In early May, the state Department of Environmental Conservation modified the air permit of the LafargeHolcim cement plant in Coeymans (southern Albany County) to prevent it from burning tires. (There are currently only two cement plants operating in New York State, the one in Coeymans and Lehigh Hanson in Glens Falls. Both have demonstrated their interest in burning waste products a strong interest in burning waste products as they are much cheaper than fossil fuels.)
Reportedly, the Lafarge cement plant planned to burn one million tires annually. A local businessman has been collecting tires for that purpose and was actively enlarging the Port of Coeymans on the Hudson River in order to facilitate tire collection.
DEC justified its very welcome decision on the grounds that LafargeHolcim lacks the equipment and infrastructure to burn tires safely. Burning tires is extremely polluting and the cement plant is located across the street from the local public middle school and high school.
Concerned Coeymans residents have waged a valiant struggle to prevent the cement kiln from burning tires. The commitment and vigilance of these residents has been absolutely critical in preventing Lafarge from burning tires.
But tire burning was not the only threat posed by LafargeHolcim. Four and a half years ago around Christmas, environmentalists discovered that Lafarge was in discussion with the state of Connecticut about importing that state’s garbage to burn in its cement kiln. Environmental activists sounded the alarm and Lafarge issued a public denial that it planned to burn waste. However evidence later emerged that the company had lied and was looking into it.
In 2019, the Coeymans Town Board responded to the local outcry against the cement plant’s plan to burn tires, by passing a local clean air law prohibiting the burning of waste. However, later that year, a Lafarge-supported slate of candidates was elected to the town board and supervisor position.
Realizing that the town’s clean air law was not secure, the concerned citizens of Coeymans led a couple campaigns to get the Albany County legislature to pass a county-wide clean air law designed to prevent industrial facilities from burning waste. The County enacted such a law the second time around. However, when the new majority on the Coeymans town board took office in 2020, they took advantage of a loophouse that exempted towns that had their own local clean air laws from the Albany County law. Even though the new administration in Coeymans weakened the local law in order to allow the cement plant to burn waste, such as tires, the County clean air law no longer covered the Coeymans facility.