Q: What does Norlite make?
A: Norlite manufactures lightweight aggregate, used in roadways, bridges, horticulture, masonry, structural concrete, geotechnical fill, stormwater management and related projects. Norlite produces approximately 250,000 tons of aggregate products per year. Use of our lightweight aggregate in building construction reduces overall energy consumption, thereby reducing the associated lifecycle costs, supporting sustainable development and contributing to projects becoming certified in the Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) program, a nationally recognized green building rating system. Our products also lower the thermal conductivity of building materials, which contributes to energy efficiency, reduces the burning of fossil fuels, improves fire ratings, and enhances sustainability. In short, we make a valuable product that our customers depend on and that is good for the climate, environment and society.
Q: How does Norlite make the product?
A: Norlite operates two lightweight aggregate kilns to manufacture building materials. The raw material, shale and clay, are extracted from our mine on our property, fed into the kilns and heated to as high as 3,000 degrees Fahrenheit. The final product is an expanded lightweight, durable aggregate.
Q: How long does the manufacturing process take?
A: The rotary kilns are 180 feet in length and it takes about 45 minutes for shale to travel the length of the kiln to expand and become lightweight aggregate.
Q: How many people work at Norlite?
A: The Norlite team has 70 full-time employees, about one-third of whom are union members.
Q: How long has Norlite been in business?
A: Norlite was founded and has been part of the Cohoes community since1956. We have been producing lightweight aggregate in Cohoes ever since.
Q: Why does Norlite use waste as a fuel source?
A: Effective and efficient waste disposal options are necessary for the health of our environment, and converting waste to energy reduces the need to use traditional carbon-based fuels such as coal. Energy to operate our kilns comes from the thermal destruction and energy recovery of liquid waste materials. These materials come from schools and colleges, government agencies, local industries, the pharmaceutical industry, consumer products and industrial manufacturers. We divert these materials from being landfilled and destroy them by using them as alternative fuels. Some of these wastes are subject to landfill disposal restrictions; incineration is the safest and most environmentally efficacious way to dispose of these materials. Norlite’s thermal destruction and energy recovery is a permitted and approved regulated activity by the U.S. EPA and New York State. The regulatory agencies regard this practice as a safe and environmentally responsible way of managing these waste streams. By utilization of the approved technology, thermal destruction, we eliminate wastes and significantly reduce our reliance on traditional fossil fuels.
Q: Is Norlite primarily a manufacturer or a waste processor?
A: We’re both. We produce a lightweight aggregate product using alternative fuel sources.
Q: How does Norlite know the waste residuals are being destroyed?
A: Norlite’s kilns are required to achieve 99.99% destruction of fuel and fuel byproducts in 1 second; the temperatures and standard residence times in Norlite’s two kilns of 5.2 seconds and 5.9 seconds, respectively, achieve 99.9995% destruction removal efficiency.
Q: What is Norlite doing to protect the environment?
A: In addition to making a product that helps our customers achieve their sustainability goals, we utilize the energy from waste, which also thermally destroys the waste. Norlite operates under strict environmental permits that limit what can be processed along with monitoring the emissions from our facility. These permits govern our acceptance, analytical assessment, monitoring and reporting of the materials we manage, as well as the manner and processes by which those materials are handled and used. Our equipment is programmed to ensure that our kilns operate within the limits set in the permits. In addition, Norlite has continually invested in state-of-the-art technology to further enhance the destruction removal efficiency of our kilns. We are in the process of completing a voluntary investment of $30 million, which included a full public review, public meeting and regulatory approval. This is an investment in our air emissions control system. The enhancement eliminated permitted water discharges and improves overall system operations and efficiency. Norlite is committed to the protection and conservation of our natural resources, and to working with regulatory agencies, local officials and our neighbors to ensure that our operations continue to be safe and protective of human health and the environment.
Q: What is Norlite emitting?
A: Mostly steam.
Q: That’s not smoke coming from the stack?
A: No. It is steam.
Q: Norlite is owned by Tradebe. Who is Tradebe?
A: Tradebe is an international leader in waste reclamation and recycling solutions, managing more than two million tons of waste annually and recycling 60% of that waste. It has provided environmental services since 1983 through the treatment, recovery and recycling of waste. It provides flexible, innovative and technologically driven solutions for the processing and recovery of hazardous and non-hazardous waste. The company is based in Spain and, in addition to Spain and the U.S., has operations in France, Germany and the United Kingdom.
Q: Has Norlite conducted any health studies to determine whether its operations are affecting the local community?
