (bankruptcy or refusal), consisted of about $ 1.6 billion and then increased to $ 8.5 billion. Initially, the framework for implementing the program came from the oil and hazardous substances National Contingency Plan. The EPA published the first Hazard Ranking System in 1981, and the first National Priorities List in 1983. Implementation of

1870-457: A professor at nearby Williams College . Past exhibitors in Building 5 include Robert Rauschenberg , Tim Hawkinson , Robert Wilson , Ann Hamilton , Cai Guo-Qiang , Carsten Höller , Sanford Biggers , Xu Bing , and Ledelle Moe . In May 2007, the museum became embroiled in a legal dispute with Swiss installation artist Christoph Büchel . The museum had commissioned Büchel to create

1980-412: A requirement by addressing low income populations and minority populations that have experienced disproportionate adverse health and environmental effects as a result of their programs, policies, and activities. The EPA regional offices had to apply required guidelines for its Superfund managers to take into consideration data analysis, managed public participation, and economic opportunity when considering

2090-699: A result, North Adams was left "deindustrialized" and found itself on a steep economic decline. The site was formerly listed as a superfund contaminated site. The complex was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1985. The development of MASS MoCA began a year after Sprague vacated the buildings. In 1986, a group of staff from the nearby Williams College Museum of Art were looking for large factory or mill buildings where they could display and exhibit large works of modern and contemporary art that they weren't able to display in their more traditional museum/gallery setting. They were directed to

2200-528: A site for the NPL is intended primarily to guide the EPA in: Despite the name, the Superfund trust fund has lacked sufficient funds to clean up even a small number of the sites on the NPL. As a result, the EPA typically negotiates consent orders with PRPs to study sites and develop cleanup alternatives, subject to EPA oversight and approval of all such activities. The EPA then issues a Proposed Plans for remedial action for

2310-418: A site on which it takes public comment, after which it makes a cleanup decision in a Record of Decision (ROD). RODs are typically implemented under consent decrees by PRPs or under unilateral orders if consent cannot be reached. If a party fails to comply with such an order, it may be fined up to $ 37,500 for each day that non-compliance continues. A party that spends money to clean up a site may sue other PRPs in

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2420-560: A state Superfund law and may perform NRDA either through state laws or through other federal authorities such as the Oil Pollution Act. CERCLA created the Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry (ATSDR). The primary goal of a Superfund cleanup is to reduce the risks to human health through a combination of cleanup, engineered controls like caps and site restrictions such as groundwater use restrictions. A secondary goal

2530-531: A sustainable product line in capacitors. The increase in the types of radios using AC created demand for many different types of capacitors. By 1929, Sprague Specialties Company needed a bigger facility, and in 1930 Sprague purchased a plant on Beaver Street in North Adams , MA, in Berkshire County . When local residents heard the company was expanding, Sprague received all kinds of incentives from

2640-619: Is administered by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). The program is designed to investigate and clean up sites contaminated with hazardous substances. Sites managed under this program are referred to as Superfund sites . Of all the sites selected for possible action under this program (and there are tens of thousands across the U.S.), 1178 (as of 2024) remain on the National Priorities List (NPL) that makes them eligible for cleanup under

2750-449: Is attributable to a PRP that is either unidentifiable or insolvent. The EPA tries to treat all PRPs equitably and fairly. Budgetary cuts and constraints can make more equitable treatment of PRPs more difficult. Upon notification of a potentially hazardous waste site, the EPA conducts a Preliminary Assessment/Site Inspection (PA/SI), which involves records reviews, interviews, visual inspections, and limited field sampling. Information from

2860-411: Is often pointed to as the roots of the environmental justice movement. PCBs were illegally dumped into the community and then it eventually became a PCB landfill . Community leaders pressed the state for the site to be cleaned up for an entire decade until it was finally detoxified. However, this decontamination did not return the site to its pre-1982 conditions. There has been a call for reparations to

2970-740: Is presented in a Proposed Plan for public review and comment, followed by a selected alternative in a ROD. The site then enters into a Remedial Design phase and then the Remedial Action phase. Many sites include long-term monitoring. Once the Remedial Action has been completed, reviews are required every five years, whenever hazardous substances are left onsite above levels safe for unrestricted use. As of December 9, 2021 , there were 1,322 sites listed; an additional 447 had been delisted, and 51 new sites have been proposed. Historically about 70 percent of Superfund cleanup activities have been paid for by potentially responsible party (PRPs). When

