Patti Matheney of GhentCANN passes along the word that a public meeting will be held next week to discuss the TCI fire in Ghent. The meeting has been organized by State Assembly member Didi Barrett, who reportedly has secured the agreement of local, County, State and Federal agencies to attend.
The meeting will be held at 6:30 pm on Thursday, August 16th at the West Ghent Fire Company, in the Commerce Park about a 1/2-mile south of Kozel’s just off 9H. “This is our opportunity to come together with our state and local officials and ask the questions many of us have,” writes Matheney, who helped secure the space for the meeting.
An official press release from Barrett is expected today. Attached here [PDF] is one of Barrett’s several letters sent to various agencies, such as the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation. In her letter she writes that she wants
“to hear directly from your office about the effects on agriculture, animals and home gardens of the chemical fire that took place at the TCI Inc. recycling plant on Thursday, August 2, 2012 in the Town of Ghent.[...] People feel they are not getting sufficient information.
Officials have been saying there should be no concerns about the air quality around the facility and that soot on their property should simply be washed away with soap and water. Many folks, especially those with young children, are uncomfortable with this response [...] It has now been several days since the incident and we need more definitive answers for those who live and farm in the area.
[...] This incident will have a profound impact on our small farms and will hurt our local agricultural economy if farmers feel as though they are not getting adequate information to make the right choices.
Barrett also notes that “there are several senior residences in the area near the fire and the health of those folks was put at risk by this situation, too. A great number of people and institutions need to make decisions about their families, residents, customers and so on but don’t feel they are getting adequate information to make those decisions. ”
Barrett, a Democrat, also is running for election this November for the newly-drawn 106th Assembly seat against Republican David Byrne (not that David Byrne). Barrett was elected for the first time in a special election last March, over GOP candidate Richard Wager, to fill the seat vacated by Marc Molinaro, who stepped down to become the Dutchess County executive.
