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Norlite plans to resume burning PFOA and PFOS in Albany County
Feb 25, 2020 11:56 pm
Rick Karlin reports for the Times Union that toxic forever chemicals PFOA and PFOS in firefighting foam were burnt in a kiln in Cohoes in Albany County in 2018 and most of 2019, and Norlite LLC plans to resume burning the chemicals this summer. Assemblymember and former Cohoes Mayor John McDonald, current Cohoes Mayor William Keeler, Colonie Supervisor Paula Mahan, and the mayors from Troy and Watervliet, Patrick Madden and Charles Petrocelli, met with Norlite officials on Feb. 25. The company says is plans to do test burning soon. "While I understand there is not yet good scientific evidence on whether it is safe to incinerate materials containing PFAS chemicals, it makes no common sense to do that research and testing in an urban setting like Cohoes, particularly with 70 families living at Saratoga Sites, in the shadows of the incinerators,” Keeler said, calling for a moratorium on the burning. Environmental groups including Earthjustice and the Sierra Club filed a lawsuit in federal court last week to stop the incineration. Norlite is a subsidiary of the Tradebe USA waste disposal company. Firefighting foam was also used at a training center in Cairo in Greene County that poisoned the water there with PFOS.