For Immediate Release: September 17, 2009
Contact: Ramona Cearley
914-478-4501 x 235
[email protected]
Stone Quarry and Asphalt plant operator agrees to Cleanup, Penalties
Tarrytown, NY – Riverkeeper commends the New York Department of Environmental Conservation (“DEC”) for the settlement agreement announced today between the DEC and Tilcon New York, Inc. addressing Tilcon’s pollution of the Hudson and Hackensack Rivers, which violated numerous provisions of the State’s Environmental Conservation Law (“ECL”). These violations occurred at several of Tilcon’s stone quarries and asphalt plants on the Hudson, located in West Nyack, Haverstraw, and Poughkeepsie, with violations ranging from dumping stone aggregate into the Hudson to illegal wastewater discharges and air and mining permit violations. Under the agreement, Tilcon commits to remediating the pollution already caused, to upgrade its facilities to prevent any reoccurrence of the same pollution, and to pay a $150,000 penalty. Additional, immediate penalties are available to DEC if Tilcon fails to meet a Compliance Schedule set out in the agreement.
“We are very pleased to see Tilcon’s historic pollution of the Hudson fully addressed by the DEC in this agreement, and applaud the DEC for aggressively negotiating a ‘global consent decree’ that, once implemented, will contribute greatly to a cleaner Hudson River. Since 2006 Riverkeeper has investigated and reported numerous water quality violations by Tilcon to the DEC, and we are heartened by DEC’s response,” said Alex Matthiessen, Hudson Riverkeeper and President.