Recently-settled Hudson resident and longtime Berkshire fixture Seth Rogovoy tipped this site to a Berkshire Eagle editorial this morning regarding the TCI fire, entitled “Ill winds blow from west.” Noting the role of Berkshire residents in fighting the St. Lawrence Cement proposal in Columbia County, the paper says the fire “justifiably alarmed residents in the path of the smoke plume.” The Eagle editorial concludes:
“It has yet to be determined what caused the fire, which sent a fireball hundreds of feet into the air, but that must be learned and precautions established so that will not happen again before TCI can rebuild and return to business. Berkshire County officials and environmentalists must insist on being kept informed because this problem is not solely the concern of Ghent or Columbia County or New York State. Just as the St. Lawrence plant proposal was our business in the Berkshires, the TCI fire is our business as well.”
Meanwhile, legislators in Rensselaer County are also voicing strong concerns and issuing specific requests and demands to the State and Feds. (It’s often the case that officials in neighboring counties are more willing to raise the obvious questions, because they have fewer toes to step on across the border.)
Note: Massachusetts groups such as the Berkshire Regional Planning Council and the Berkshire Natural Resources Council, as well as elected officials such as Andrea Nuciforo, were early and very helpful opponents of the SLC proposal. The Berkshire Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) also put strong pressure on New York State regulators and the Governor’s office when they verified many of the concerns of engineers and other experts brought to the table by opponents.
