GUILDERLAND – The owners of Crossgates Mall late Wednesday asked town police to drop the charge against a man arrested at the mall after he refused to either remove a pro-peace T-shirt or leave the mall. The arrest of Stephen F. Downs, 61, of Selkirk, on a charge of trespassing led to a protest at the mall Wednesday by more than 100 people. Protesters wore anti-war T-shirts and gathered in the food court for lunch. They said they were outraged…
Published in the Altamont Enterprise, 3/2/23 To the Editor: I greatly appreciate your full-page commentary in the Feb. 16 issue about Ward Stone [“From the editor: A scientist who strove to make a healthier Earth”]. I knew Ward for 40 years. Ward was a rare public servant: competent, articulate, hardworking, fearless. He insisted he had a right and duty to inform and warn the public about environmental health threats. He was employed by the state Department of Environmental Conservation but…
Dear Save the Pine Bush Friends, Please support this great event from Lights Out Norlite and the Clean Air Coalition. Thanks,Lynne Jackson HELLO ADVOCATES – THE CLEAN AIR COALITION OF GREATER RAVENA COEYMANS IS JOINING LIGHTS OUT NORLITE’S “EAT IN THE STREETS” FRIDAY JULY 23RD AT 6:30PM. WE ARE RAISING COMMUNITY AWARENESS ON THE LOCAL ENVIRONMENTAL AND PUBLIC HEALTH CATASTROPHES FROM WASTE, TOXIC CHEMICAL AND TIRE INCINERATION. PARK BY OR AT COHOES CITY HALL 97 Mohawk St. THEN MEET UP…
By Tom Ellis, June/July 2021 Newsletter HUDSON RIVER VALLEY: Residents of Hudson River valley, but especially Ravena and Coeymans, won a great victory on May 5 when the NYS Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) commissioner issued a short statement revoking its prior authorization for the Lafarge cement company’s to burn tires at its Ravena cement kiln. The DEC statement said the “Lafarge facility currently lacks the infrastructure to burn TDF [tire derived fuel], and has not, nor has it ever,…
by Tom Ellis One of the things I teach my students is that each of us can learn a lot from our elders, especially those who lead rich lives filled with interesting activities. With that in mind, several months ago I asked Lou Ismay to speak at a SPB dinner which he did on November 14. Lou was introduced by Jackson Davis, who had taken the Environmental Forum course Lou taught at the University at Albany. Jackson said when he showed up…
By Tom Ellis ALBANY COUNTY: The Clean Air Coalition of Greater Ravena-Coeyamns held a community forum on February 9 about its continuing efforts to block the Lafarge cement company from burning tires near the Hudson River in Ravena, and directly across Route 9W from the Ravena-Coeymans-Selkirk (RCS) Middle and High Schools. Christine Primomo, a retired nurse and Coeymans resident, began the forum asking Why are large corporations so determined to burn hazardous wastes in our communities? and Where are our…
The Appellate Court hearing on the SCRAP (Selkirk, Coeymans, Ravena Against Pollution) members’ case against the City of Albany will be held on September 5, 2007 at 1pm on the fifth floor of the Justice Building at the Empire State Plaza (for directions, email Jim Travers at jatrav@yahoo.com). It is the plaintiffs’ contention that the City of Albany has illegally purchased the Coeymans lands for the proposed landfill because the City ignored State Law and the Rules and Regulations of…
ALBANY, NY: Paul Tick and Tina Lieberman spoke at the January 15, 2020 SPB dinner about plans by Lafarge to burn tire at its cement factory in Ravena, twelve miles south of Albany. Paul began his comments with saying that when he moved to the capital region 32 years ago, he immediately looked for activists to hook up with and found Save the Pine Bush. Paul quickly reviewed important Lafarge events of the past 26 months. In late 2017, Coeymans…
by Tom Ellis A growing problem in the capital region and probably elsewhere in New York is that large or gigantic proposed projects, many with potentially enormous environmental impacts, are passing thorough the NYS Department of Environmental Conservation’s (DEC) regulatory system without environmental impact statements (EIS) being produced, as required under the State Environmental Quality Review (SEQR) Act. DEC is playing a huge role in this problem. I first noticed it in 2005 when DEC issued a negative declaration allowing…
by Barbara Heinzen COEYMANS, NY: In December, 2017, Mike Ewall, of the Energy Justice Network, alerted Albany County and the Town of Coeymans that Connecticut was considering a proposal to ship municipal trash to the LaFarge/Holcim Cement Plant in Ravena. In response, Albany County and the Town of Coeymans organized a packed press conference two days after Christmas where former EPA Administrator, Judith Enck, spoke against Connecticut’s proposal. On December 31, 2017, Connecticut decided to keep its trash to itself….
