Clean Air Coalition of Greater Ravena – Coeymans

Let Congressman Tonko know that he must act faster for us and for the planet. Join us Tuesdays at noon starting June 1st in front of the Congressman's office, 19 Dove St., Albany.
Please spread the word.  See the flyer below and the Facebook Event link.
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The Congressman who holds the most sway on climate change is our representative, Paul Tonko.  He is the Chair of the House Environment and Climate Change Committee.  We are his constituents; he needs our votes.

The most pressing problem for the planet, our children, and the well-being of billions of people is climate change.  We cannot and should not waste this opportunity of influence.
This past Earth Day, 50 of us gathered outside Congressman Tonko’s office to demand climate action starting with NO NEW FOSSIL FUEL INFRASTRUCTURE!  Tonko’s goal of net neutral GHG emissions by 2050 is way too late to prevent runaway climate change.

No single rally will move Mr. Tonko but a series of them may work.  We need to push, push and push some more to make our voices heard.

Therefore PAUSE (People of Albany United for Safe Energy) and Food and Water Watch are organizing a summer series of Tuesday lunch rallies in front of the Congressman’s office at 19 Dove St., in Albany.  Attached is the flyer with details.  (Be sure to click on the clock.)  

Our blast-off rally is on Tuesday, June 1st at noon.

It would be helpful if you could let us know of your interest in attending any of the Tuesday rallies but especially the one on June 1st:  RSVP to Sandy Steubing, PAUSE facilitator, at ssteub@gmail.com.

In the meantime, please call, email, or tweet the Congressman with the following message:
“The Clean Futures Act is too little, too late.  We need to implement bills and benchmarks this decade to keep under the 2.7°F desired limit of the Paris Climate Agreement.”

• Call: 518-465-0700,
• tweet: @RepPaulTonko
• email: tonkomail@mail.house.gov

Marching and protesting are effective ways to make the local news but if you truly want change, you VOTE! And, when I say ‘vote’ I mean, going to the New York State Senate website and casting a vote that all New York State Senators will see. This is how you do it:

1. Go to this URL: https://www.nysenate.gov/

2. Create account

3. An email will be sent to you that your account setup was a success. To activate your account you have to click on the URL that was sent to the email address you provided (or paste into your browser) to validate your address and set up a password. Once that’s done, you’ll be ready to participate in the legislative process!

4. Click on “Bills” (under Inbox and Issues) and then click on the gold-colored words “Search all Senate legislation”

5.

6.

Lastly, you can leave comments too! If you’re not sure how to put into words your frustration with these two bills, take a cue from the CAC. Feel free to copy and paste all or part of anything we wrote here:

Public Comment re: Low Embodied Carbon Concrete Leadership Act

Senate Bill S542 and Assembly Bill A2591

As written, this bill will do more harm to the environment than good.  It does not exclude the burning of waste by cement plants as a “low carbon fuel” which when burned produces toxins and chemicals known to harm people and the soil.  As is, the bill also encourages the use of toxic and polluting materials such as fly ash and blast furnace slag to be incorporated into concrete as supplementary cementitious materials.  Only non-toxic recycled ground glass pozzolan should be encouraged.  

Furthermore, much of the current carbon capture and sequestration technology perpetuates the burning of fossil fuels and does not live up to its promise of reducing carbon from smokestacks and the atmosphere.  Studies that take into account “upstream” greenhouse gas emissions from extraction and transportation found that many carbon capture technologies reduce only a small fraction of carbon emissions, usually increase air pollution, and require significant taxpayer-funded subsidies. 

This concrete procurement discount is sponsored by the taxpayers and those who breathe the air and farm the soil in NY State.  It needs to protect us!   I, therefore, urge you to consider the following amendments to the bill:

1. Remove any mention of “low carbon fuel” since this term is being used by the cement industry to include all types of waste.  Please amend §2 Section 165, proposed subdivision 9, (vii) (B) to read: (B) select fuel use at the level of the concrete and/or cement plant which for the purpose of this law is strictly limited to plants that are electrified or burn gas and/or coal. This fuel selection excludes the burning of any waste material whatsoever such as tire-derived fuel and ash.

2. Reword (vii)(C) as follows: (C) local production and use of locally sourced material resulting in reduced emissions from transportation;

3. Reword (vii)(D) as follows: (D) the reduction of clinker content in the cement component of concrete, or the substitution of clinker content with lower carbon alternative non-toxic materials, i.e. supplementary cementitious materials (SCMs), such as recycled ground-glass pozzolan, but excluding toxic or harmful by-products such as ground granulated blast furnace slag and fly ash;

4. Delete definition (ix) for Carbon capture, utilization and/or storage, and reword (xii) as follows: “Low embodied carbon concrete breakthrough” shall mean any qualified technology, method, or product, including but not limited to one that incorporates qualified carbon capture utilization and storage, that once fully commercialized and implemented has the potential to significantly reduce the GWP of concrete.  However, for the purpose of this law such breakthrough shall exclude the combustion of any waste material whatsoever.

