The Holcim cement company, formerly St. Lawrence Cement, has filed a grievance challenging the assessment it has received on its waterfront property in Hudson, and according to the Register Star, City Attorney John Connor has sent a letter of objection to Holcim’s attorney claiming the company’s income and expense statement regarding the parcel is inaccurate and “patently false.”

Connor said Holcim is grieving the $4.5 million assessment it received on its deep water port dock for 2010/2011, which the company is claiming is actually worth $1.5 million. Pursuant to a court order issued by Justice Patrick J. McGrath, Holcim provided the city with an income and expense statement on Nov. 30 as part of the grievance process.

The income and expense statement, sent to Connor by Holcim attorney Bruce J. Stavitsky of Clifton, New Jersey, indicates that no income is being generated from the parcel — “Which I think is bogus,” said Connor, since the city is aware that the property is being leased to O & G Industries for the shipping of aggregate material, not to mention Cargill Inc., which unloads and stores salt at the location.

As St. Lawrence Cement, the company proposed a 2.2 million ton, $300 million coal-fired cement plant near the banks of the Hudson River in Hudson and Greenport in the late 1990s, a fight they later gave up in 2005 after much local, regional and eventually statewide opposition. The company was "acquired" by Holcim in early 2008 and aside from some major layoffs at its Catskill plant for the current holidays, and its being listed as one of the state's top polluters by the federal Environmental Protection Agency in recent weeks, has managed to stay out of the local news in recent years. For the full story, read the Register-Star.