Navy says it will halt all PFAS shipments to Cohoes’ burn plant

The federal Department of Defense is suspending all AFFF shipments to Norlite in Cohoes.Times Union file photo

COHOES — The U.S. Navy says it is suspending all shipments of toxic firefighting foam to the city.

The decision was made following a Times Union story earlier in the week, about plans, later abandoned, to send 58,000 gallons of the foam, known as aqueous film forming foam,  to be incinerated in the Norlite plant in Cohoes.

“All shipment of AFFF to Cohoes has stopped,” according to U.S. Sen. Chuck Schumer’s office. The New York Democrat had been calling the Navy and Department of Defense urging them to halt shipments to Norlite where the chemicals, in 2018 and 2019, unbeknownst to the city, were being incinerated.

Worried about the health and environmental effects, Cohoes officials earlier in the spring imposed a year-long moratorium on AFFF  incineration. AFFF  has long been in used in chemical fire suppressants. But its use has stopped amid worries about the potentially toxic PFAS, or per- and polyfluoroalkyl chemicals in the foam.

Earlier: Feds backoff shipping PFAS to Norlite – for now

PFAS remain in place, Schumer wants to keep it that way

Norlite’s parent company, Tradebe Environmental Services, has a contract with the defense department to incinerate AFFF from military installations across the eastern states.

But they haven’t been burning any AFFF this year as their kiln and smokestacks were closed for renovation. They also say they will adhere to the moratorium.

Worries about a new round of incineration erupted earlier in the week though, with discovery of Department of Defense and Navy orders calling for 58,000 gallons, or about 12 tanker trucks of AFFF, to be sent to Norlite for incineration.

The company hadn’t yet been told of those  orders but once authorities including Schumer learned of it, they urged a halt to the shipments.

As of Thursday morning, Schumer’s office said the Navy  will be storing the 58,000 gallons in place and will look at alternative sites to accept it. It wasn’t immediately clear, however, if the DOD’s Defense Logistics Agency, which handles the details of AFFF shipments for all the military branches, has agreed to stop all shipments. Tradebe’s contract is with the DOD.

Known as “forever chemicals,” PFAS, or per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances, have raised concerns due to their enduring chemical makeup. The chemicals can persist in a person’s bloodstream for years.

Tradebe in earlier emails to the DOD said they had reached out to the seven other sites nationwide that could burn the AFFF but were turned down due to worries about its safety and effectiveness.

The EarthJustice environmental group is suing the DOD in efforts to stop all incineration of the foam.

New York’s other senator, Kirsten Gillibrand, also weighed in on Thursday, sending a letter to the DOD seeking more information about the practice of burning PFAS chemicals at Norlite.

Some of the questions focused on whether there were test burns prior to the longer incinerations to gauge the potential safety hazards.

In another, unrelated development, the Environmental Protection Agency fined Norlite for earlier violations of the Clean Air Act dating back to 2012.

That centered on instances in which they exceeded the parameters of their technology for controlling pollutants such as dioxins and furans, as well as hydrogen chloride, chlorine gas and particulate matter.

The company also told EPA they had exceeded limits for chromium, arsenic, and beryllium during a test they conducted in 2017.

rkarlin@timesunion.com 518 454 5758 @RickKarlinTU