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Cohoes City Council Passes Norlite Tax Assessment

The Norlite facility in Cohoes, NY.
Jackie Orchard
/
WAMC

The Cohoes Common Council has passed a local law putting a levy on the income received by Norlite for its treatment and disposal of hazardous waste.

Cohoes Mayor Bill Keeler says Local Law 5 imposes a 4 percent assessment on gross receipts of any hazardous waste facility in the city.

"New York State Environmental Conservation law allows a host community to impose an annual assessment of up to 4% on the gross receipts of any commercial Hazardous Waste Facility located in the municipality."

Keeler says the city continues its scrutiny of Norlite's operations after discovering earlier this year that toxic firefighting foam was being burned in its kiln.

"Too many questions about this episode remain unanswered."

The law goes into effect in 2021. Norlite's first payment would be due in March 2022.

Norlite officials did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Dave Lucas is WAMC’s Capital Region Bureau Chief. Born and raised in Albany, he’s been involved in nearly every aspect of local radio since 1981. Before joining WAMC, Dave was a reporter and anchor at WGY in Schenectady. Prior to that he hosted talk shows on WYJB and WROW, including the 1999 series of overnight radio broadcasts tracking the JonBenet Ramsey murder case with a cast of callers and characters from all over the world via the internet. In 2012, Dave received a Communicator Award of Distinction for his WAMC news story "Fail: The NYS Flood Panel," which explores whether the damage from Hurricane Irene and Tropical Storm Lee could have been prevented or at least curbed. Dave began his radio career as a “morning personality” at WABY in Albany.
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