Cohoes, New York Residents File Lawsuit Over Alleged Dust Emissions from Nearby Norlite Facility

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A proposed class action claims three defendants have failed to prevent “fugitive dust emissions” from a Cohoes, New York aggregate production and hazardous waste incineration facility from migrating to surrounding neighborhoods.

The case alleges defendants Norlite, LLC; Tradebe Environmental Services, LLC; and Tradebe Treatment and Recycling Northeast, LLC have implemented “grossly insufficient and flawed” dust control plans that, in many instances, were not followed. As a result, the defendants’ processing, handling and storage of aggregate, fines and block-mix materials have caused “highly dangerous and hazardous” particulates to travel from the roughly 221-acre Albany County facility to neighboring properties, damaging both exterior and interior residential structures, the suit says.

The lawsuit claims the defendants have “created an unreasonable risk of bodily harm” to the plaintiffs and proposed class members, many of whom the suit says are living below the poverty level and, given their reliance on rental assistance through federal- and state-funded programs, “do not have the ability to freely relocate.” As the case tells it, Norlite and Tradebe have “repeatedly and continuously” acted with a “conscious indifference to and in wanton and reckless disregard for the safety and rights” of nearby residents, including acting in a manner the suit describes as “extreme and outrageous by all standards of decency.”

Per the lawsuit, Norlite and Tradebe use the Cohoes site to produce construction materials, including block mix, 3/4” aggregate, 3/8” aggregate and aggregate fines. According to the case, movement and collection of these materials between and in different areas within the facility cause fine particles to be emitted into the air and transported to the surrounding area.

“In total . . ., the sources of repeated and continuous fugitive dust emissions include, inter alia, the several conveyors, the several stackers, the grizzly, the crusher, the several material-transfer points, the several material piles (upwards of 25 separate piles in total), the several front-end loaders that transfer and/or handle materials at various locations in these areas, the kilns, and the clinker coolers,” the complaint states.

The defendants, according to the case, have admitted that the efficiency of dust control measures in certain areas is “0%,” meaning there are either no suppression measures in place or the measures are “not effective at all.” The efficiency of dust control measures for other emissions sources range from 20 percent to 90 percent, the case says, but upon information and belief, the actual efficiency in these areas is much lower, according to the suit.

The lawsuit alleges that residents of the area surrounding the Cohoes facility have found fugitive dust emissions deposited on and inside their vehicles and homes, including in and on attics, air conditioning systems, floors, window sills, pools and other surfaces. Per the case, the particulates from the defendants’ site include crystalline silica quartz, a known carcinogen, and glass, exposure to which can lead to serious health issues such as silicosis, scleroderma, rheumatoid arthritis, systemic lupus erythematosus, sarcoidosis, chronic bronchitis, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), emphysema, chronic kidney disease, and end-stage renal disease.

The case claims the plaintiffs and proposed class members have already reported experiencing “detrimental respiratory symptoms,” including asthmatic symptoms, “burning sensations in their respiratory pathways,” nose bleeds and pulmonary conditions. Moreover, given the delayed progression of many of the diseases purportedly linked to crystalline silica quartz exposure, “it can be reasonably anticipated” that many more residents will experience negative health effects, according to the suit.

The complaint adds that based on the 2000 census, the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) has designated the area surrounding the Norlite facility as an Environmental Justice area, meaning the communities are made up of minority and low-income individuals who are likely to “bear a disproportionate share of the negative environmental consequences resulting from industrial, municipal, and commercial operations or the execution of federal, state, local, and tribal programs and policies.”

Citing the DEC’s “rap sheet of violations” at the Norlite facility, the lawsuit claims the defendants have a long history of “repeatedly and continuously” causing fugitive dust emissions from the site and have incurred various fines dating back to June 1990. 

“This repeating and continuing pattern of causing and allowing fugitive dust emissions to be carried offsite from the Norlite Facility has continued up through the present day, as evinced by several recent occurrences,” the complaint states, describing several apparent instances in 2020 and 2021 during which residents allegedly observed fugitive dust emissions coating their properties.

Per the suit, neither environmental laws and regulations nor DEC enforcement actions have deterred the defendants from allowing fugitive dust emissions to escape from their facility.

“Accordingly, Plaintiffs have commenced and will prosecute this action to seek relief for the harms, injuries, and deprivations of rights that have been caused by the fugitive dust emissions from the Norlite Facility and for which the DEC does not have authority or jurisdiction to seek,” the lawsuit says.

The full complaint, which was recently removed from Albany County, New York Supreme Court to the state’s Northern District Court, can be read below.

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