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139 entries categorized "Counties | Columbia"

August 8, 2012

Understanding the TCI test data

On Monday night, State and County officials released raw testing data related to the TCI fire in Ghent. No executive summary or other analysis was provided, except for broad assurances that the data was no cause for concern. Though a staffer at the State Department of Health stated that his agency was several days away from having such a document completed, officials went ahead with a call for an end to further testing.

Ghent resident Deborah Masters, who lives approximately 6 miles due east of the TCI fire site, has provided this site with an analysis of that technical data, after consulting with an engineering colleague. Masters ascertained that the limited testing was done by a company called Clean Harbors and processed by Adirondack Environmental Services in Albany. But when she spoke with a company rep (Tara Daniels) she would “only confirm their testing, and would not have any further conversation.”

In her opinion, using the PCB tests “as an excuse not to do further wipe tests on people’s properties is very strange,” yet typical of such agencies. “The very high levels of toxic fumes the residents may have breathed through their windows while sleeping,” she says, “were also never recorded.”

Masters writes that “the most troubling thing” about the situation “is not having air sampling from Thursday night or Friday day during the burn period of this fire. I suspect that there were samples taken, just not ones they are prepared to share with us.” She encourages residents to send Freedom of Information Law requests to the agencies responsible to attempt to secure that data.

Masters went on to discuss with her engineer the topic of

“why no VOC [Volatile Organic Compound] tests, which are more immediate tests, cheaper tests, and can’t be done once a hot fire is over, were never taken. Any mobile lab prepared for testing PCBs could easily test for VOCs.
“The other tests not taken, or at least not delivered to us, were tests for furans which result from burned plastics which the PCB byrms were made of (huge, heavy double-walled plastic bowls at the bottom of each PCB containment vessel—there would have been 4 or 5 of these within the facility), and for burning gas and oil which are both EPA-list carcinogens.
“The likely reason for very little soil residue is that very hot fires completely incinerate certain chemicals, which would include anything like toluene, turpentine, etc.

Regarding the presence of large amounts of mineral oil, Masters says that this “is used as a substitute in which to put PCBs after they are removed from the oil they used to be stored in.” She notes that only PCB sampling has been done, and that in at least one case the results ought to have led to more localized testing:

“They have tested for different kinds of PCBs, but the samples all read as ND (or non-detect), except for sample Aroclor 1260 which tested at 131 ppb (parts per billion), which is higher than the NYSDEC allowable limit of 100 ppb. This is one of the soil samples on the top left of the map. The over-the-limit level indicates that they should do grid sampling in that area to determine if there are oher high levels in that geographic area, but a wider area.
“They often use this kind of sampling to indicate that ‘there is no reason to do further sampling’ as all the samples, except one, are non-detect. However there are different soil and air samples from the map which have no indicated readings. These samples are listed on the map as AR, DT [and] DR. DT is listed in the legend as "dust track", and my engineer thinks the AR is at least an air sample, probably a troubling sample, as there is no information listed.

On a technical level, Masters explains for those trying to puzzle out these forms that the header “PCB TOTAL < 1.0 ug/100cm2” means less than 1 microgram per 100 centimeters squared. The notation “Surr.” means “surrogate,” indicating that the testing regimen used “a measured quantity of another chemical which acts as a control to verify the PCB sample methodology and specifies the percentage of recovery in the sample. So the sample of PCBs is spiked with the chemical surrogate, for accurate testing.” The abbreviation PQL means Practical Quanitation Limit, or the percentage range of recovery of materail from the sample.

Regarding the sampling of soil and surface water on the ground, Masters says that oils (found on a film on the water samples) were “collected by Westin Solutions on Thursday Aug 2nd and delivered to Accutest LabLink at 5:54 PM Saturday, Aug 4th. The wipe tests were collected on Friday Aug 3rd by Clean Harbors and analyzed by Adirondack Environmental Services between 12:20 am – 2:20 am Saturday Aug. 4.”

