Ravena activist group to hold fundraiser to support research into Lafarge emissions
The citizen group Community Advocates for Safe Emissions, CASE, is hoping to raise money to support its research through a dinner and music event on Saturday, Dec. 5, at the Water’s Edge Restaurant in New Baltimore, from 6 to 9 p.m.
The group has been protesting the operation of the Lafarge cement plant in Ravena, which it says is contaminating the area with mercury and other pollutants that are a byproduct of its industrial processes.
Playing piano will be Morey Hall, a Delmar resident who teaches music lessons and composes in studios in Delmar and Clifton Park. Clark Music Studio in Clifton Park is donating the use of a Steinway grand piano for the event.
Hall will be playing a one-hour program of original compositions, including pieces like Echo Across the Lake, `Ripples on the Water` and `Colors on the Sea.`
`I’m quite inspired by nature,` Hall said. `Like a lot of people, I’m concerned with environmental issues.`
Also featured at the event will be DEC Wildlife Pathologist Ward Stone, who has been conducting an independent study of plants and wildlife in the Ravena area using funds raised by CASE for laboratory fees. He’ll speak briefly about his studies.
In October, Stone said that his studies had revealed increased mercury levels in the Ravena area, a fact he attributed to the operation of the Lafarge plant.
Hall has worked with Stone before by putting on a similar fundraiser in Spencertown, where a company was aiming to mine on Snake Mountain. He said that fundraiser was very successful, and he thinks that the event in New Baltimore will raise money for the research being done in the Ravena area.
Stone is aiming to expand his testing of plants and wildlife near the cement plant to include testing for dioxins and other carcinogens. Unlike the relatively cheap tests for mercury and other heavy metals that he has been doing, though, these tests will be more expensive.
`We knew we needed to do fundraising because Ward’s testing has been heating up, and he wanted to start testing some of the carcinogens, which is much more expensive than the heavy metals,` said CASE co-founder Elyse Griffin.
Since October, Stone said, he’s expanded to testing areas across the Hudson in Rensselaer and Columbia counties, where he said he has also found increased mercury levels.
`It isn’t just a mercury story,` cautioned Stone. `Especially on the Albany County side, we’ve got a whole bunch of metals.`
Lafarge representatives have said that the plant complies with all DEC and Department of Health guidelines and is inspected on a regular basis, and that the construction of a modernized plant is hoped to be completed by 2013. Lafarge acquired the Ravena plant in 2001.
The plant is also under review for a new operating air permit, which the public has an opportunity to submit comments on to the DEC until Jan. 11. The proposed permit would put a 176-pound-per-year cap on mercury emissions.
Stone and Griffin said they are pleased by the fact an extension on the public hearing portion of the permit review has been granted, but Stone said he feels the permit’s requirements are not stringent enough.
`It is, I think, too liberal, and it is not clear to me how it works when the company starts to produce more cement,` he said.
Griffin said the public hearing extension would give her group more time to examine the proposal and construct an argument.
`We think it’s still too high, but at this point I can’t tell you that we’re recommending it to be,` she said.
In a statement, Lafarge also applauded the extension of the public comment period.
Tickets for the event are $35. A silent auction featuring items and gift cards from various local businesses will also be held. To make reservations or for more information, visit CASE at www.case-ny.org.“