3080-657: Is the Church Rock uranium mill spill on the Navajo Nation. It was the largest radioactive spill in the US but received a long delay in government response and cleanup after being placed as a lower priority site. Two sets of five-year cleanup plans have been put in place by US Congress, but contamination from the Church Rock incident has still not been completely cleaned up. Today, uranium contamination from mining during

3190-554: Is to return the site to productive use as a business, recreation or as a natural ecosystem. Identifying the intended reuse early in the cleanup often results in faster and less expensive cleanups. EPA's Superfund Redevelopment Program provides tools and support for site redevelopment. CERCLA was enacted by Congress in 1980 in response to the threat of hazardous waste sites, typified by the Love Canal disaster in New York , and

3300-431: The 50x50 house (1951), that was never realized. Accompanying the house was a film, titled Always After (The Glass House) (2006). (December 12, 2009 - October 31, 2010.) A sculptural installation by Dave Cole , who was in residence at MASS MoCA with his project The Knitting Machine, which consisted of two excavators specially fitted with massive 20′ knitting needles , making an oversized American flag. When finished, it

3410-600: The Center for Land Use Interpretation , Nina Katchadourian , Joseph Smolinski and Mary Temple. Other artists exhibiting included Robert Adams , the Boyle Family , Melissa Brown, Leila Daw , Gregory Euclide , J. Henry Fair , Mike Glier, Anthony Goicolea , Marine Hugonnier, Paul Jacobsen, Mitchell Joachim , Jane Marsching , Alexis Rockman , Edward Ruscha , Yutaka Sone and Jennifer Steinkamp . (May 24, 2008 – April 12, 2009.) Simon Starling 's The Nanjing Particles

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3520-680: The Düsseldorf Academy of Art . This exhibition was the second in a series of shows focused on Beuys and those influenced by his work and teaching. (June 1, 2010 – February 26, 2012.) On November 18, 2007, Jenny Holzer presented her first indoor projection in the United States. Holzer's projection at MASS MoCA filled a large chamber first with selected poems by Nobel laureate Wisława Szymborska , and later with selections from prose by Nobel laureate Elfriede Jelinek . (November 16, 2007 - November 16, 2008.) Other works have included

3630-629: The Hazard Ranking System (HRS) to calculate a site score (ranging from 0 to 100) based on the actual or potential release of hazardous substances from a site. A score of 28.5 places a site on the National Priorities List, eligible for long-term, remedial action (i.e., cleanup) under the Superfund program. As of March 23, 2022 , there were 1,333 sites listed; an additional 448 had been delisted, and 43 new sites have been proposed. Superfund also authorizes natural resource trustees, which may be federal, state, and/or tribal, to perform

3740-548: The Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941 and the declaration of war that followed, US manufacturing stopped commercial production and switched to wartime activities. Sprague Electric's participation in the US war effort improved its reputation, future contracts, and sales, and propelled the Sprague name to the forefront of the growing American electronic business. One of Sprague Electric's biggest contributions to

3850-578: The Valley of the Drums in Kentucky . It was recognized that funding would be difficult, since the responsible parties were not easily found, and so the Superfund was established to provide funding through a taxing mechanism on certain industries and to create a comprehensive liability framework to be able to hold a broader range of parties responsible. The initial Superfund trust fund to clean up sites where

3960-631: The 26 original buildings were restored, including many of the interconnecting bridges and tunnels. The Marshall Street site was listed in the National Historic Register . MASS MoCA is the largest contemporary art museum in the United States. Its location is a multiuse site, with the museum, offices, businesses, and recreation and special activity areas. Starting in the early 1950s, Sprague produced its "Black Beauty" line of capacitors . These paper capacitors were similar to Robert Sprague's original patent. Instead of using wax coating on

4070-460: The Arnold Print Works had been the largest employer in North Adams, operating in the area from 1860–1942. In 1942, the company's name was changed from Sprague Specialty Products to Sprague Electric. The Sprague Electric name would remain until its last owner Penn Central started to sell off pieces of its Sprague division in the early 1990s. Beginning in 1938, as CEO, Sprague tried to bridge

4180-455: The Board and his brother Julian as President. Contemporary advances in the integrated circuit and thin film technologies, Sprague saw a need to move to support and design products around these new technologies. Thin film products and integrated circuits lead to more compact circuit designs and smaller products. Sprague understood this as the future trend in electronics; he opened more plants in

4290-559: The Brown Street site. In 1986, Thomas Krens , director of Williams College Museum of Art , was looking for an exhibit space for large-scale contemporary art works. The mayor of North Adams, John Barrett III , suggested the abandoned Sprague Electric facility. In 1999, after years of demolition, cleanup, restoration, and construction, the Massachusetts Museum of Contemporary Art (MASS MoCA) opened. Twenty-five of

