Columbia professor says toxic dust still being emitted from Norlite 

COHOES, N.Y. (NEWS10) – We continue to follow concerns around emissions from the Norlite facility in Cohoes, where residents have complaints about dust that covers the surrounding area. It’s drawn the attention of one environmental scientist that’s analyzing the toxic material.

NEWS10 talked to a Columbia University professor who’s worked with residents of Cohoes, for years, to collect material and produce scientific evidence of, what he calls, the community’s dust burden.

Professor Emeritus of Earth and Environmental Sciences at Columbia University David Walker traveled from New York City to Cohoe,s on Tuesday, collecting dust. And no, it’s not an idiom. 

He collects samples to analyze and he said the emission of toxic particles from the Norlite facility is unusual.

“There aren't very many places that have the industrial processing power to produce this much toxic material. And in this case, it's quartz bearing silicate glass,” said Walker. His major concern, piles of toxic material – and it’s not just found here in Cohoes.

“The driver for the fugitive dust emissions, which I find so troubling here, is the wind and when there is mixing and shifting of piles inside the facility, the wind is fairly effective at picking up the micro dust particles and distributing them,” said Walker. He’s collected evidence of toxic dust across the Hudson River.

“When you get across the river in Troy, then the dust burden from Norlite is a much smaller proportion of all the dust which is present. But it's very clear that a substantial fraction of the particles are dust that originates from Norlite,” said Walker. “They're bouncing off the trucks when they cross the ‘ski jump’ on the railway grade. And so it gets out lots of different ways.” 

Professor Walker tracks the individual characteristics of particles that come specifically from Norlite. It has residents like Brad Blauhut wearing respirators in their own homes.

“I don' t think Brad's being over overcautious there. There's a lot of this dust around,” said Walker.

He wants the toxic dust cleaned up, “I've been trying to make the regulatory bodies aware that this problem has been here for a long time.”

Walker wants to see the piles go away, or be secured – ideally indoors. He said eliminating dust emission is the bare minimum. 

“I have a great deal of sympathy for the people who have to endure this assault on their health day after day,” said Walker. 

He believes the neighborhood could qualify for superfund remediation.

Norlite said they are still operating under a limited capacity as the state reviews what, it called, preventable air quality issues.