Masters says that her engineer agreed that citizens and officials should be on the lookout for the following:

Whether fire responders in the 9 different fire companys were properly notified of what was onsite before being sent to fight an inferno there;

Whether a sufficient Evacuation Plan was on file with the Office of Emergency Management, and whether citizen members were serving on that board;

Whether NYS DEC conducted sufficient inspections of the facility;

Whether TCI properly filed necessary reports to the EPA’s Toxic Release Inventory database, and the RTK database; and

Whether the community was properly notified of the potential catastrophe in progress.

Posted with Blogsy

August 7, 2012

DOH scientist: TCI “disappeared”

In a lengthy conversation today, Kenneth Bogdan, Ph.D of the New York State Department of Health’s Bureau of Toxic Substance Assessment discussed why the agency has concluded that further testing for dioxin and furan impacts from last week’s TCI fire would be pointless.

Last night, the Columbia County Emergency Management Office released a statement that “The NYS Department of Health advises that as a result of these findings, additional testing in the surrounding community will not be necessary.” Since such testing had been promised by officials on both Thursday and Friday, the announcement came as more than a surprise. To many it felt as if the State were rushing to judgement, or at least denying residents the peace of mind they might achieve through more thorough testing.

Regarding several dozen pages of PCB testing data released to the public on Monday afternoon, Bogdan was asked whether the State has produced a summary or other analysis of that data which might allow citizens to better understand that highly-technical data. “We’re still working on that,” Bogdan said, saying that they hoped to complete such a summary “in the next couple of days.”

Bogdan indicated that the State deemed the size and nature of what TCI had stored onsite several magnitudes smaller than other well-known emergency fires. As a point of comparison, he cited the notorious 1981 Binghamton State Office building fire, considered a major environmental disaster due to the spread of high concentrations of PCBs, dioxins, furans and other pollutants dispersed via the building’s ventilation system.

Asked whether the agency had a firm idea of what was stored, by contrast, at TCI’s facility in order to arrive at such conclusions, Bogdan indicated that they believed there was only one drum of PCBs onsite, but that most of the massive fire sprung from oils on-site. Considering that company manifests stopped appearing in the DEC’s database back in March, and that any records store on-site surely went up “into the cloud” in the building, Bogdan deferred questions to the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) which has not returned a call from earlier today. Bogdan also urged residents to press TCI itself for answers, stating that “they just, like, disappeared for three days.”

A request was sent earlier today to TCI seeking an interview.

The bottom line for Bogdan was that after seeing the initial PCB readings, the agency felt that any similar testing for dioxins and other pollutants would not be likely to show elevated levels, either—both because of the wide potential dispersal area and their belief that any dioxin fallout would mirror that of the PCBs.

Asked whether it was possible that the PCB levels were low precisely because they had been changed into dioxins and furans by the intense fire, Bogdan initially said that it would be “unheard of ” for “100% of the PCBs” to be completely transformed. But he acknowledged that it was possible that enough of the PCBs were altered to lower those readings while also resulting to a concomitant release of dioxins. Nevertheless, Bogdan stood by the agency’s position that further testing would be fruitless to undertake.

The agency’s phone number, if others want to discuss concerns with the DOH, is (518) 402-7800.

August 6, 2012

What’s on the ground at TCI?

Much public concern has focused, understandably, on what went up in the air during the 14-18 hours that TCI’s building was consumed by fire. But several readers have asked the smart question: What’s on the ground? And: What is being done to prevent any runoff of spills, residues, waters and other remaining materials on the TCI site?

Last night, Columbia County was drenched with moderate to heavy rains, depending on where one lives. Unhindered by berms, dikes or other earthworks, those rains could potentially have begun washing some of the remains of the fire into groundwater, aquifers or nearby creeks.