4400-591: The Cold War era remains throughout the Navajo Nation, posing health risks to the Navajo community. The data in the Superfund Program are available to the public. While the simple and relatively easy sites have been cleaned up, EPA is now addressing a residual number of difficult and massive sites such as large-area mining and sediment sites, which is tying up a significant amount of funding. Also, while

4510-498: The Marshall Street complex by the mayor of North Adams. When they spent time with the space, they quickly realized the buildings had much more potential than an offshoot gallery. The process for MASS MoCA began. It took a number of years of fund-raising and organization to develop MASS MoCA. During this process the project evolved to create not only new museum/gallery space but also a performing arts venue. The transformation

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4620-542: The New Hampshire facility where thin film capacitors were made. In 1965 Sprague Electric acquired Micro Tech (Sunnyvale, CA), a manufacturer of semiconductor equipment for fabrication. By 1966 Sprague opened a brand new facility in Worcester , MA dedicated to semiconductor and integrated circuit fabrication. The new factory was headed by Dr. John L. Sprague , the youngest son of Robert C. Sprague. John Sprague

4730-528: The PA/SI is used by the EPA to develop a Hazard Ranking System (HRS) score to determine the CERCLA status of the site. Sites that score high enough to be listed typically proceed to a Remedial Investigation/Feasibility Study (RI/FS). The RI includes an extensive sampling program and risk assessment that defines the nature and extent of the site contamination and risks. The FS is used to develop and evaluate various remediation alternatives. The preferred alternative

4840-453: The Salem witch trials, to domestic and school violence, Ali's cartoonish figures offer not just oddly timeless pictures of history, but also mirrors of the present and foreboding visions of the future. (November 8, 2001 - January 28, 2002.) In 2006, Ali exhibited the work figures on a field at MASS MoCA , a collaborative performance with Dean Moss (debuted in 2005 at The Kitchen ). Ali is also

4950-723: The Solid Sound Music Festival. MASS MoCA, along with the Clark Art Institute and the Williams College Museum of Art (WCMA), forms a trio of significant art museums in the northern Berkshires . The buildings that MASS MoCA now occupies were originally built between 1870 and 1900 by the company Arnold Print Works. These buildings, however, were not the first to occupy this site. Since colonial times small-scale industries had been located on this strategic peninsular location between

5060-597: The Sprague capacitor brand, calls their tantalum capacitors the Sprague tantalum . After the Second World War, Sprague Electric retooled for the commercial and industrial products market and eventually Sprague capacitors and resistive products became a widely-known brand name. Radio and television manufacturers like RCA , Zenith and Philco continued to use Sprague Electric products. Sprague Electric products were also found in stores selling electronic parts, and

5170-481: The Superfund program, the EPA and state agencies use the HRS to calculate a site score (ranging from 0 to 100) based on the actual or potential release of hazardous substances from a site through air , surface water or groundwater . A score of 28.5 places the site on the National Priorities List, making the site eligible for long-term remedial action (i.e., cleanup) under the Superfund program. Federal actions to address

5280-412: The Superfund program. Sites on the NPL are considered the most highly contaminated and undergo longer-term remedial investigation and remedial action (cleanups). The state of New Jersey , the fifth smallest state in the U.S., is the location of about ten percent of the priority Superfund sites, a disproportionate amount. The EPA seeks to identify parties responsible for hazardous substances released to

5390-632: The TV and radio markets; military products sales were second. Sales reached almost $ 50 million. Also in 1954, the company built new capacitor plants in North Carolina and in the US territory of Puerto Rico . It was the beginning of Robert C. Sprague's dream to make Sprague Electric into a major corporation; this expansion would continue into the late 1960s. Sales of Sprague Electric products remained steady from 1954-1958 at just below $ 50 million. The company continued to expand its product base by opening

5500-621: The United States and developed a worldwide network of sales offices. By 1960 Sprague Electric had manufacturing plants in North Carolina, New Hampshire, Vermont, Wisconsin, Virginia, Maryland and California. Many were involved in making capacitors that used thin film technology. This proved to be a very important product for Sprague Electric. These plants also produced magnetic products ( transformers , inductors etc.). With advances in transistor and integrated circuit technology (later computer chips ) resistance to noise interference became

5610-464: The banks and other businesses to relocate there. Sprague chose the area because he wanted to open a shop where his father Frank had grown up. By the mid-1930s Sprague had become a recommended source for capacitors by radio manufacturers, radio repair and many electrical applications. As the size of the company grew there was a desire from the manufacturing workers to form an organized labor union. The Wagner Act of 1935 prohibited company unions. In 1937

