Activists Raise Concerns About Proposed Amendments To Coeymans Clean Air Law

By Dave Lucas | 11/19/20 | WAMC

Over the years, environmentalists have raised concerns about a cement plant in Ravena, New York.

Activists are sounding an alarm after the Coeymans Town Board proposed amendments to the 2019 Coeymans Clean Air Law which limits tire-burning at the Lafarge/Holcim Cement Plant, which is situated across the street from the Ravena-Coeymans-Selkirk High School on Route 9W.

In September, Albany County Executive Dan McCoy signed a local clean air law, “Local Law B,” which targets companies like Lafarge and Norlite, which was ordered to halt the burning of firefighting foam at its Cohoes incinerator.

Former EPA regional administrator Judith Enck hailed that law as "...the strictest county-level air pollution statute in the entire state."

But Enck cautions there is a provision in state law that allows local municipalities to override county laws. Patricia Sibilia is President of the League of Women Voters of Albany County. During a Wednesday Zoom session, she warned that the town board's proposed amendments would override pollution protections and remove the obligation to monitor 19 pollutants continuously. Read more >>