Read the full article by Rick Karlin (Times Union)
“COHOES — The U.S. Navy says it is suspending all shipments of toxic firefighting foam to the city.
The decision was made following a Times Union story earlier in the week, about plans, later abandoned, to send 58,000 gallons of the foam, known as aqueous film forming foam, to be incinerated in the Norlite plant in Cohoes.
‘All shipment of AFFF to Cohoes has stopped,” according to U.S. Sen. Chuck Schumer’s office. The New York Democrat had been calling the Navy and Department of Defense urging them to halt shipments to Norlite where the chemicals, in 2018 and 2019, unbeknownst to the city, were being incinerated.
Worried about the health and environmental effects, Cohoes officials earlier in the spring imposed a year-long moratorium on AFFF incineration. AFFF has long been in used in chemical fire suppressants. But its use has stopped amid worries about the potentially toxic PFAS, or per- and polyfluoroalkyl chemicals in the foam.
Norlite’s parent company, Tradebe Environmental Services, has a contract with the defense department to incinerate AFFF from military installations across the eastern states.
But they haven’t been burning any AFFF this year as their kiln and smokestacks were closed for renovation. They also say they will adhere to the moratorium.
Worries about a new round of incineration erupted earlier in the week though, with discovery of Department of Defense and Navy orders calling for 58,000 gallons, or about 12 tanker trucks of AFFF, to be sent to Norlite for incineration.
The company hadn’t yet been told of those orders but once authorities including Schumer learned of it, they urged a halt to the shipments…”