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5720-727: The breakup of Sprague Electric, the Orange Drop Capacitor line was continued by SBE Inc until 2012, when the Orange Drop product line was sold to Cornell Dubilier. 42°42′5″N 73°6′59″W  /  42.70139°N 73.11639°W  / 42.70139; -73.11639 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

5830-465: The cleanup of hazardous waste sites has been funded through taxpayers generally. Despite its name, the program suffered from under-funding, and by 2014 Superfund NPL cleanups had decreased to only 8 sites, out of over 1,200. In November 2021, the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act reauthorized an excise tax on chemical manufacturers, for ten years starting in July 2022. The EPA and state agencies use

5940-415: The cleanup of the lead-contaminated hot spots. It wasn't until 1993 that the site was declared a Superfund site, and at the time it was one of the largest ones. However, it was not until 2004 when the EPA completed the clean-up efforts and eliminated the lead pollutant sources from the site. The Afton community of Warren County, North Carolina is one of the most prominent environmental injustice cases and

6050-644: The community which has not yet been met. Bayview-Hunters Point, San Francisco , a historically African American community, has faced persistent environmental discrimination due to the poor remediation efforts of the San Francisco Naval Shipyard , a federally declared Superfund site. The negligence of multiple agencies to adequately clean this site has led Bayview residents to be subject to high rates of pollution and has been tied to high rates of cancer, asthma, and overall higher health hazards than other regions of San Francisco. One example

6160-580: The company agreed with the workers to form an independent union, the Independent Condenser Workers Union . From 1936–1944, the Sprague Specialties Company sales increased seven-fold, however expansion put a damper to profits. For many years the company sustained losses. Robert felt strongly connected to his company and to the people of North Adams, and always tried to consider the company's effects as

6270-427: The disproportionate health and environmental disparities that minority and low-income populations face through Executive Order 12898 required federal agencies to make environmental justice central to their programs and policies. Superfund sites have been shown to impact minority communities the most. Despite legislation specifically designed to ensure equity in Superfund listing, marginalized populations still experience

6380-524: The drawings were installed by a team of draftsmen between April 1 and September 30, 2008. The exhibition was chosen as the "top museum exhibition of 2008" by Time Magazine. A collaboration with the Hall Art Foundation , this presentation of work by German painter and sculptor Anselm Kiefer consists of three monumentally scaled installations, Etroits Sont Les Vaisseaux , Les Femmes De La Revolution , and Velimir Chlebnikov , and occupies

6490-613: The electronics servicing business. In 1946 Howard W. Sams ( SAMS Publishing ) introduced their Photofact Servicing manuals, which were a valuable resource for the service of consumer electronics. Sprague Electric capacitors were listed as a recommended replacement part. Sprague Electric flourished during the Cold War and the Space Race because of their reputation and experience in the building of military components. However, by 1954 most of Sprague Electric's sales and profits were from

6600-521: The end of FY 2003. Since that time Superfund sites for which the PRPs could not pay have been paid for from the general fund. Under the 2021 authorization by Congress, collection of excise taxes from chemical manufacturers will resume in 2022. The Hazard Ranking System is a scoring system used to evaluate potential relative risks to public health and the environment from releases or threatened releases of hazardous wastes at uncontrolled waste sites. Under

6710-444: The environment (polluters) and either compel them to clean up the sites, or it may undertake the cleanup on its own using the Superfund (a trust fund) and seek to recover those costs from the responsible parties through settlements or other legal means. Approximately 70% of Superfund cleanup activities historically have been paid for by the potentially responsible parties (PRPs), reflecting the polluter pays principle . However, 30% of

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6820-401: The executive order, while on the other hand, increases in income led to greater chances of site listing. Of the populations living within 1 mile radius of a Superfund site, 44% of those are minorities despite only being around 37% of the nation's population. As of January 2021, more than 9,000 federally subsidized properties, including ones with hundreds of dwellings, were less than a mile from

6930-456: The federal government did not act until 5 years later after the mayor of Triana filed a class-action lawsuit in 1980. In West Dallas, Texas , a mostly African American and Latino community, a lead smelter poisoned the surrounding neighborhood, elementary school, and day cares for more than five decades. Dallas city officials were informed in 1972 that children in the proximity of the smelter were being exposed to lead contamination. The city sued

7040-422: The former factory spaces of the museum's second and third floors. (April 24, 2010 - March 1, 2011.) Secret Selves . Artist/actor Leonard Nimoy exhibited a recent photographic series. Shooting in nearby Northampton, Massachusetts , Nimoy recruited volunteers from the community with an open call for portrait models willing to be photographed posed and dressed as their true or imagined "secret selves". Accompanying

