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Editorial/Opinions |
November 28, 2003 |
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Stop Cement Plant On Hudson
New York is seriously considering allowing the construction of a giant, coal-fired cement plant 20 miles from the Connecticut and Massachusetts borders. The tons of pollutants that would spew from the plant's 406-foot stack would be spread across New England, not New York, thanks to the prevailing winds.
Officials in Maine and Massachusetts have complained already. Connecticut residents closest to the plant in northwest Connecticut have protested. Connecticut's attorney general, Richard Blumenthal, has expressed "grave concerns" about the plant. Blumenthal and the Connecticut's Department of Environmental Protection have disputed the claim of the project's builder, St. Lawrence Cement, that state-of-the-art equipment will be used to clean emissions.
The cement company argues that the new plant in Hudson, N.Y., on the Hudson River, will be cleaner than a smaller plant in nearby Catskill, N.Y., that it would replace. The amount of sulfur dioxide, which causes acid rain, would be significantly cut. But annually, the amount of soot and dust would jump by 776,000 pounds, the amount of nitrogen oxide would increase by well over 2 million pounds, and the amount of volatile organic compounds would more than triple to as much 260,000 pounds.
The Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection tried to gain status as an intervenor in this case before New York State's Department of Environmental Conservation. New York denied the request, a decision the DEP is appealing. A spokesman for the Massachusetts Executive Office of Environmental Affairs said the state will weigh its options if and when New York approves the plant, and one option would be an appeal to the US Environmental Protection Agency. It is very much in Massachusetts's interest to make its concerns known, since the state is already in violation of federal smog standards, and a continuing failure to meet them could cost the state federal highway funds.
Almost all of this would be wafted over the border into Connecticut, Massachusetts and beyond. The plant would produce almost double the amount of nitrogen oxide as the Bridgeport power plant, one of the "Sooty Six" that the state ordered cleaned up. It is inconceivable that such a major polluter would be allowed if it were proposed for Connecticut.
If New York allows construction of this coal-fired plant, it would badly undercut the lawsuit filed by it and Connecticut, among other Northeast states, to stop pollution from coal-fueled Midwest power plants that drifts into the region.
The plant would be an eyesore on the Hudson and a regional polluter. The New England states, including Connecticut, should protest strongly against having the waste from a neighboring state blown here.
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