Aerial photos and video show what appear to be large semicircular, bluish-black pools surrounding the TCI plant’s remains. While these appear to be liquid, they could be char marks, ash or other debris left over from the fire. The image above is an enhanced version of a widely-circulated Lance Wheeler photo (picked up by the Associated Press). This site has desaturated the plant and its surroundings to better highlight the unusual pools or charring around the building. What are these pools. Below is another view of some of that pooling or charring, again enhanced from a still image from a Lance Wheeler aerial video:

It was not possible to get close enough today to the site to see whether the company or State has erected any berms, dikes or other barriers to prevent potentially hazardous or toxic runoff from escaping. A TCI site, and numerous other cars, currently is parked on Falls Industrial Park Road off Route 9H, with various workers milling around. No State or Federal vehicles were seen parked, entering or leaving the site, but that does not mean they are not there, closer to the incinerated building.

Below is a map generated by the DEC’s Enviromapper software. The green areas are wetlands; the checked areas are buffer areas around those wetlands. One notes that the Widow’s Creek also runs very close by the TCI facility. The only small blessing would appear to be that the terrain in the area is relatively flat. Below the map is a Bing aerial shot from the west, showing how the Creek wraps around the plant:

DEC taking heat on TCI response

Laura Haight of the New York Public Interest Group (NYPIRG) questions the State’s handling of the TCI fire in Ghent in a must-read post on the Times-Union’s Green Blog. Haight’s challenge includes these statements:

I’m not satisfied with what I’m hearing about the state’s testing. According to the TU article on Saturday, the DEC will test for dioxin this week “even though state health officials do not think the dioxin testing is necessary.” Say what? It is a well known fact that incomplete combustion of PCBs can result in the formation of dioxins and furans. According to a 1997 EPA report: “Products of incomplete combustion of PCBs include polychlorinated dibenzofurans (PCDFs) and polychlorinated dibenzo-p-dioxins (PCDDs), both of which may be more toxic than PCBs themselves and have been associated with embryotoxicity, teratogenicity, reproductive effects, and oncogenicity.” (emphasis added)

Much of the affected area is farmland. When persistent organic pollutants like PCBs or dioxin get into the food chain they can bioaccumulate, ending up in vegetables, dairy products and meat. If the fire released dioxin, which is certainly possible, it is absolutely necessary for state officials to test milk and other farm products produced in the region in order to protect public health. Yet from the news reports it appears that as of now the state has no plans to conduct these tests.

So what was I to say to the woman who called me on Friday afternoon who had evacuated her family to a motel in the Adirondacks after learning she was within the 15-mile radius of the fire and had had her windows open all night? She wanted objective information about whether it was safe to return to her home and she didn’t trust the government’s proclamation that DEC sampling showed “no evidence of a public health concern.” Why should she? If state officials aren’t speaking to reporters, it doesn’t engender trust or confidence.

As of 1 pm today, DEC Region 4 has no press releases about the event in the media section of its website.

August 5, 2012

Must-see Lance TV

Videographer Lance Wheeler, who invariably is first on the scene of Columbia County emergencies, and whose indispensable work appears regularly on CBS6 and other Albany news stations, sent along links to three important videos he shot of fires at TCI—two from last week, and a third from the company’s January fire.

The first of these is particularly revelatory, as it appears to have been taken in the early stages of the fire on Wednesday night. At some point, my understanding is around midnight, any press was advised to leave the site for safety, so this does not depict any of the explosions and fireballs which were captured in photos later that night by responders. Reportedly all such responders were moved back to Kinderhook Toyota around 4 am, again for safety.

Some initial comments appear below it, followed by the other two videos:

Some notes and revelations from the above video:

A first responder notes that they were called to the scene by an “alarm activation.”

At the beginning of the video, there is thick, heavy black smoke billowing from parts of the roof and several windows, as well as a hole cut in a garage door, through which something is being sprayed inside. But at that stage, there is no visible flame.

Wheeler asks, “What do you assume is on fire there?” A fire chief responds that “they dismantle transformers here” and also cites “mineral oil” and “some other chemicals in there that we’ve been working on.”

In response to a question about their “biggest concern” at that stage, the response is “chemicals burning in the building at this time,” including a “sodium substance in there that is volatile.”

It is stated that it’s “better to let it burn,” that there are “toxic fumes going up into the air,” and that they’re “going to let this die down a little bit” with a prognosis of that taking “a couple hours.”

