The air permit for a trash incinerator in Hudson Falls is up for renewal, and some residents are pushing back.
The Wheelabrator plant has operated in the Washington County village for more than three decades.
WIN Waste Innovations runs the plant. In April, it held a required public hearing as its Title V permit goes up for renewal from the state Department of Environmental Conservation.
“A constant noise, a constant smell, every single day. The explosions and the other things don’t happen every single day, but quite often. I’d say several times a week. But the noise and the smell, especially now that summer’s on its way, every day,” said Andrea Kirby.
Andrea Kirby has lived next to the plant, a hulking blue and gray building with a smoke stack along the Hudson River, for the past 16 years. She often takes care of her 2-year-old grandson, who loves to play in her garden.
While she’s planning on moving in the near future, Kirby worries about the continued impact the plant could have absent more stringent scrutiny.
“I wish I could use my blood testing to say hey this is what’s causing, this is why I have heavy metals in my body, but I can’t. It’s so subjective they’ll say, ‘well, you got it from something else. But I would be heart-wrenched if my grandson ended up with any kind of heavy metal in his system. I’m old, OK? I’m on the back nine now but he’s just starting his life,” said Kirby.
In a statement, spokesperson Mary Urban says the plant is “committed to making the permitting process transparent and helpful for residents” and hopes it can lead to “more consistent and collaborative communication” with local residents.
Shannon Gillis has been teaching in the region for nearly two decades. She recently returned to her hometown to teach middle school science.
“At the very least, I believe that we are moving the dial on acknowledging the presence of PFAS in all of the wastes that are being process at the facility. And the fact that many of the PFAS that are being process require temperatures that are much hotter than the 1,500 degrees Fahrenheit that they’re operating at, it doesn’t mean that some aren’t being broken down, but sometimes you end up with more potent carbon-fluorine molecules,” said Gillis.
Hudson Falls is both a disadvantaged community and a Potential Environmental Justice Area, meaning the DEC has required WIN Waste to implement an enhanced public participation plan for the renewal process.
Gillis says a potential permit approval has big implications.
“If this doesn’t work, what does that mean about the state’s time and energy? We put all this time and energy into developing these measurements and metrics to see what these communities—how they’ve been impacted. But if we’re going to continue to let the permits go through, I think it really stands a chance to be that first one through the process and is going to take the temperature on all of these laws and whether or not they’re going to work,” said Gillis.
The facility employees 35 full-time workers.
Once the DEC has received a complete permit renewal application, it will set a public comment period.
