Cohoes's Norlite aggregate plant and incinerator has agreed to dust control emissions in a lawsuit filed by the state.
Times Union file photoCOHOES — Attorney General Letitia James and the Norlite aggregate plant Wednesday reached a settlement over a state injunction that might have forced the facility to halt operations when it produces too much dust.
As part of the agreement, Norlite has agreed to a number of measures it hopes will settle a related lawsuit over dust from its facility once and for all. The litigation, which was brought by the Attorney General's office and state Department of Environmental Conservation, is ongoing.
Norlite will install extensive on-site air quality monitoring systems and hire engineers who can offer the best long-term solutions to dust emissions.
The company also must make a series of reports to the state Department of Environmental Conservation on the dust control measures, with special reports when they exceed certain thresholds, according to James' office. Certain operations at the plant could be suspended if certain dust levels are exceeded.
The company also agreed to start working on its dust control measures within 90 days.
“This order will govern the monitoring and operation of Norlite throughout the course of the litigation,” the attorney general’s office said. The court order was approved by state Supreme Court in Albany County Acting Justice Kimberly O’Connor.
“We are pleased to have reached this agreement on the specifics of an emissions program with the New York state attorney general. We are especially pleased that this program has been developed in conjunction with the DEC. This agreement marks a new chapter for Norlite,” company CEO Ghia Rossi said.
“I am now working with a team of experts on additional steps that can and will be implemented to make sure the Cohoes facility is the gold standard for manufacturing and for community involvement.”
One of the key components will be a $250,000 air monitoring system. Monitoring will be ongoing and recorded in real time. The agreement also calls for creating a system to control dust particles of 10 microns or smaller. For context, a human hair is about 70 microns in diameter and the eye can detect something as small as 25 microns.
The provisions Norlite agreed to were sought by the AG's office in its injunction which was related to their lawsuit over dust emissions. "These new measures directed by the Court will remain in effect during the State’s ongoing litigation against the facility," the Department of Environmental Conservation said of the agreement.
The lawsuit was brought by James and the DEC in October after years of complaints by neighbors, particularly those living in the adjacent Saratoga Sites public housing complex, about irritating and potentially harmful silica dust coming from the plant.
Norlite mines shale rock on site and processes it into aggregate construction and road building material. The rock is heated in a pair of large, high-temperature kilns that burn hazardous waste such as used solvents, paints and other chemicals that the company collects from industrial plants for a fee.
The company made headlines three years ago with revelations that the kilns had, among other materials, been burning per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances, or PFOS and PFAS.
Incineration of those materials, including some that had come from discarded firefighting foam, was legal but there were growing concerns about their toxicity. Burning of PFOS and PFAS at the plant has since been banned under state law.
Amid worries about the chemicals, residents of Saratoga Sites said they had long complained about dust from the plant.
The city’s public housing authority and the federal Department of Housing and Urban Development approved plans to vacate Saratoga Sites and tear the apartments down.
Opponents of Norlite said they would continue to fight for closure of the facility. "We are tired of everything that is happening, this plant needs to be shut down," Joe Ritchie, who is involved in the Lights Out Norlite group said in an email. Ritchie has lived at Saratoga Sites which is next door to Norlite. "No more tests, no more studies, shut this plant down once and for all," he added.
Amid the attorney general’s litigation, Norlite is in the process of seeking a new updated air emissions permit from the state DEC.
The company is also sending out postcards to Cohoes residents noting that the chemicals it uses to power its kilns offset the need to burn fossil fuels.
rkarlin@timesunion.com • 518-454-5758 • @RickKarlinTU