Rensselear County

Rensselaer County is a county in the U.S. state of New York. As of the 2010 census, the population was 159,429. Its county seat is Troy. It is part of the Albany-Schenectady-Troy Metropolitan Statistical Area.

Rensselaer County is in the eastern part of New York State. The eastern boundary of Rensselaer County runs along the New York–Vermont and New York–Massachusetts borders.

The terrain runs from level and flat near the Hudson and then rises into the Rensselaer Plateau around Poestenkill and Sand Lake, then to the Taconic Mountains along the Massachusetts state line.

The highest point is Berlin Mountain, 2,818 feet (859 m) above sea level, in the town of Berlin. The lowest point is sea level at the Hudson.

The Hoosic River, a tributary of the Hudson River, is in the north part of the county.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rensselaer_County,_New_York

Conscience, science reasons to close dump

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Ward Stone: Conscience, science reasons to close dump

I am writing about the Dunn construction debris dump adjacent to the Rensselaer City School District's buildings, which teach students from preschool through 12th grade. There is great potential for students and staff to be exposed to a wide variety of toxics. Some children will be exposed at school as well as home because they live within the contamination area of the dump site.

In my 41 years as wildlife pathologist with the state Department of Environmental Conservation, I studied numerous construction debris dumps. Construction debris contains a wide variety of toxics such as lead, mercury, cadmium, dioxins and a variety of organic chemicals that are poisonous, and many of which are carcinogenic to people and animals. Buildings that were burned and treated with pesticides as well as other chemicals become construction debris.

Dunn Landfill

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It really sucks for the neighbors of the Dunn Landfill and it probably will for the foreseeable future. I am sure it was a very similar experience for residences in the Southern Boulevard neighborhood for many years when that was a city dump. But it seems like there is so little effort to sort and reuse waste – it all about tearing buildings as fast as possible and dumping and piling their contents wherever permitted space can be found.