Several minutes in, one starts to see more intense columns of flame pouring up the side of the building, eerily reminiscent of smoke licking up the sides of the Trade Towers before they collapsed on 9/11; around the 4:41 mark, bright orange flames begin to appear.

Initially it is indicated that residents are being evacuated from houses within a half-mile from the site, then one mile from it.

At around the 6 minute mark, one begins to see intense orange flame pouring from one end of the building; by the 7:30 mark, Wheeler zooms in on a large ring of fire forming outside the building, as if some there is some flammable substance on the ground.

At the 8 minute mark, one hears a voice indistinctly saying “evacuating” as one end of the building starts to collapse in, and flames start coming out the front and roof of the other end of it. By the 9 minute mark, the fire is a true inferno, with columns of fire going up into the air.

One also sees a brief shot of a Hazmat Weatherlog device being erected. According to one vendor, these “are designed to provide first responders with important real-time information for monitoring and responding to hazardous material incidents,” ennabling them “to monitor plume dispersion... The software was developed for front-line chemical emergency planners and responders [and] helps in evaluating and predicting dispersion patterns.” The devices include a radiation detector, and can be monitored remotely a distance from a disaster site.

At 9:45, one sees a shot of a County hazmat truck, then a firefighter being hosed down and scrubbed with some sort of detergent or soap, as if there is a concern about contamination on his skin or clothing.

At the YouTube site where this is hosted, there are some bitter arguments among anonymous commenters about what was sprayed into the building—water or foam, and what protocols were followed.

By the end of this first video, the building is fully engaged in fire, and crews evidently (and no doubt wisely) decided to back off for safety.

Below are the other two videos posted to YouTube by Lance, starting with a helicopter video of the TCI site from the next day, showing the building almost entirely burned to the ground but still emitting an intensely black plume:

One can see in the above video large, dark, pool-like formations around the remains of the building, but it is not clear if that is simply charred debris, or the result of attempts to douse the fire, or (worst case scenario) spills of uncombusted materials that were stored in the building.

Last up is Lance’s video of January’s (much less catastrophic) fire at TCI:

Note: There were light, occasional rains throughout the late afternoon on Sunday, which may complicate any attempts to test for any toxic residues of this fire tomorrow.

August 4, 2012

Hurry up and wait for TCI test results

This TCI shipping manifest, found in the electronic records of New York State, is one of many showing PCBs leaving the company’s Ghent facility (here, en route to their sister company in Alabama).

At a Thursday press conference, officials sought to reassure an anxious Columbia County public about the intense fires and explosions which leveled the warehouse of waste handler TCI. Among those reassurances: that the U.S. EPA and New York State DEC were testing the Ghent site and other areas for toxic releases such as dioxins.

The results should be back “within 24 hours,” the County’s director of emergency management said at the time. Multiple publications, for example The Berkshire Eagle, reported that these would be available before this week’s close of business: “Tests results for dioxin, a potential byproduct of the burning, are expected by Friday.” (The Eagle added that “a Massachusetts response team, whose members donned protective suits, fanned out in parts of Southern Berkshire County to test soil and air”).

But more than 24 hours have come and gone, with no new test results forthcoming.

Late Friday, the County emergency management office released the statement that “State officials have confirmed that testing for Dioxins will begin on Monday for the TCI incident.” In other words, these highly-anticipated test results of tests could not have arrived Friday, because evidently the testing has not even begun yet.

Left to wait over the weekend, citizens eager to breathe easier may also begin to wonder about Thursday’s reassuring announcement that no traces of PCBs were found. James Odato and Dayelin Roman of the Times-Union reported Friday night that a spokesman for the EPA named Mary Mears “said test results for polycholorinated biphenyls, or PCBs, should be in next week.” Elsewhere in the T-U article, Bill Black says on behalf of the County that “soot samples showed no indication of PCBs” but that DEC “will do some follow-up testing for PCBs and will expand its sampling in a 15-mile region around the fire site in Ghent.”

