On November 23, 2020 the Coeymans Town Board unanimously passed amendments to the Town’s Clean Air Law four days after only one public hearing. These amendments strip the strong pollution protections in the law and pave the way for any business to burn massive amounts of tires and waste.
As a result, the Town of Coeymans is now the only town within the County of Albany where hazardous waste and tires can be burned in spite of the Albany County Clean Air Law. Since the amendments to the Coeymans Clean Air law went into effect immediately, Lafarge/Holcim can now add the burning of tires to the coal it is already burning in the town.
Among the issues to be discussed in this Community Forum, moderated by WOOC 105.3 FM correspondent Corinne Carey, are:
The Albany County Clean Air Law, Amendments to the Coeymans Clean Air Law, and the Permissive Referendum
Health threats of burning tires and waste for fuel vs. coal in cement kiln incinerators
Why the DEC and EPA does not protect us, using the Norlite hazardous waste incinerator in Cohoes as an example.
What do you think? You can download the draft Comprehensive Plan for Coeymans here. Read it carefully and ask yourself if you think this will make life in the town better for you and your family.
A public hearing to express your opinion about the Comp Plan will be held at 6pm on Thursday 28 January, before the regular Town Board meeting begins at 6:30.
The Town Board is planning to approve the Comp Plan by late February. Let them know what you want the Comp Plan to say.
THREE WAYS TO BE HEARD
PHONE DURING HEARING: At 6pm, phone Town Hall, 518-756-6006, Ext. 3. Tell them you want to make a comment. Keep it short and clear – 3 minutes maximum.
LEAVE A PHONE MESSAGE: 518-756-6006, Ext. 3 until 4:00pm on January 28th.
Join the What’s Up Coeymans Facebook event Join a community discussion on Facebook and stay in the loop. https://fb.me/e/1ZBRXB2ew Do you see your future in this plan?
This week, Coeymans Town Board and Supervisor McHugh, just gave us another example of what is wrong with elected officials in our country. After the Board denied a petition signed by 254 town residents calling the Board’s attention to concerns raised by residents over the Town’s amendments to the Clean Air Act, Supervisor McHugh called petitioners reckless, irresponsible, and thoughtless. He then “warned” residents not to do it again.
Photo from a public live streaming feed on the Coeymans Town Board Facebook page. Town Supervisor McHugh is stage center holding up the piece of paper.
McHugh’s indignation is because a group of concerned residents managed to gather 254 signatures, within 10-days, to support a petition for a referendum that would allow the people of the Town of Coeymans to decide the fate of the Clean Air Act. The petition was rejected because New York law gives the power of making and amending laws exclusively to elected officials, and thus prohibiting modifications by referendum. But McHugh missed the point. The point was that 254 people agreed to sign a petition, at the height of a pandemic, to show him and other board members that keeping the air we breathe clean is important to a large segment of Coeymans’ residents. McHugh missed the point because he is still guided by the form of politics that divides us. If you are not with him, you are necessarily against him. This type of political philosophy caused an insurrection in our Capitol building on January 6, 2021.
But why are McHugh and his Board so upset? When residents called for more time to review the Comprehensive Plan proposed by the Town, he accused residents of being hypocrites. He claimed that these same residents who are interested in more time to review this proposed Plan are the same irresponsible people getting signatures during the COVID pandemic. What is Mr. McHugh suggesting? Is he suggesting that residents cannot be concerned about both clean air and learning more about the Town’s proposed Comp Plan? It is possible for responsible citizens to worry about more than one issue that affects them at the same time.
During the public board meeting, Board member Dan Baker called residents’ efforts to keep our air clean “false propaganda.” However, air pollution is real. Most recently in the United Kingdom, experts found that air pollution was a significant cause of death of a child who suffered from severe allergies. Rather than calling residents names, shouldn’t responsible politicians welcome constituents’ concerns and suggestions? We are all currently suffering because elected officials at the highest level of our government felt free to disregard science. We will also suffer if our local representatives choose the same path.
There are many unanswered questions involving the Town’s motives to amend the Clean Air law after only one public hearing. For example, why did the Board choose to amend the Clean Air Law when the Town’s professional counsel advised it that the law could be repealed? How do these amendments make the amended law more enforceable than the original law? How does the amended law make the residents of Coeymans safer? No politician should take offense to these legitimate questions.