7150-591: The gap between the employees and the business, with the publication of the Sprague Log . Sprague used this newsletter to bring management and workers closer, and to maintain morale after forcing workers to take a 10% pay cut that same year. The publication was divided into two sections. Part 1 discussed the company accomplishments, achievements and the loyalty of Sprague employees, often spotlighting individuals. Part 2 contained employee announcements: births and weddings, social activities, and other family events. After

7260-510: The geography of toxic waste site remediation. Some environmentalists and industry lobbyists saw the Clinton administration's environmental justice policy as an improvement, but the order did not receive bipartisan support. The newly elected Republican Congress made numerous unsuccessful efforts to significantly weaken the program. The Clinton administration then adopted some industry favored reforms as policy and blocked most major changes. Until

7370-639: The immediate future. CERCLA authorizes two kinds of response actions: A potentially responsible party (PRP) is a possible polluter who may eventually be held liable under CERCLA for the contamination or misuse of a particular property or resource . Four classes of PRPs may be liable for contamination at a Superfund site: The liability scheme of CERCLA changed commercial and industrial real estate, making sellers liable for contamination from past activities, meaning they can't pass liability onto unknowing buyers without any responsibility. Buyers also have to be aware of future liabilities. The CERCLA also required

7480-507: The large, life-size photographs was a video documenting the artist's conversations with his subjects. (August 1, 2010 - January 2, 2011.) Paintings on Paper was an exhibition of small-scale works on paper (1996–1999) by the inimitable artist Laylah Ali . Ali's comic book-like figures, genderless with bulbous green heads and a variety of pared-down uniforms, are depicted in the midst of mysterious unfolding dramas. At first glance, her Greenheads are colorful and inviting like illustrations from

7590-419: The largest employer in town. By 1942 the Sprague Specialties Company had relocated to the abandoned Arnold Print Works Facility on Marshall St. This became the main facility, and eventually consisted of 26 buildings that were interconnected by tunnels and bridges. Former employees remember the complex layout and interesting ways to get from one department to another. Previous to the Sprague Specialties Company,

7700-444: The lead smelters in 1974, then reduced its lead regulations in 1976. It wasn't until 1981 that the EPA commissioned a study on the lead contamination in this neighborhood and found the same results that had been found a decade earlier. In 1983, the surrounding day cares had to close due to the lead exposure while the lead smelter remained operating. It was later revealed that EPA Deputy Administrator John Hernandez had deliberately stalled

7810-515: The mid-1990s, most of the funding came from an excise tax on the petroleum and chemical industries, reflecting the polluter pays principle. Even though by 1995 the Superfund balance had decreased to about $ 4 billion, Congress chose not to reauthorize collection of the tax, and by 2003 the fund was empty. Since 2001, most of the funding for cleanups of hazardous waste sites has come from taxpayers. State governments pay 10 percent of cleanup costs in general, and at least 50 percent of cleanup costs if

7920-576: The museum after it stopped bearing fruit. The exhibition also includes a selection of her photography. (May 29, 2010 - April 11, 2011.) Ruse . Sean Foley's commissioned work for MASS MoCA occupied the over-100-foot-long wall outside of the Hunter Center for the Performing Arts. (January 23, 2010 – December 31, 2011.) Student of Beuys, 6 paintings . Jörg Immendorff was one of several prominent artists who studied under Joseph Beuys at

8030-540: The museum to come and remove the materials. On September 21, 2007, Judge Ponsor of the Federal District Court for Massachusetts in Springfield ruled that there was no copyright violations and no distortion inherent in showing an unfinished work as long as it was clearly labeled as such. Judge Ponsor noted that his opinion would likely not be viewed as creating a legal precedent . Although the museum

8140-419: The need to work together. During his leadership, sales of Sprague Electric products still grew steadily but not the company's profits. Capacitor products from overseas as well as other electrical and electronic components were cutting into sales from US manufacturers. Also by the 1980s, many electronic assembly plants were overseas, and there was more inclination to buy local or from areas closer to assembly. This

8250-735: The north and south branches of the Hoosic River . In 1860 the Arnold brothers arrived at this site and set up their company with the latest equipment for printing cloth. They began operating in 1862 and quickly took off. Aiding their success were large government contracts during the Civil War to supply cloth for the Union Army . In December 1871, a fire swept through the Arnold Print Works factory and destroyed eight of its buildings. Rebuilding started almost immediately and an expanded complex