This may be a simple case of miscommunication, or possibly the two officials are referring to two different sets of tests. But it again leaves open the question: How were celebratory announcements made that no PCBs were detected, if these tests are ongoing? The seeming confusion may be explainable, but it the meantime it can only further any doubts in residents’ minds about whether they are getting the full story.

Whether warranted or not, adding to such public concerns is the refreshingly frank statement from a representative of the Columbia County Sheriff's Department that the County “does not have a precise accounting of the types and quantities of chemicals and substances at TCI,” and that records of storage at TCI are two years old. Nevertheless, “state health department officials do not think the dioxin testing is necessary.” This nonpartisan website, which tracks public data about facilities like TCI’s, says that “the last inspection” of their Falls Industrial Road site “took place 489 days ago.”

Meanwhile, the T-U’s County source also conveys that “state officials believe it is unnecessary to test milk and other farm produce and products in the region.”

Again, the obvious question arises: If officials are still trying to determine what chemicals and materials were onsite, how can the State make such premature assessments of the extent and necessity of testing? The T-U article concludes with the warning that “results from dioxin and dibenzofuran tests can take weeks.”

Despite these generalized reassurances of low- or no-risk, the County and State Department of Health would appear to be taking in other respects a “better safe than sorry” approach in issuing advisories for how to remove any soot and ash deposits around people’s homes, on their cars, on air conditioners, in their gardens and pools, and on pets. (The advisories conclude, again in the absence of test results, that wells and other drinking water supplies ought to be safe.)

Now, companies like TCI which handle delicate or hazardous materials are required by law to submit “manifests” of their delivery and shipping activity. After obtaining information on how to search the NYS DEC’s (well-hidden and password-protected) database of these manifests via the agency’s Deb Aldrich, and conducting an initial review, this site spoke with Bob Schick of the agency on Friday afternoon.

Mr. Schick acknowledged the same thing which my initial review noted—that the State’s electronic records of TCI manifests do not seem to include any documents since a flurry activity in late February and early March of this year. During a three-week period, these records indicate the company made or received multiple shipments of PCBs in both liquid and solid form. This could mean one of several things:

(1) Ideally, that TCI stopped shipping or accepting PCBs in March;

(2) Less ideally, that TCI stopped reporting such activities to DEC in March; or,

(3) that DEC may be behind in scanning more recent hard-copy shipping manifests submitted by TCI since March for inclusion in their online database.

Mr. Schick confirmed that DEC itself is now in the process of determining whether there are any post-March records somewhere in their possession. This site has sent DEC a Freedom of Information Law (FOIL) request, also pursuant to the Federal Emergency Planning and Community Right-to-Know Act, for any and all records documenting what TCI of NY has stored or managed in Ghent during this calendar year. More to come on that.

August 2, 2012

Notes on 1:30 pm news conference about TCI

UPDATE: A Hudson resident makes the insightful point that there have been three fires—one at Amanda’s Fireplace, and two now at TCI—within a few hundred yards of each other in the past couple of years. Makes you wonder if there is a firebug in the neighborhood.

Listening to this afternoon’s press conference by County, State and Federal officials on WGXC was frustrating, as two out of the three speakers were almost inaudible—either due to mumbling or the poor quality of the audio feed. (CBS6’s live stream was apparently much clearer.) With that caveat, here are some notes on what was said, to the extent that it could be heard:

• The fire is now “99% out” and the cause of the fire is “under investigation.”

• The alert for the 15-mile radius (or rather, 15-mile diameter) of the site has now been lifted.

• “A drum of PCBs,” said to be a “very small amount” was onsite. (A little polychlorinated biphenyl goes a long way.)

• 20,000 gallons of mineral oil, some motor oil, and some propane tanks were also onsite, contributing one supposes to the intensity of the fire. (Mineral oil? Is there an epidemic of diaper rash in the County?)

• Officials are “doing some additional testing,” but claim that no traces of PCBs were found in residues near the site.

• Testing for “other chemicals,” such as highly toxic dioxins—which, as previously reported here, PCBs can morph into when burned—is not yet complete, but is expected maybe by tomorrow.

• It was decided to were “pull out” firefighters at some point due to the intensity of the blaze and lack of certainty as to what was onsite.