Aside from calling the Clean Air Coalition names, Mr. McHugh has yet to respond to any of our concerns. In the era of social media politics, elected officials can simply label those with different opinions liars and propagandists. We all know where this type of politics will lead us.
When the Town of Bethlehem was awarded a multi-million dollar Offshore Wind Tower Manufacturing Facility project, Mr. McHugh was the first one to like it on Facebook. Bethlehem has shown us that it is possible to achieve economic development and create jobs without neglecting our climate and the health of its residents. This is exactly what Clean Air Coalition members are striving to do. Instead, the Town of Coeymans is now known as the only town in the County of Albany where tires and waste can be burned. Does this sound hypocritical, Mr. McHugh?
Contrary to a Board member’s suggestion, we do not owe you an apology for trying to protect our Town. Indeed, we have a duty to urge the Town Board to respect the opinions of the residents. After all, this Town Board and Supervisor’s campaign did not promise to allow the burning of tires and waste in our community. On the contrary, they promised not to repeal the Clean Air Law.
Our petition failed, but the board will be ultimately held responsible for their choices. It is true that the ballot box is the best response that Town residents can give Mr. McHugh and his team, now that we know that his agenda involves anything but environmentally responsible economic development. But until then, Coeymans residents must continue to live in fear of the air we breathe. Those who can afford it, can simply live upwind of Lafarge or even move to Bethlehem where elected officials understand that it is possible to be business friendly and care for the environment at the same time.
December 22, 2020 – Referendum petition: The Clean Air Coalition submitted a petition with 254 signatures to Town Hall requesting a Permissive Referendum on November amendments which gutted the Coeymans Clean Air Law. The referendum would allow people to vote on the amendments. The revised Coeymans Clean Air Law now permits tire burning at Lafarge and overrides the Albany County Clean Air Law.
January 14, 2021 – Delay public hearing on the draft Comp Plan. Over twenty people wrote to the Town Board asking them to delay the start of the public hearing on the draft Coeymans Comprehensive Plan set to be held at 6pm on January 28th for half an hour before the Town Board meets at 6:30. The letters said the Comp Plan is too important to be rushed and needs a full debate.
COEYMANS TOWN BOARD REJECTS BOTH
Referendum petition rejected
The petition for a referendum was rejected outright on 31 December. A referendum can only be held for specific reasons laid out in Town law. Amendments to a Law are not one of those reasons. The Board could have allowed further discussion on such an important issue and had the authority to repeal the Clean Air law altogether. It chose not to do either.
The Board claims they never saw the petition, although every Board member received a copy. They also said the decision to reject the petition was made by the Town Clerk alone. In fact, the rejection letter was drafted by the Town’s attorney and sent out in the Town Clerk’s name.
Comp Plan Hearing will NOT be delayed
Last Thursday, 14 January, the Town Board rejected calls to delay the Public Hearing on the draft Comp Plan, scheduled for January 28th at 6pm. According to the Town’s announcement on the 14th of January, this hearing will last 30 minutes until the Board holds its regular hearing at 6:30 on January 28th.
At the Board meeting on January 14th, members of the Town Board said they would keep the public hearing open but did not say for how long. Given their rush to pass the amendments to the Clean Air Law only FOUR days after that public hearing, it is hard to trust their word. Watch their performance on Facebook.
CLEAN AIR COALITION CONTINUES! on Tuesday, February 9th, 7pm-8:30pm First Coeymans Community Forum ZOOM link to follow soon This online forum will give everyone a chance to quiz knowledgeable people about clean air in Coeymans.
Stay tuned and send us the names & email addresses of people who should be added to our email list. Please tell us if you live in Coeymans or outside the Town.
We would like to send this letter to Supervisor McHugh and the Coeymans Town Board. One of us will also read it out this Thursday night at the Town Board meeting.
Would you like your name to be added to this letter? The more of us who ask for a delay, the better. You can just reply to this email and say ‘Yes! I live in Coeymans and want to add my name to this letter.”
Many thanks! You can watch the Board’s response on Thursday on the Town’s Facebook page.
Dear Supervisor McHugh and Members of the Town Board:
All of us who have put our names to this letter believe that the Coeymans Comprehensive Plan is too important to be rushed.
That is why the Town Board must delay the public hearing on the Comp Plan for 60 days, until March 25th, 2021. The people of Coeymans need more time to digest and debate the contents of this important draft.
Thank you.
This needs to be done before 4pm Thursday, January 14, 2021. Add your name to this letter by writing to: info@cleanairalbanycounty.org