8360-509: The outer body to keep moisture out (moisture renders capacitors useless), Sprague applied a plastic resin material to encapsulate the device and provide better and longer-lasting resistance to moisture. In the late 1960s, capacitors developed quickly as better materials, such as mylar , were used in their production. Capacitors became more reliable, smaller, and able to withstand higher voltages. Sprague Electric's "Orange Drop" capacitors were well received by manufacturers and designers. They set

8470-517: The party either cannot be found or is unable to pay for the cleanup, the Superfund law originally paid for site cleanups through an excise tax on petroleum and chemical manufacturers. The last full fiscal year (FY) in which the Department of the Treasury collected the excise tax was 1995. At the end of FY 1996, the invested trust fund balance was $ 6.0 billion. This fund was exhausted by

8580-565: The photograph, propelling him towards the creation of two large-scale sculptures that were manufactured by hand in Nanjing , China. (December 13, 2008 - November 1, 2009.) Iñigo Manglano-Ovalle's Gravity is a Force to be Reckoned With opened with an upside-down Mies van der Rohe glass house in MASS MoCA's large Building 5 gallery space. The architecture of the house comes from plans made by Mies van der Rohe for his house with four columns or

8690-689: The program in 1986 through an act amending CERCLA. The Superfund Amendments and Reauthorization Act of 1986 (SARA) added minimum cleanup requirements in Section 121 and required that most cleanup agreements with polluters be entered in federal court as a consent decree subject to public comment (section 122). This was to address sweetheart deals between industry and the Reagan-era EPA that Congress had discovered. In 1994 President Bill Clinton issued Executive Order 12898, which called for federal agencies to make achieving environmental justice

8800-483: The program in early years, during the Ronald Reagan administration , was ineffective, with only 16 of the 799 Superfund sites cleaned up and only $ 40 million of $ 700 million in recoverable funds from responsible parties collected. The mismanagement of the program under Anne Gorsuch Burford , Reagan's first chosen Administrator of the agency, led to a congressional investigation and the reauthorization of

8910-424: The public Büchel's art installation without the artist's consent. Büchel claimed that allowing the public to view it in an unfinished state and without his permission would misrepresent his work, infringe his copyrights, and infringe his moral rights granted under U.S. law, specifically, the 1990 Visual Artists Rights Act . Contrary to Büchel's allegation, the museum alleged that Büchel did not respond to requests by

9020-465: The region, fiber arts and printing.” On May 29, 2017, Building 6 was opened as gallery space, adding some 130,000 square feet of exhibition space. The museum is the subject of the 2018 documentary film Museum Town . On November 16, 2008, the museum opened an exhibition of Sol LeWitt wall drawings in partnership with Yale University Art Gallery and Williams College Museum of Art . The exhibition, Sol LeWitt: A Wall Drawing Retrospective occupies

9130-687: The restoration of ecosystem services. For the federal government, EPA, US Fish and Wildlife Service, or the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration may act as natural resource trustees. The US Department of Interior keeps a list of the natural resource trustees appointed by state's governors. Federally recognized Tribes may act as trustees for natural resources, including natural resources related to Tribal subsistence, cultural uses, spiritual values, and uses that are preserved by treaties. Tribal natural resource trustees are appointed by tribal governments. Some states have their own versions of

9240-555: The revision of the National Oil and Hazardous Substances Pollution Contingency Plan 9605(a)(NCP). The NCP guides how to respond to releases and threatened releases of hazardous substances , pollutants, or contaminants. The NCP established the National Priorities List, which appears as Appendix B to the NCP, and serves as EPA's information and management tool. The NPL is updated periodically by federal rulemaking. The identification of

9350-528: The siting of twenty-one of her carved stone benches across MASS MoCA's sixteen-acre campus. A selection of her stone benches are currently on long-term view throughout the Robert W. Wilson Building. Badlands was an exhibition of environmental art that explored contemporary artists’ fascination with the Earth and their responses to environmental concerns. Works were commissioned for the exhibit from Vaughn Bell ,

9460-606: The standard for "modern" capacitors in appearance and performance. The revival of interest in vacuum tube amplifiers brought the mystique of having the right electronic components for top performance. Sprague Electric components had a long history of name recognition, quality, and brand loyalty. Additionally, the Sprague "Bumble Bee" capacitors that were found in the original Gibson Les Pauls are commonly sought after by guitarists today in search of that original Les Paul tone. As of 2013 , some designers and restorers use only Sprague/Vishay Orange Drops or other Sprague capacitors. After