• A question was asked by reporters in the audience about what agency is “supposed to be monitoring this facility,” and when it was last “checked out,” especially considering that it had a smaller fire barely six months ago. “That is under investigation,” was the answer.

• People were still working there after the January fire; it isn’t clear if anyone was working there last night.

• Officials feel satisfied that they did what they could to “notify everybody as quickly as possible,” while conceding that unlike some neighboring counties, Columbia does not have a reverse 911 system.

• The Columbia County Health Department will be issuing a guidance document on how to deal with any soot people find on their property or in their homes.

• The 15-mile radius was chosen to ensure that if there were a wind change, causing a change in the direction of the plume, people would be on alert.

• In response to a question about whether any people were called in the potentially most-impacted areas, the answer was “I would say no.”

• The County requested help from State Emergency Management, and received it asw ell frm ROTC, Dutchess, Greene and Rensselaer counties; a truck also came from an Air Force base at 9 am this morning.

• A speaker commented that after 25-30 years of fighting fires, “I have never seen explosions like on this fire.”

More TCI updates

• The Federal Emergency Planning and Community Right-to-Know Act (EPCRA), which was passed in 1986, requires that “Information about accidental chemical releases must be made available to the public.” More info is at: http://www.epa.gov/oem/content/epcra/

• This alert from the County comes via Patty Metheney of Ghent CANN: New York State Ags & Markets have recommend that if you have animals outside that if possible move them to cover and only use feed/hay that has been covered. If anyone needs more information please call Ag & Markets at 518-457-3502.

• Via a Hudson resident, a New York Times article on a town in Canada which was devastated by “a fire in a warehouse used to store oil contaminated with chemicals known as PCB's” back in 1998: http://www.nytimes.com/1988/09/11/world/canadians-return-to-town-evacuated-in-pcb-fire.html

• A press conference is going to be held in Hudson by County emergency management officials at their office at 1:30 pm today. Some obvious questions that might be asked:

— Is the fire now out? If not, when is it expected to be?

— Is the warning for residents within 15 miles meant to be a radius, or a diameter, of the fire site?

— What materials (hazardous, toxic, or otherwise) were stored on the site, and in what quantities?

— How many people, if any, were evacuated from the immediate vicinity?

— What steps, if any, were taken after TCI's smaller fire in January to prevent future fires?

— How did TCI, which is based in the Deep South, wind up in Columbia County? Who owns and manages it?

— Has TCI received any local, County, State or Federal assistance?

— What agencies were responsible for inspecting the site for safety?

— What emergency notification systems does Columbia County have in place for residents, most of whom were unaware of the potentially toxic event from when it began sometime after 10 pm yesterday, until around 7-8 am this morning?

— Some residents of Berkshire and Rensselaer counties report receiving reverse 911 or robocalls alerting them to the fire, and precautions to take. Did Columbia County issue any such warnings?

— Have our firefighters and other first responders been adequately protected from what might be highly toxic fumes?

— Will the County be recommending any cleanup or sanitizing measures for nearby residents?

More to come...

Plume

UPDATE: I’ve spoken with Rick Georgeson, a public information officer for the DEC, and he is going to attempt to pull any records the State might have of hazardous materials stored onsite at TCI.

UPDATE #2: The Associated Press is calling the fire “stubborn” and that “Police say the firefighters are spraying foam Thursday morning because they don't know exactly what is burning. A reader reports as of 1 pm that a dark plume is still visible from Route 66 heading north toward Chatham.

A reader in the Ghent/Stockport area just sent in the above photo of a lingering plume this morning from TCI’s fire. As previously noted, one County official has said that at its peak, this plume was two miles long.

Another reader reports an as-yet unconfirmed rumor from a Columbia Memorial Hospital worker that the National Guard was brought in to assist firefighters. Anecdotally, CMH has apparently had some walk-ins with eye and throat irritation.