Did you know that Lafarge / Holcim and their various affiliates have paid $279 million in penalties since 2020? And that doesn’t even count the hundreds of millions of fines that Holcim has paid in Europe for price-fixing.

Apparently, they have calculated that it’s more economical for them to pay penalties, as opposed to cleaning up their act.

Learn more at at the violation tracker website.

Dear Friends and Neighbors,

Like all of us, I am heartsick over the recent news that the LaFargeHolcim plant in Ravena violated regulations nearly 300 times over the last six years. Most of the violations involved toxic discharges into the Hudson River, Hannacroix Creek, and Coeymans Creek. This is an absolute gut punch to those of us who live, work, and play in the area, and who want our community to thrive. To those of us who love RCS.

I am not here to cast aspersions on LaFarge or any other industrial operation in RCS land. The industry is an important part of our economy and our history, and I know there are plenty of good people who work at these places who genuinely love our community. 

But let’s be nothing less than crystal clear: any organization that would abuse their host community with such reckless indifference to their health, safety, and livability can NOT be said to love that community, and it needs to be held to account. Yes, they reached a settlement with the state and federal governments, and some of those funds will come to town to help repair the damage done, but I don’t find the gesture nearly sufficient if this company wants us to believe they are responsible partners.

LaFargeHolcim is not a family-owned business, passed down through the generations to hardworking RCS folks who earned our trust, nor is it a scrappy start-up by a recent transplant committed to becoming a good neighbor. It is a massive multinational corporation, based in Europe, with plants all over the globe. It has teams of attorneys looking to maximize profits without the well-being of their host communities anywhere near the top of their priorities. It has scores of PR people at the ready to release artful statements insisting on their commitment to the environment and public health, despite the fact of serial violations. 

As we speak, our state government is considering passing legislation (Senate Bill S00542 and Assembly Bill A02591) that would encourage LaFargeHolcim to burn “low carbon fuels” in their Ravena kiln. That sounds lovely and green, but the definition of “low carbon fuels” currently permits the burning of post-consumer and industrial waste, including tires. This legislation was almost certainly written with the strong influence of the cement industry, which would reduce their costs by accepting such waste as fuel. Politicians tend to like it because it helps eliminate a waste disposal headache and because they can spin it as “green”. 

The problem is that such incineration practices can simply not be deemed safe, considering they release all sorts of toxic chemicals and compounds, without much more serious and unbiased study. And can we really trust LaFargeHolcim, a corporation that has demonstrated its near-total disregard for our well-being through the violations recently reported (and in many others over the years), to do everything they can to REALLY ensure our well-being?

Did I mention that our middle school and high school kids spend seven years of their young lives breathing the air in the shadow of LaFarge’s kiln?

I am enormously concerned about this entire situation. Frankly, I feel our wonderful RCS land is being used, and that the goodwill of our neighbors is being abused. I, for one, have just about had it. We LIVE here, guys. Our KIDS live here, fishing in the river and splashing in the creeks. We love it here. WE LOVE RCS. And when you love something, sometimes you have to stand up for it.

Write your state assembly members and senators, county legislators, and town council people, and tell them that you are concerned about the pollution in your own backyard and across the street from where your kids learn and grow. Tell them to get serious about monitoring and penalizing polluters, so that they are deterred from committing the same violations time and time again. Tell them to not allow serial polluters to burn tires and other waste in such dangerous proximity to school kids. Tell them it’s time to stand up for their constituents or we will find leaders who will.

Yours,

Ted Smith

The NY Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) just told LafargeHolcim they cannot burn tires in their Ravena cement kiln.  The company has applied to renew its 2005 Federal Title V permit, including tire-burning, but yesterday the DEC announced that permission to burn tires has been removed from the renewal application.     Lafarge will challenge this decision, but for now, no tire-burning in Coeymans. A good decision, thanks to many people  We want to thank Mike Ewall and Judith Enck for their early warnings & support.  We also thank the Coeymans Town Board members, Phil Crandall, Tom Dolan, and Jim Youmans, who passed the first Coeymans Clean Air Law in 2019.  Thanks go to the first Sponsors of the Albany County Clean Air bill – Bill Reinhardt, Matt Miller, and Joanne Cunningham – along with every individual who urged the County Legislators to pass the County Clean Air Law in 2020.  Tony Luisi, Acting Director of DEC Region 4, is thanked for meeting with members of the Clean Air Coalition outside the RCS schools opposite the Lafarge plant.  He heard and respected our arguments. We also thank State Senator Michelle Hinchey who added her voice, working with Commissioner Basil Seggos on withdrawing the LafargeHolcim permit to burn tires.   All these voices created this time to celebrate  The story is not over & more Clean Air work remains, but  Right now, we celebrate!