Three Albany Common Council Members continue their efforts to ensure local residents have their say as plans move forward to build a crude oil heating facility at the Port of Albany.
Dorcey Applyrs, Vivian Kornegay and Carolyn McLaughlin called the meeting to get a handle on citizen reaction to a DEC hearing earlier this month at Giffen School in downtown Albany. Residents surveyed said they were dissatisfied, that the meeting didn't give them enough information. Some were uncomfortable with the armed police presence at the gathering. The port project involves building as many as 7 boilers to heat crude oil which would then be transported by rail.
Neighbors have lived in fear of derailments after major rail disasters in the U.S. and Canada - A 97-car oil train derailed Tuesday in a commercial and residential area in the Ulster County town of Ulster - the cars were empty - that's the third oil rail mishap in New York State in the last two months.