The Berkshire Eagle reports on air quality warnings across the border in Massachusetts:

A Great Barrington emergency management team issued telephone calls around 5 a.m. on Thursday to residents of Egremont, Alford, Sheffield and Great Barrington about the fire in West Ghent and the possibility that their may be toxic fumes drifting their way in an air plume because of the wind patterns. As of 8:15 a.m., the alert has been expanded to Stockbridge, West Stockbridge, Richmond and Sheffield. Residents have been warned to close their windows and not use air conditioners which may filter polluted air into homes.

Meanwhile, while some Hudson officials have attempted to tamp down concerns, The Catskill Daily Mail reports that even eastern Greene County residents are advised to turn off their A/Cs and stay inside. The paper writes:

Occasional explosions were heard inside the building, including one series that resembled rolling thunder, causing some spectators to run in the opposite direction.

“There are a lot of hazardous materials here,” said Emergency Medical Services Coordinator P.J. Keeler. “That’s our concern.” Keeler was pulling a cooler that had dozens of water bottles stacked on top of it.

County Emergency Management Director William Black said the building contained big mineral oil tanks, two tractor trailers of fuel oil, fork lifts with propane tanks, and other hazardous substances. “It’s the combination when they mix we have to be concerned with,” he said. “There’s sodium in there.”

Here is a handy link if you want to follow media reports of the event on Google News.

Close your windows, central Columbia

In the wake of explosions at a hazardous/toxic waste handler’s building in an industrial park off Route 9H in West Ghent, Columbia County emergency management officials have issued this alert:

A mutual aid fire at TCI of NY, a transformer recycling company off of Route 9H on Falls Industrial Park Road in West Ghent has resulted in a State of Emergency for the immediate area being declared by Chairman of the Board of Supervisors Patrick Grattan. Multiple fire companies, rescue squads, and various county and state agencies are on scene. The area, Route 9H and surrounding roadways around TCI are closed to the public. People who reside in the area are asked to remain in their homes. If they feel they must leave their homes due to smoke a shelter has been established at the Chatham Fire House at 3 Hoffman Street Chatham, NY. If anyone requires emergency assistance please call 911. More information will be provided as it becomes available.

Columbia County 911 is circulating the above map on Facebook, urging people in the red area to turn off air conditioning units and avoid outdoor air if at all possible:

Out of an abundance of caution, it is recommended that anyone with a 15 mile radius of the incident (Route 9H/Falls Rd, Ghent) limit outdoor activity... remain indoors. State Health Department officials are conducting air quality tests in the vicinity of the fire. Out of an abundance of caution, please remain indoors and limit outside activity. Anyone experiencing eye irritation, difficulty breathing or cough should seek medical attention. For additional information, contact the Columbia County Health Department at 518-828-3358 ext. 1293.

Note that the above map has been described as depicting at “15-mile radius,” but in fact it appears to show a 15-mile diameter. Columbia County is only about 18 miles wide at the middle, from Hudson to the Berkshire line, as the crow flies. Hudson is under 7 miles from the TCI site.

On Facebook, reports are coming in that Berkshire and Rensselaer county residents got reverse 911 and/or robocalls alerting them to the event. It is not clear that similar notification occurred in Columbia County.

Photo: Matthew Perry

A half-mile radius near the facility, located off Route 9H in Ghent near the Toyota dealer and First Fuel, is reportedly being mandatorily evacuated. As noted above, a smoke recovery center has been set up at the Chatham firehouse. Fire companies from Claverack, Ghent, Stockport, Stottville, and Stuyvesant Falls responded, with requests to other units (e.g. Livingston and Niverville) going out all night.

Albany television stations reported a chemical hazard alert early this morning after neighboring Rensselaer County emergency management officials issued their own alert:

The Rensselaer County Executive has announced that due to an Emergency condition at TCI, Inc., 39 Falls Industrial Park Rd, Ghent, NY, Columbia County, all persons living or working in the Towns of Nassau, Schodack, and Stephentown, should shelter within[g], close all windows, shut off all air conditioning units, and devices that draw in outside air. Residents should be prepared to shelter within for the next 12 hours, and are advised to spend as little time, if any, in the outside environment as possible. This measure is a precautionary measure for your protection. Residents are instructed to NOT dial 9-1-1, unless you have an emergency. For further information, you may contact 266-7684 or 266-7686. As additional information becomes available, it will be provided.

