NEWS RELEASE: February 3, 2016

CONTACTS:
Christopher Amato, Earthjustice, 518-860-3696, camato@earthjustice.org
Mary Rozak, Office of the Albany County Executive, 518-368-9528,
mary.rozak@albanycounty.com
Charlene Benton, Ezra Prentice Homes Tenants Association, (518) 472-0201
Roger Downs, Sierra Club Atlantic Chapter, 518-426-9144, Roger.downs@sierraclub.org
Cliff Weathers, Riverkeeper, 914-478-4501, ext. 239, cweathers@riverkeeper.org
Mollie Matteson, Center for Biological Diversity, 802-318-1487,
mmatteson@biologicaldiversity.org
Kate Kiely, Natural Resources Defense Council, 212-727-4592, kkiely@nrdc.org
Wes Gillingham, Catskill Mountainkeeper, 845-439-1230, wes@catskillmountainkeeper.org

BROAD COALITION CHALLENGES

CLEAN AIR VIOLATIONS AT ALBANY CRUDE-BY-RAIL TERMINAL
Cite environmental justice impacts to public housing residents adjacent to Global facility
ALBANY, NY -- A broad coalition consisting of the County of Albany, a tenants association, and
several environmental groups filed a lawsuit today in federal court charging that a major crudeby-rail conglomerate is operating in violation of the Clean Air Act. The lawsuit claims that Global
Companies failed to obtain a required air pollution permit and institute necessary pollution
controls when it modified its Albany, New York facility in 2012 to allow a five-fold increase in the
amount of crude oil handled at the facility. The lawsuit also claims that Global has violated a
permit issued by the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation by handling
crude oil from the Bakken region of North Dakota, which emits more air pollutants than
conventional crude oil. The lawsuit seeks an injunction requiring the company to apply for the
required air pollution permit and prohibiting the facility from handling Bakken crude oil, and asks
for fines of $37,500 for each day that Global has operated in violation of the Clean Air Act.
The Global facility is located in Albanys South End, which is home to residences, schools,
churches, businesses, and social service agencies. The facility is directly adjacent to Ezra
Prentice Homes, which has approximately 400 residents, including over 200 children. Albanys
South End has been designated an environmental justice area by DEC, meaning that it is an
area that bears a disproportionate impact of adverse environmental impacts.
The families who live at the Ezra Prentice Homes should not have to be exposed to hazardous
air pollution from Globals operations, said Charlene Benton, president of the Ezra Prentice
Homes Tenants Association. The polluted air makes us sick and thats just not right. We are
going to court today to be granted the basic right to breathe clean air.
It has been nearly two years since Albany County instituted a moratorium in response to the
concerns raised by South End residents, said Albany County Executive Daniel P. McCoy.
That moratorium was aimed at stopping Globals plan to expand their existing operations, and
to force compliance for a full environmental impact review under state law. The purpose of this
lawsuit is to compel Global to comply as well with the requirements of federal law, specifically

the Clean Air Act. I believe that we will prevail in this case and that Global will be required to
operate its facilities at the port in a way that ensures the protection of all of the residents of
Albany who may be harmed by Globals noncompliance.
The pollutants emitted by Globals operations include a variety of hazardous air pollutants,
including benzene, a known human carcinogen. Pollution from the Global facility also
contributes to the formation of ground-level ozone, which is known to cause respiratory
problems such as asthma, harmful cardiovascular effects, and premature death. The people
living at Ezra Prentice -- as well as numerous other residences, businesses, health care
facilities, parks, churches and schools in Albanys South End that are in close proximity to
Globals Albany Terminal -- are at risk from breathing in toxic air with excessive levels of ozone.
Global has operated its massive crude-by-rail terminal with no regard for the health and safety
of the hundreds Ezra Prentice residents who live on the facilitys doorstep, and the thousands
who live, work, and go to school within blocks of the Global facility, said Earthjustice attorney
Christopher Amato. Todays lawsuit seeks to protect the South Albany community from
Globals air pollution and hold the company accountable for its repeated violations of the Clean
Air Act.
"Since 2012, Global has unjustifiably quadrupled the amount of highly volatile crude oil it
handles at its Albany facility based on a misrepresentation of the amount of air pollution that this
expansion would cause, impacting both residents and those who work in the Albany metro
area, said Kate Hudson, Riverkeeper Director of Cross Watershed Initiative. Our citizen's
suit challenge to Global's failure to comply with the requirements of the federal Clean Air Act is
crucial not only to protect the health of Albany residents and visitors alike, but also to protect the
Hudson from a major oil spill as a result of the vast increase in crude oil being shipped from
Global's facility, a spill that would jeopardize 50 years of work to restore the river."
Global claimed in its application that they would handle conventional crude oil during marine
loading operations, and a permit was issued based upon that information, said Roger Downs,
conservation director, Sierra Club Atlantic Chapter. But instead, Global has imported large
quantities of Bakken crude oil, which is extremely volatile and emits significantly more VOCs
than conventional crude oil. This continuing violation of air quality laws has to stop.
Global simply has no authority to handle Bakken crude oil, which not only emits high levels of
pollutants, but is dangerously flammable, said Mollie Matteson, a senior scientist with the
Center for Biological Diversity. Global must be held accountable for its total disregard for
human health and safety, and the well-being of our environment."
Global tried to sneak more highly polluting crude oil into this community by hoping a major
expansion of its facility would fly under the radar, said Dan Raichel, staff attorney with the
Natural Resources Defense Council. Todays suit will hold these polluters accountable. The
oil industry cannot get away with reckless disregard for the laws that protect clean air and
residents health.
"Global has not met the basic requirements of the Clean Air act, and this threatens the people of
Albany and beyond," said Wes Gillingham, Program Director for Catskill Mountainkeeper.
"Global has tried to hide the volatility of the Bakken crude oil. By doing this they disregard the
health, environmental and safety risks they pose to New York communities. Global should not
be allowed to continue."

The citizen suit was filed by Earthjustice, a nonprofit environmental law firm, in the United
States District Court for the Northern District of New York on behalf of the Ezra Prentice Homes
Tenants Association; the County of Albany; Sierra Club; Center for Biological Diversity;
Riverkeeper, Inc.; Scenic Hudson; Natural Resources Defense Council; and Catskill
Mountainkeeper.

ONLINE VERSION OF THE NEWS RELEASE AND LINK TO THE COMPLAINT:

http://earthjustice.org/news/press/2016/broad-coalition-challenges-clean-air-violations-atalbany-crude-by-rail-terminal
CRUDE-BY-RAIL ACROSS AMERICA OVERVIEW WITH INTERACTIVE MAP:
http://earthjustice.org/features/map-crude-by-rail

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