Public Hearing on Lafarge on May 11th

THIS TUESDAY EVENING: Please Attend Lafarge Hearing!

The DEC has announced they are going to hold a Legislative Public Hearing on Lafarge's Title V Air Permit Renewal for Ravena.

The hearing will take place on May 11, 2010 at 6 PM at the Ravena Coeymans Selkirk High School Auditorium, 2025 Route 9W, Ravena, NY.

This is a very important opportunity for everyone impacted by Lafarge to let DEC know our concerns and to request the strongest regulations possible on toxic air emissions that will protect the safety and welfare of our families and communities.

If you are unable to attend or uncomfortable with public speaking, you can also submit written comments. Either way, this is critical time to speak up and tell DEC to enact meaningful reductions in mercury and other harmful emissions from Lafarge. CASE and many of our members asked for a Public Hearing and DEC has responded and is providing this opportunity - let's do all we can to take advantage of it!

Permit Renewals are an important opportunity for DEC to make meaningful changes to the terms of operation for existing industries. Lafarge's last Title V Air Permit has been expired since 2006. The permit is for 5 years, but industries can still legally operate in NYS with an expired permit as long as they have initiated applying for a new one. Since DEC is only now considering this renewal in 2010, the last 5 yr permit has been in effect for much longer. Whatever happens with the next permit will affect all of us for many years.

You can review the complete application documents at the link below:
http://www.dec.ny.gov/dardata/boss/afs/draft_atv_l.html

The DEC will also be accepting written comments until May 21st. Please mail or e-mail your comments to the contact info below. Be sure to include the application ID number so your comments aren’t lost.

Sarah H Evans
NYSDEC Region 4 Headquarters
1130 North Westcott Rd
Schenectady, NY 12306
(518)357-2069
r4dep@gw.dec.state.ny.us
Application ID: 4-0124-00001/00112

RCS Petition

In response to concerns expressed at our community meeting on March 31st, CASE has set up an online petition to ask the Ravena Coeymans Selkirk School District to allow Dr. Ward Stone and CASE to perform environmental sampling at the RCS schools.

To sign the petition, please go to:

http://www.petitiononline.com/RCS2010/petition.html

Please sign on, speak up, and ask RCS to help us gather critical information so that we can ensure a safe and healthy environment for the children in our community. Our goal is 200 signatures - please sign on today and feel free to pass it along to others! Thanks!