YNN has a video depicting a massive plume arising from the site this morning, and an interview with Bill Black, the County’s emergency management director. Black indicates that last night the plume was about “2 miles long.” The NYS DEC and US EPA are conducting residue and air quality tests, with early results expected in “early afternoon.”

A road closure notice has also been posted, as passed along by Virginia Martin:

Issued By: NYS - DOT

Jurisdictions: Columbia County

Headline: RD CLOSURE: N/S State Hwy 9H between Rabbit Ln & CR 22 (Stockport Rd) closed at 7:20am due to a structure fire for 8 hrs - T/Hudson - Columbia Co

Description: N/S State Hwy 9H between Rabbit Ln & CR 22 (Stockport Rd) closed at 7:20am due to a structure fire for 8 hrs - T/Hudson - Columbia Co

Instructions: Use alternate route.

The waste handler, a company called TCI, had a smaller fire last January. According to the company’s website, TCI claims to provide:

environmentally safe disposal of oil filled and drained electrical equipment, <50ppm PCBs, 50-499ppm PCBs as well as >500ppm PCBs.

In addition to handling PCB wastes, the company lists the following waste items which it accepts: “transformers, regulators, padmounts, switches, breakers, bushings, capacitors, ballasts and bulbs, debris, drummed oil, PILC cable, etc.”

The site claims that its facilities “were built with the latest safeguards, such as triple-spill containment systems which include 40 ml or 60 ml high density polyethylene liners beneath the concrete floors, special chemical-proof epoxy floor coating and steel floor plating in high contact areas to assure there will be no absorption of PCBs into exposed concrete in the event of a spill.” Such measures, however, appear intended to protect against spills, not the risk of fire.

The company further notes that it “maintains eleven million dollars of pollution liability insurance to protect both TCI and it's customers.”

TCI of NY, LLC is registered with New York State as a Foreign Limited Liability Company, with a Delaware jurisdiction. Its registered agent is something called CT Corporation System, which has offices at 111 Eighth Avenue in New York City but seems to be based in Georgia. (That may just be a legal service for incorporating LLCs.)

July 13, 2012

Two primaries in the 107th AD

As expected, more than one Democratic candidate has filed petitions to compete in a primary for the new 107th Assembly seat, The new district covers all of Rensselaer, plus a handful of towns in Columbia and Washington.

The Register-Star only mentioned one of the candidates. The paper also missed a separate primary on the Working Families line.

Rensselaer County’s Keith Hammond and Columbia County’s Cheryl Roberts both submitted signatures to secure the Democratic line. 76% of the Democrats in the newly-mapped district live in Rensselaer County.

In addition, Roberts faces a challenge for the Working Families line from Brenda Mahar. Again, the vast majority of Working Families voters in the new 107th live in Rensselaer—90% of them.

Meanwhile quasi-incumbent Steve McLaughlin (of the former 108th) is unchallenged on the Republican, Conservative and Independence line. Republicans, Conservatives and Independence Party voters outnumber Democrats in the 107th by a 3-2 ratio.

The State Board has deemed all of these petitions valid on their face, meaning that they appear to contain more than the minimum necessary signatures to get on the ballot for the primary (where there’s more than one candidate) or the general (if the line is uncontested). Election boards in New York do not question the validity of signatures unless a citizen files a challenge to them.

July 5, 2012

There’s that headline again

Last Thursday afternoon, The Register-Star posted a headline which, contrary to its own reporting, rendered a definitive (and damning) verdict on the conduct of a driver involved in a fatal accident. A post here questioned the wisdom of the paper jumping to a stark conclusion that would likely have to be assessed by a court. And by the next morning, the paper had tempered the headline substantially, describing the tragic event more neutrally both in its online and print editions.

Yet today, when the daily Register’s sister weekly paper The Chatham Courier reposted the same story, the Courier reinstated the original, starkly condemnatory headline.

SamPratt.com