by Tom Ellis ALBANY, NY: Saying “I am very happy to be here,” Ward Stone launched into a very interesting and wide-ranging lecture at the December 16th SPB dinner. Using deadpan humor, he said, “I spent a very environmental evening” last night watching the Republican presidential candidates. Later he said “These Republican candidates are not good for the environment . . . We need to educate the politicians.” Ward Stone, who is 77, was the NYS Wildlife Pathologist from 1969 to 2010. He was…
by Tom Ellis In 2005, SPB joined forces with the Citizens Environmental Coalition (CEC) and Selkirk-Ravena-Coeymans Against Pollution (SCRAP) to successfully block the siting of a large regional landfill by the city of Albany on a 363-acre parcel Albany now owns in the town of Coeymans (ten miles south of Albany). Now a new struggle is unfolding. Coeymans has a law that bans solid waste imports into the town; it was enacted in 1995 after it became clear the city of Albany was serious in…
by Tom Ellis As many readers know, Ward Stone, NYS DEC wildlife pathologist since 1969, has had numerous conflicts over the years with DEC higher-ups, most concerning Ward’s determination to learn the facts about how pollutants impact wildlife, and then reporting what he has learned. The latest of these battles is now in progress. This assault likely resulted from his taking and analyzing numerous soil samples downwind of the mercury spewing LaFarge cement factory in Ravena. During May the Albany…
by Lynne Jackson ALBANY: Ward Stone, NYS Wildlife Pathologist and environmental hero, spoke at the May Save the Pine Bush vegetarian/vegan lasagna dinner at the First Presbyterian Church. Ward began by describing how he met Rezsin Adams on the very first Earth Day in April, 1970, at the University at Albany. That day, Ward gave about four of five talks; he was saying that things were really bad, with pollution and habitat destruction, and that it would take a lot…
by Tom Ellis About 25 years back, Albany politicians made a foolish decision to purchase a large property in Coeymans (ten miles south of Albany), hoping to site a regional landfill there to replace the Rapp Road Landfill that DEC was then threatening to soon close. Albany took many years purchasing the property, eventually spending more than $5 million for 363 acres. During that decade city officials apparently never carefully examined the site to see if it was suitable for…
by Tom Ellis, October 2020 Newsletter ALBANY: Save the Pine Bush President Rezsin Adams, who died August 13 at age 93, was lovingly honored and remembered at a September 16 virtual Save the Pine Bush meeting facilitated by Lynne Jackson. Carol Waterman said Rezsin had a wonder-ful sense of humor, could be hilarious, and once allowed herself to be all dolled up as part of a La-dies Against Women guerrilla group skit; Rezsin posed and preened like a fashion model….
Jim Travers, a resident of Coeymans, NY, attended the February 15 Save the Pine Bush dinner and heard Jack Lauber speak about Waste-to-Energy. These are Jim Travers’ comments. – Ed Please forward this email to all those on the Save The Pine Bush mail list. Feedback is welcomed. Thanks. Jim Travers I do not think incineration of garbage is healthy for anyone or our environment, whether it is used to create electricity or only to eliminate a portion of the…
by Tom Ellis ALBANY, NY: On August 21, Lou Ismay completed the lecture he began in April about his experiences teaching and leading the Environmental Forum course at the University at Albany beginning fifty years ago. Lynne Jackson introduced Lou saying Lou’s office was in the Arts building. Lou hung strings from the ceiling connected to manila folders with the names of the many Forum guest speakers. Lynne happily recalled the cookie jar in Lou’s office that held large cookies….
by Tom Ellis In the wake of the George Floyd murder, much has been said and written about how policing and public safety require major overhauls in the United States. The same applies to how the New York state government regulates environmental toxins. Human health and the environment are being poisoned with the support of the state environmental conservation (DEC) and health (DOH) departments. A major aspect of the problem is that the governor appoints top staff of both agencies….