1/26/04
Village police are being trained this week and next by the DOT to identify commercial truck traffic violations

Senator Bonacic is intervening with the DOT on the village's behalf to further the effort to reroute the trucks. Mayor Yerick is meeting with him in Albany on Thursday.

Mayor Yerick asked Police Chief Kimble to begin identifying the names of some of the trucks.

Mayor Yerick is going to set up a committee regarding the traffic situation

Write, call:

For the Governor's e-mail: http://161.11.3.75/
for letters:
Governor George E. Pataki State Capitol Albany, NY 12224

Senator John J. Bonacic:
Room 815 Legislative Office Building Albany, NY 12247 Phone: (518) 455-3181
e-mail bonacic@senate.ny.us

Assemblyman Daniel Hooker
NY State Assembly
LOB Room 937
Albany NY 12248
Phone# Catskill office 518-943-1371
hookerd@assembly.state.ny.us

Mr. William Clarke
and Mr. Steven Schassler
NY State Department of Environmental Conservation
Region 4
1150 North Westcott Rd
Schenectady, NY 12306-2014
(Clarke was in charge of reviewing GFlC)

Mayor Robert Yerick
Village of Saugerties
43 Partition Street
Saugerties, NY 12477
Tel: 246-2321

Mr. Greg Helsmoortel Supervisor Tel: 246-9615

Urge the mayor and supervisor to contact the state for re-routing trucks!

For Congressman Hinchey:
lori.dubord@mail.house.gov (Ms. Dubord is an aide)

We want these trucks re-routed to the Thruway -- either the DEC puts the pressure on, or the politicians do it. Why not get your neigbors and friends on this? The more the merrier. Please let us know what politicians reply to you.

WHAT ARE WE WAITING FOR ?

A piece of machinery rolls off a flat bed onto Main Street in the Village of Saugerties

Keep 'em truckin' Opposition is growing against the nuisance of truck traffic through Saugerties, with the village and Route 9W enduring the heaviest activity. Cement-truck traffic has escalated noticeably in the past two years. Why so many trucks? Maybe because Glens Falls Lehigh Cement (GFLC) reopened in 2000 with a permit by DEC to begin producing slag cement at Smiths Landing, just over the border of Saugerties? And slag means lots and lots of trucks. As many as 100 trucks an hour, according to Department of Transportation. Before start-up operations, GFLC did no traffic study. Nor did DEC require it, as part of an environmental impact review, before granting the permits for start-up . How did they get away with not considering the traffic, noise, and pollution and their effects on the health and safety of Saugerties before hundreds of trucks took to the roads? There was a gross procedural flaw in the DEC permitting process, starting in 2000? If the problem is not corrected now, Saugerties may see a lot more trucks, just in time to ruin the tourist season.

A tractor trailer rolls 4 feet over the curb destroying part of the sidewalk

Keep Saugerties in Business: What to do? Demand that the cement trucks be re-routed to the NY State Thruway, out of the way of Saugerties residents whose health and safety (not to mention a good night's sleep) are compromised. Ask Governor Pataki for a full investigation of the DEC Region #4 public-hearings proceedings, because the"environmental review" in 2000 obviously paid no heed to traffic impact, noise or visual assessments, in granting the permit for start-up. The permit should be revoked until a full and fair review is completed, to everyone's satisfaction and not only to Glens Falls Lehigh's.

Time-Line** --
11/ 00: GFLC is given a permit by the DEC to produce slag cement. Traffic, noise, economic and environmental impact to Saugerties are deemed irrelevant
( DEC has ignored repeated requests to allow public view of Environmental Assessment)

• Problem:
  In applying for this permit, the DEC allows the company to use data from 1995 to 1998, when the cement plant was closed (terminal only). Also: the plant claims it is "grandfathered" in.
• Problem: The company claims it is "grandfathered in" -- and thus DEC requires no environmental asssessment? Although the plant was closed for 7 years?
• Problem: DEC agrees with the company's claims that the surrounding communities are accustomed to cement plants already -- But: a thorough environmental review (SEQR) would reveal that community expectations have changed -- Saugerties is not the derelict village it once was, in the 1970s and early '80s when cement plants flourished along the Hudson.
• Problem : Is Saugerties ignored in DEC's review because Saugerties is not in DEC Region 4, Greene County, but in Region 3, Ulster County?

2/01 : GFLC starts up production of slag cement. Cement-truck traffic escalates dramatically,

04/02 : GFLC applies to DEC for permit to increase hours of operation Slag Dryer -- from 1600 hours per year to 6000 hours Other equipment -- from 1600 hrs. per year to 8760 hours

10/03 : DEC grants permission, issues Final Decision, with NO COMMENT about the complaints raised by Saugerties and Germantown citizens and the Mayor and Supervisor of Saugerties

Case closed?

11/03 : GFLC contacts Mayor Yerick promising there will be no increase in truck traffic.

12/03 : The Mayor begins working with NYS DOT to reduce the amount of traffic

• Problem: DOT is not in the business of reducing truck traffic.
• According to DOT officials, some of the truck traffic through Saugerties could be due to drivers avoiding NY State troopers inspections of weight, brakes, tires, etc. on NY State Thruway.

**some info courtesy of Germantown Neighbors Association, who are not responsible for all the content