Cohoes approves waste site tax
Under law, Norlite would pay based on gross receipts
The city Common Council on Tuesday passed a hazardous waste tax that will apply to the Norlite aggregate mill which has been the source of controversy since revelations almost a year ago that it had been incinerating potentially toxic firefighting foam in 2019 and 2018.
The company has since halted burning the aqueous film forming foam and its incineration was also recently banned by a new state law.
But Mayor Bill Keeler said the time and expense of responding to worries about the incineration justified a tax on other hazardous wastes such as used solvents and paints that are shipped to the site.
Norlite burns those wastes as fuel for its kilns that process rock that is mined there into aggregate for construction and road building.
The new assessment is set at 4 percent of gross receipts that Norlite gets for accepting the hazardous wastes. The dollar amount though, wasn’t immediately available.
“Since early January my administration has invested enormous time, energy, and resources addressing community concerns related to hazardous waste incineration at Norlite, and there is no end in sight,” Keeler said.
“Problems escalated in mid-february with the
news that Norlite had incinerated what we later learned was nearly 2.5 million pounds of AFFF firefighting foam containing hazardous PFAS ‘forever ’ chemicals,” Keeler said in announc
ing the unanimous vote for a tax.
“Though we have made progress by preventing future incineration of AFFF in Cohoes, too many questions about this episode remain un
answered.
The questions and concerns go well beyond AFFF and is a decadeslong challenge, Keeler said. “We have a responsibility to continue working with state and federal regulators, our congressional delegation, and others to mitigate future problems and to get our community the answers they deserve,” he said.
AFFF is made with PFAS or per- and polyfluoroalkyl compounds.
They are associated with a number of illnesses ranging from cancers to thyroid problems.
Due to their strong chemical bonds, they remain in the bloodstream of people who ingest them for an unusually long time.
The newly enacted assessment takes in 2021, with the first payment due in March 2022.
Norlite earlier said it was not opposed to the new assessment.