9570-424: The state operated the facility responsible for contamination. By 2013 federal funding for the program had decreased from $ 2 billion in 1999 to less than $ 1.1 billion (in constant dollars). In 2001, the EPA used funds from the Superfund program to institute the cleanup of anthrax on Capitol Hill after the 2001 anthrax attacks . It was the first time the agency dealt with a biological release rather than

9680-602: The textiles, Arnold Print Works expanded and built their own cloth-weaving facilities in order to produce "grey cloth", which was the crude, unfinished textile from which printed color cloth was made. In 1942 Arnold Print Works was forced to close its doors and leave North Adams due to the low prices of cloth produced in the South and abroad, as well as the economic effects of the Great Depression . Robert C. Sprague 's (son of Frank J. Sprague ) Sprague Electric Company

9790-424: The time the responsible party either cannot be found or is unable to pay for the cleanup. In these circumstances, taxpayers had been paying for the cleanup operations. Through the 1980s, most of the funding came from an excise tax on petroleum and chemical manufacturers. However, in 1995, Congress chose not to renew this tax and the burden of the cost was shifted to taxpayers in the general public. Since 2001, most of

9900-553: The unemployment climbed to 14%. The biggest employer was gone and the site was rusting and decaying. Removal and cleanup of the industrial waste , including carcinogenic polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) were also lingering problems. In 1996, 17 homes were demolished on Alton Place, Avon and West Main Streets in the Braytonville area due to the vaporizing of a toxic trichloroethylene (TCE) plume of groundwater seeping west from

10010-435: The upper balcony into the enormous space below. Stacks of styrofoam shards rose out of the mountains of color, mirroring the white of the gallery walls. (April 4, 2010 - January 1, 2012.) Everything That Rises Must Converge . Baroque style pieces were displayed in four galleries on MASS MoCA's main floor. One piece, "Scalapino/Nu Shu", came upon the viewer as a former apple-bearing tree. Coyne had it uprooted and brought to

10120-418: The war effort was in the manufacturing of the variable timing proximity fuse . The proximity fuse was a small transmitter (and in some cases a receiver) built on a bomb or artillery shell that would detonate the bomb or shell before impact, causing greater destruction. Sprague Electric continued to make capacitor and resistive components to meet military requirements of quality and reliability. Robert C. Sprague

10230-415: The workforce increased to over 12,000. As the company grew, management was reorganized, and more expansion occurred, in the form of external partnerships. However, this rapid expansion served to keep profits down. Additionally, expansion did not have much impact on wages, benefits and working conditions. As one local historian put it, Robert Sprague's view of his employees was "paternalistic". In March 1970

10340-463: Was a graduate of Stanford University , and specialized in semiconductor development. Eventually the Micro Tech was moved to the same area. However Sprague's plans for Micro Tech never blossomed, and they wound up making capacitors. Robert C. Sprague's heavy investment in the semiconductor business reduced income for the company. Sales of Sprague Electric products were $ 100 million by 1966 and

10450-406: Was a local North Adams company, and it purchased the Marshall Street complex to produce capacitors . During World War II Sprague operated around the clock and employed a large female workforce—not only due to the lack of men, but also because it took small hands and manual dexterity to construct the small, hand-rolled capacitors. In addition to manufacturing electrical components, Sprague had

10560-547: Was almost completely self-sufficient, holding a radio station, orchestra, vocational school, research library, day-care center, clinic, cooperative grocery store, sports teams, and a gun club with a shooting range on the campus. In the 1980s, Sprague began to face difficulties with global changes in the electronics industry. Cheaper electronic components were being produced in Asia combined with changes in high-tech electronics forced Sprague to sell and shutdown its factory in 1985. As

10670-570: Was also a member of War Production Board for the Advisory Committee on Capacitors (1942-1945). During the Second World War , Sprague invented the tantalum capacitor . The use of tantalum allows capacitors to achieve high values of electron storage or capacitance along with higher operating voltages, shrinking the capacitor to a fraction of the size of a more conventional design. Vishay Intertechnology , which currently owns

10780-479: Was an area Sprague Electric could not compete. Even though sales of Sprague products reached $ 500 million in the mid-1980s, the Sprague division continued to reorganize. In 1985, it was announced that the Sprague division headquarters would move to Lexington, Massachusetts , and the North Adams plant would close down. As a company Penn Central focused on profits; it viewed Sprague Electric performance as unsatisfactory, and gradually closed or sold off operations. Sprague

