| The Hudson Valley Preservation Coalition is waging a campaign to stop the SLC Greenport-Hudson, N.Y. project. |
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Our History and Future Hang in the Balance
In the late 1990s the Hudson Valley was named a National Heritage Area and the Hudson River itself an American Heritage River, a recognition of the definitive role this region plays in our nation's cultural, political, economic and artistic history. More recently, the National Trust for Historic Preservation named the Hudson Valley one of the most endangered historic places in America due to sprawl and inappropriate industrial development. The Preservation League of New York State included Frederic Church's Olana and the City of Hudson on statewide lists, citing specific threats from massive industrial proposals. |
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Smart Growth
During the past decade the mid-Hudson Valley, and particularly the City of Hudson in Columbia County, have emerged from post-industrial decline. Heritage tourism, the second-home market, a burgeoning arts community and a nationally recognized antiques trade in Hudson all have contributed to steady economic development. Hudson has become a model for smart growth - sustainable development that builds upon and supports a community's existing resources and character. This bright future, and that of the nearby Berkshires, now is threatened by a return to dirty skies, industrial din and blighted landscapes. |
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An Industrial City
SLC is attempting to build one of the country's largest coal-fired cement plants on the Hudson/Greenport border on the Hudson River's east bank. If SLC receives its permits, this massive development will be an outrageous monolith by any standard, an industrial city featuring:
- A 1,800-acre site, larger than the City of Hudson, with a 1,200-acre pit mine and 40 acres of buildings.
- 20 facilities over 20 stories high - the size of skyscrapers.
- a bulky preheater over 40 stories high - as big as the Corning Tower in Albany.
- a stack plume often reaching more than six miles in length
- a two-mile conveyor belt linking production facilities with a major waterfront dock and storage area.
This plant, to be located 300 feet above the Hudson River, will become the dominant and discordant feature in one of our country's most famous viewsheds - the landscape surrounding Frederic Church's Olana. |
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Industrial Blight
If permitted, the effects of this reindustrialization will be far-reaching. Materials such as fly ash and potentially hazardous fuels will come to the region via barge and truck, while cement and its heavy-metal byproducts will be shipped out. The resulting traffic will overwhelm surrounding historic hamlets. SLC's cement plant will create a momentous surge in industrial sprawl, undercutting the Hudson Valley's quality of life for generations. Similar industrial facilities will likely follow, plugging into the SLC plant's infrastructure. |
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Health Impacts
Hazardous air pollutants from the cement plant pose a real, measurable health threat for citizens throughout the Hudson Valley and the northeastern United States. The air emissions that the SLC facilities would produce are known to cause a wide range of cancers as well as various respiratory and cardiovascular ailments.
Existing chronic pollution from cars, industry and power plants led the federal government in 1990 to designate the northeastern United States a special "ozone transport region" requiring cutting-edge regulatory controls for new large-scale pollution sources. Yet the safe threshold for ground-level ozone continues to be exceeded throughout the region. The SLC facility, if approved, would:
- emit 20 million pounds of air pollutants per year.
- spew forth nitrous oxide emissions, adversely affecting air and water quality in areas up to 400 miles away.
- bring negative air impacts to the entire Hudson Valley under various meteorological conditions as well as to communities as far away as Litchfield County, Connecticut, and Lenox, Massachusetts.
Stack emissions, diesel fumes, and fugitive dust from cement production activities contain unacceptably high concentrations of PM 2.5 - particulate matter under 2.5 microns in diameter. PM 2.5 actually absorbs other toxins while airborne and, since it is below the human body's filtering threshold (like asbestos), transports these poisons into the respiratory and cardiovascular systems. Inhaling PM 2.5 can cause lung cancer and heart
attacks, and exacerbate asthma. The Environmental Protection Agency has deemed PM 2.5 a serious human health hazard, and is drafting new regulatory parameters to better protect the public from these threats.
Particularly vulnerable are children and the elderly. Within two miles of the proposed SLC plant are:
- the only hospital in Columbia County.
- a large nursing home.
- five schools and numerous daycare centers.
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The Specter of Hazardous Waste
Most of SLC's North American plants burn or have applied to burn hazardous waste, tires and medical waste, which creates highly toxic pollutants. SLC has refused to rule out this practice at the proposed Hudson/Greenport facility - further increasing both air pollution and local transportation of hazardous materials. |
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A Grass-Roots Campaign
Thirteen local, regional and national environmental, historic preservation and business groups have joined to oppose the SLC plant by forming the Hudson Valley Preservation Coalition. They are: Citizens for a Healthy Environment; Citizens for the Hudson Valley; Clover Reach; Concerned Women of Claverack; Historic Hudson, Inc.; Hudson Antiques Dealers Association; Hudson River Heritage; Natural Resources Defense Council; New York League of
Conservation Voters; Riverkeeper; Scenic America; Scenic Hudson, Inc.; and Sierra Club, Atlantic Chapter. We are collaborating with Friends of Hudson and the Olana Partnership in our opposition.
The Coalition has:
- retained legal and technical experts on air quality, scenic impacts, historic resources, regional economics, fish habitat, noise traffic and blasting.
- been granted party status on December 7, 2001, in the Department of Environmental Conservation review of SLC's proposal for virtually every issue that it petitioned for, including visual impacts, health effects of fine particle pollution (PM 2.5), noise, historic resources, economic impacts and impacts to riverine habitat.
In granting party status the DEC judges acknowledged that this is a massive project with impacts not adequately addressed in SLC's draft environmental impact statement and mandated a public vetting of these issues in court. |
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Plant Opposition Growing
As the prospect of this inappropriate development looms, citizens throughout the Northeast are mobilizing against the plant.
- Connecticut Attorney General Richard Blumenthal issued a statement on January 2, 2002, expressing concern "about the impact of air emissions from the proposed SLC Company Greenport Project" on residents of his state.
- In Massachusetts, the Berkshire Regional Planning Council and Sen. Andrea F. Nuciforo, Jr., are actively educating residents about the plant.
- Scenic Hudson and Friends of Hudson joined with 12 residents to file suit seeking to rescind the Town of Greenport's agreement with SLC not to oppose the company's project, alleging that the agreement violates state environmental law.
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The Fight Ahead and the Need for Support
To prevent this region-wide catastrophe, we must seek emergency financial support. Our involvement in just the DEC's review will last more than one year and cost nearly $500,000. We ask you to stand beside us in preserving the Hudson Valley's air and water quality, cultural vibrancy, visual richness and economic stability by supporting the Hudson Valley Preservation Coalition.
For more information, please see About the HVPC or e-mail hvpc@scenichudson.org. |
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| The cement plant will have an adverse affect on the Olana Historic site, home of 19th century artist Frederic E. Church, and the Hudson River School. |
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