Clean Air Coalition of Greater Ravena – Coeymans

The Albany County Industrial Development Agency (IDA) held a public hearing on June 25, 2026, to get comments on the Coeyman’s Recycling Center’s request for financial support to build a new warehouse for AProjects.

The 75,000-square-foot warehouse would be built at 50 Industrial Park Lane on a portion of a larger parcel next to the Coeymans Creek. Aprojects expects to send out 2-3 additional trucks a day. The Coeymans Recycling Center (CRC) is asking for “potential exemptions from certain sales and use taxes, property taxes, real estate transfer taxes, and mortgage recording taxes.”

Several employees spoke in favor of tax relief, but residents objected and were angry about the lack of project information. Residents kept asking: “Why should we subsidize two successful companies so they can add more traffic to our roads?”

The CAC aims to inform, educate, and engage our community on quality of life issues that might not be fully understood or appreciated until it’s too late. The NYS OML (Open Meetings Law) provides for the freedom to record and disseminate public meetings, especially for this purpose. This video is made available for viewing by all but remains the property of the CAC.

The Coeymans Recycling Company asked the Albany County Industrial Development Agency (IDA) for financial support.   The company wants to build a 75,000 square foot facility on 88+ acres along the Coeymans Creek in the Industrial Park (see map below).   The facility will be used for “an industrial logistics and material handling facility” plus other activities.

The financial assistance they want could include “potential exemptions from certain sales and use taxes, real property taxes, real estate transfer taxes, and mortgage recording taxes.”

QUESTIONS TO BRING

MONEY? Why does this prosperous-looking company need our financial support?  Is it going broke?  Do they really need OUR public money???

WHAT MATERIALS, WHAT ACTIVITY?  What exactly will be handled here?  Will it include hazardous materials or operations? 

TRAFFIC? What might be the impact of a very large logistics facility on local roads and river traffic? 

ENVIRONMENTAL REVIEW?  How will this affect the people who live in Coeymans, Ravena, Selkirk, and New Baltimore?  What might be the impact on the Coeymans Creek & Hudson River?  There has been NO environmental review.  

See the Town Supervisor’s Facebook post & come!

Come to the Public Hearing
Date: Thursday, June 25, 2026 at 6pm,
Location: RCS High School, Route 9W, Ravena, NY

Purple Air monitors are a critical tool in the fight against disproportional pollution levels in the Capital Region. Data collected by these free, little monitors capture big data from micro-sized particulate matter and then register that data in real-time to a public website.

In April, 2026, Troy’s Air Justice Lab gathered a panel of local activists to describe their efforts to monitor air pollution levels in their towns. These areas are throughout the Capital Region, all negatively impacted by heavy diesel truck traffic and expanding industrial development. They include the South End of Albany near the Answers Steam Plant, Cohoes near Norlite, Coeymans near Amrize (formerly known as Lafarge/Holcim) and Rensselaer near the Dunn Landfill. The DEC calls these areas environmental justice zones; the Air Justice Lab more aptly call them Sacrifice Zones because the respiratory health of residents is sacrificed for the profits of polluting companies. This video has been shortened to include details provided by Barbara’s powerpoint presentation. The full recording can be found online at the Media Sanctuary website.

Packaging Reduction and Recycling Infrastructure Act
S.1464-a (Senator Harckham)/A.1749-a (Assemblymember Glick)

To Senators Stewart-Cousins, Patricia Fahy, and Michelle Hinchey:

I am writing on behalf of the Clean Air Coalition of Greater Ravena-Coeymans. Our community of supporters lives in New Baltimore, Coeymans, Ravena, and Bethlehem, among other places in the Hudson Valley. Since 2017, we have been working to limit toxic emissions from local industrial sites after the LaFarge Cement Plant (now Amrize) in Ravena proposed the burning of one-third of Connecticut’s municipal waste as fuel.

Our opposition was based in part on the fact that household rubbish includes considerable amounts of different plastic packaging that produces a variety of emissions that can be harmful to human health. That is why, as a Coalition, we strongly support the Packaging Reduction and Recycling Infrastructure Act. Plastic may be profitable for businesses, but these profits come at the expense of our health and that of our neighbors, including damage to the environment, locally and worldwide.

I’m sure you’re aware of research that proves how damaging plastic waste can be. The cost of reducing such waste is nothing compared to the cost of managing the consequences to our health and the health of our water, soil, and air.

Many thanks for supporting the passage of this very important bill.

Yours sincerely,
Barbara Heinzen
On behalf of the Clean Air Coalition of Greater Ravena-Coeymans