10890-593: Was an electronic component maker founded by Robert C. Sprague in 1926. Sprague was best known for making a large line of capacitors used in a wide variety of electrical and electronic in commercial, industrial and military/space applications. Other products include resistive components, magnetic components ( transformers and coils), filter assemblies, semiconductors and integrated circuits . Sprague used $ 25,000 of his savings to open Sprague Specialties Company at his home in Quincy, MA, in 1926. One of his first products

11000-488: Was awarded highest honors by the American Institute of Architects and The National Trust for Historic Preservation . In 2015, an Assets for Artists residency program began providing artists and writers business coaching and studio space at the museum and at Maker's Mill, a collaborative workspace founded that year to bring to downtown North Adams the “artisanal work that once formed the manufacturing economy of

11110-484: Was based on small stereoscopic photograph depicting a large group of Chinese workers in front of Sampson Shoe Factory. Sampson had brought them east from California to break a strike , making the largest population of Chinese workers this side of the Mississippi RIver . Starling viewed the stereograph image underneath an electron microscope , allowing him to see individual metal particles that compose

11220-558: Was chronicled by photographer Nicholas Whitman 's Mass MoCA: From Mill to Museum . The museum was granted $ 18.6 million by the Commonwealth of Massachusetts after a public/private coalition petitioned the state government to support the project. Local residents and businesses contributed $ 8 million to the project. In 1999 MASS MoCA opened its doors. Designed by the Cambridge architecture firm of Bruner Cott & Assoc , it

11330-651: Was finished in 1874. Despite a nationwide depression during the 1870s Arnold Print Works purchased additional land along the Hoosic River and constructed new buildings. By 1900, every building but one in today's Marshall Street complex was constructed. At its peak in 1905, Arnold print works employed more than 3,000 workers and was one of the world's leading producers of printed textiles. Arnold produced 580,000 yards or 330 miles of cloth per week. Arnold had offices in New York City and Paris. In addition to printing

11440-859: Was granted permission to exhibit Büchel's art installation without his consent, it chose not to do so. Büchel appealed the district court's ruling, and in January 2010 the United States Court of Appeals for the First Circuit overruled Judge Ponsor, finding that the Visual Artists Rights Act applies to unfinished works of art, and that Büchel asserted a viable claim under the Copyright Act that MASS MoCA violated his exclusive right to display his work publicly. Sprague Electric Sprague Electric Company

11550-539: Was it was folded into the traditional flag triangle and was on display in a presentation case which Cole described as "slightly smaller than a Volkswagen Beetle ", accompanied by the 20′ knitting needles and a video of the knitting process. (June 30, 2005 - December 31, 2005.) Sculpture to Environment . Working in a range of industrially produced materials—from plastic sheeting to fishing line—Michael Beutler, Orly Genger, Tobias Putrih, Alyson Shotz, Dan Steinhilber, and collaborators Wade Kavanaugh and Stephen B. Nguyen engage

11660-479: Was only published twice a year, then not all until 1978; in that year, the company was sold to General Cable , which later was taken over by Penn Central in 1981. In the 1980s, Sprague Electric was a division of Penn Central . In 1981, John L. Sprague, the younger son of Robert C. Sprague, was named chief executive. John Sprague tried to bring the employees and management closer together. The Sprague Log increased its frequency of publication, and again emphasized

11770-453: Was opened. In addition to housing galleries and performing arts spaces, it also rents space to commercial tenants. It is the home of the Bang on a Can Summer Institute, where composers and performers from around the world come to create new music. The festival, started in 2001, includes concerts in galleries for three weeks during the summer. Starting in 2010, MASS MoCA has become the home for

11880-442: Was spun off from Penn Central in 1987 under the holding company Sprague Technologies. In 1990, Sprague sold its semiconductor unit to Sanken Electric of Japan. Many of the capacitor products were sold in 1993 to Vishay , a leading manufacturer of components used in electronics for industrial and military/space applications. After Sprague Electric's permanent closing in North Adams, the population of North Adams dropped by 4,000 and

11990-421: Was succeeded by Neal W. Welch. Although the workers got some of what they demanded, the strike and the new contract would devastate the company. Sprague Electric made cuts to minimize costs, including reducing the labor force and shuttering some of its North Adams operations. Employee morale plummeted which was reflected in the rapid decline of the company's newsletter the Sprague Log during this period. The paper

12100-526: Was the mini condenser (an old name for capacitor). Mini condensers were commonly used in radio applications for noise filtering, signal coupling and tone controls. Early capacitors were two pieces of metal foil wrapped between wax paper or any other type of suitable insulation material. The type of insulating material determined the capacitor's capacitance and maximum voltage . Capacitors are also useful in high power applications like motors, and soon Sprague turned his attention those areas as well. Sprague found

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