Once again the people of the Town of Coeymans and surrounding communities are sold a bill of goods by one of the most egregious polluters in NY State – the LaFarge Holcim Cement Plant in Ravena. As reported in the Times Union the company agreed to pay $850,000 in fines for violations of the Clean Water Act that took place not only in the last 6 years – but in the last few weeks.
Like Saint-Gobain Performance Plastics in Hoosick Falls and Norlite’s aggregate mill plant in Cohoes, the residents of Coeymans are bearing the brunt of corporate greed. Local activists have fought not only these companies but also the EPA, DEC, the NYS Department of Health – all agencies who should be the watchdogs and the champions of our public health.
Local elected officials, the AGs office and the DEC are all swooning over the fines, which still are subject to a consent decree and public comment period. According to the LaFarge Holcim’s Fiscal Year results, $850,000 is barely .0004% of their NET INCOME in 2020.
People need to know that this company is a serial environmental law violator. According to Violation Tracker, since 2000 the company has been slapped with 99 environment-related offenses with fines totaling $222,067,447. The most egregious for was for one of the largest clean air act penalties for illegal emissions of mercury. Clearly the fines have no impact on their operations.
Every one of us should be outraged and we should let our elected officials know that enough is enough. Stop backing “green washing” bills written by corporate lobbyists, stop taking campaign contributions from these companies, and start a statewide effort to increase fines on these companies so that it hurts. .0004% just doesn’t cut it. It won’t solve the problem that we allow profits over people and the environment to rule – but it would be a start.