A: We are in the process of conducting such a study at the direction of the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation and New York State Department of Health. We have no information to indicate Norlite’s operations have any adverse impact on public health.
Q: Norlite is very close to a public housing neighborhood. Should Norlite be operating in close proximity to a neighborhood?
A: We recognize that the Norlite facility is close to a residential neighborhood, which was constructed in the 1960s in an industrial zone that includes other manufacturers that, like Norlite, were operating before the neighborhood was built. We have no indication that any of our operations have any adverse affect on the health of our neighbors.
Q: Does Norlite support moving residents out of Saratoga Sites?
A: In our view, it was inappropriate to put a housing project in an industrial zone in the first place.
Q: People have complained about noise, dust and odors from the plant. Are those complaints valid?
A: We recognize that noise and dust associated with blasting and material handling in our mine has been a concern for our neighbors. Norlite is committed as good neighbors to minimizing the effects of our operations on our community and the environment. We are working cooperatively with the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation to evaluate, and likely update, our facility’s existing dust suppression plan, and will invest the necessary resources to improve our dust suppression program. We are conducting a thorough review of our operations with respect to dust suppression and assessing a number of other options. When blasting is necessary, we inform nearby neighbors in advance. New York State has instruments in place that measure seismic impacts of these activities. To date, all of our blasting activities have been well within New York State regulatory limits, which are designed to protect nearby properties. If people have a question or concern about our operations, we encourage them to call us immediately. Our phone number is 518-235-0401. We will investigate any issues and take corrective steps if necessary. People are of course welcomed to call the New York State DEC as well.
Q: The DEC website lists several permit violations by Norlite. How do you explain that?
A: The Norlite team works toward the goal of 100 percent compliance. But even with modern technology and well-trained personnel, there are times when a complex manufacturing operation may be temporarily out of compliance with its permits. When that happens, we immediately take corrective steps and voluntarily report the matter to regulatory agencies. A close reading of the record will bear this out. DEC’s previous enforcement actions against Norlite were primarily the result of paperwork errors. Other violations included failure to maintain compliance with various operational regulations. Norlite’s management team conducts an examination of each alleged violation; after an in-depth review, the corrective actions are implemented where necessary to eliminate a reoccurrence. Norlite monitors its operations around the clock, and meets weekly with the Operations Team to discuss daily activities, and environmental, health and safety. When Norlite discovers an issue of non-compliance, we alert the appropriate regulatory authorities and implement corrective measures immediately. We do not seek to minimize the record, only to point out the importance of understanding its context.
Q: How does Norlite contribute to Cohoes?
A: In addition to providing good, steady manufacturing jobs and supporting employment among our vendors and contractors, we pay about $157,000 a year in property taxes and $78,000 a year to the Cohoes Water Department, as well as payroll and sales and use taxes. We sponsor youth sports programs and participate in the Cohoes Neighborhood Watch annual holiday toy collection. For several years, we made voluntary, unrestricted, annual contributions over and above our taxes to the city and the Cohoes School District to support essential services. In addition, for several years Norlite has worked with the City of Cohoes to collect and accept residents’ household hazardous wastes. Norlite also pays for the transportation and disposal of the Cohoes residents’ waste.
Q: Can Norlite operate without using waste in its manufacturing process?
A: Yes, our kilns are capable of operating exclusively on fossil fuels. But we don’t believe using fossil fuels is the right choice for the environment, the community or our company, given our capability to safely utilize alternative fuel sources under strict regulatory oversight. In result we reduce the greenhouse has emissions of our activity, contributing to fight against climate change locally, from Cohoes.
Q: Norlite’s stack is low. Wouldn’t it be safer for the community if the stack were higher?
A: The U.S. EPA and New York State determine whether facilities such as ours can operate within the strict limits established by our environmental permits, which are designed to be protective of human health and the environment. We have proven ourselves capable of doing that.
Q. Norlite uses water from its quarry for dust suppression. Is that safe?
A. Yes. Norlite’s Water Withdrawal permit, issued by the DEC, authorizes the withdrawal of water from the quarry pond, including for use in dust suppression. In response to a question from a nearby resident, the DEC wrote, “The quarry pond is not a drinking water supply. Any comparison of quarry pond PFOS results with New York State’s drinking water maximum contaminant level (MCL) of 10 parts per trillion must account for the fact that that the MCLs are based upon conservative assumptions regarding drinking water exposure and ingestion (e.g., daily ingestion of 2 liters of water per day over a person’s lifetime), which (the New York State Department of Health) considers to be unlikely to be approached by the non-ingestion pathways described in (the resident’s) correspondence.”