Group Rallies Against Coeyman's Dump
By Tom Ellis, Board Co-Chair, Citizen's Environmental Coalition
http://www.cectoxic.org
During the last eleven years, CEC staff and board members have assisted
residents of the town of Coeymans in their thus-far successful effort
to block the siting of a large regional landfill in their town in
southeast Albany County. The dump would be owned by the city of Albany,
and take waste from Albany, Altamont, Berne, Bethlehem, Green Island,
Guilderland, Knox, New Scotland, Rensselaer, Rensselaerville, Westerlo,
Watervliet, and elsewhere.
Among the reasons Coeymans residents oppose the project are concerns
about noise, odors, truck traffic, visual impacts and reduction in
property values. Further, a new dump might be open for many decades
and enlarged several times, with waste arriving from a huge area,
including possibly New York City. Additional concerns are the wide
variety and large quantities of toxic materials that would end up
in the dump, lost future economic growth, and difficult to extinguish
dump fires. Dumps emit toxic gasses and aerosolized carcinogens,
and almost certainly increase health problems for humans and animals
that live nearby. The dump would pollute groundwater and nearby streams
and leak poisons into the Hudson River.
As a result of Coeymans lawsuits, state courts have decreed that
Albany must obtain a landfill permit from the NYS Dept. of Environmental
Conservation (DEC) before it can purchase the landfill site, but
the city has yet to submit an environmental impact statement (EIS)
to DEC. It is well known that the chosen site is very wet; last year
a consultant hired by Albany reported that the section of the property
where the dump would be located contains more than 100 acres of wetlands.
Coeymans residents have formed Selkirk, Coeymans, Ravena
Against Pollution, (SCRAP), petitioned DEC to map the targeted site
as wetlands, put anti-dump signs throughout the town, are collecting
signatures on a petition asking Albany to discontinue dump siting
efforts immedi- ately, and are questioning Albany city politicians,
all of whom are up for election this year.
CEC has assisted SCRAP by encouraging them to become
more proactive in their efforts and activities, and convincing them
that they are winning and victory may be imminent, especially if
they can greatly increase public awareness about how unacceptable
the site is. CEC field
representatives canvassed the town in August and obtained signatures
on the SCRAP petition.
Coeymans residents are also reminding Albany residents and politicians
that Albany gets its high quality water from the Alcove Reservoir
in Coeymans and that trying to site a dump is no way to say “Thank
you.”
For more information or to get involved, call CEC in Albany or SCRAP
at 518-756-2631.
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