Since 2006, the Port of Coeymans and allied businesses on the banks of the Hudson River has tripled in size from its original 122-acre footprint to at least 665 acres. This area is largely controlled by Carver Laraway who has been building one of the biggest waste depots in the Northeast.  Now the Port wants to add a large wind power project into the mix. Residents living near the Port of Coeymans, who are already dealing with an excessive number of polluting waste projects, fear that wind could do more harm than good.

The Big Push for Renewable Energy in NY State

NY State is offering significant financial support and likely public subsidies to businesses - including ports - hoping to develop off-shore wind. The Port of Coeymans has been pushing hard to be one of the chosen sites. They claim this will bring hundreds of permanent manufacturing jobs to a “disadvantaged community” and numerous environmental benefits to New York.  

We support wind power development in New York State, but as residents of Coeymans and Ravena, we know that the Port’s rapid expansion has been dominated by waste, including the possible sale of garbage to the nearby cement plant for fuel.  This expansion has come with the destruction of our local environment and degraded our quality of life.

Corruption and conflicts of interest in Coeymans

In 2020 and 2021, the Town of Coeymans revised the Comprehensive Plan and the Coeymans Clean Air and Solid Waste laws, creating the legal framework for a regionally important waste management and incineration business on the Hudson River in Coeymans.

The legal revisions were instigated by George McHugh, who left his job as general counsel for the Carver Companies to run for Coeymans Town Supervisor in 2019.  He became the Town Supervisor in 2020 joining a town administration dominated by people with many serious conflicts of interest.  McHugh still works for Carver Laraway’s businesses in South Carolina and has said that he would be willing to represent Laraway as his personal attorney if asked.  George McHugh’s son is also the Director of Operations at Carver Maritime in South Carolina, while Town Board member, Brandon Lefevre, whom McHugh named Deputy Town Supervisor, works as a recruiter for Carver Companies. Robert Nolan, head of the Planning and Zoning Board, owns Nolan Propane which counts the Port as an important client.  It is clear to us why decisions by the Town government rarely go against the interests of Carver Laraway and his associated companies.

A bad actor: many violations at Carver Companies in Coeymans

The Coeymans community and our immediate neighbors don’t want more industrial development along the Hudson.  Based on the public record, in our opinion Carver Laraway is a bad actor who repeatedly violates safety and environmental laws.  With over 20 violations to date since 2018 they include 1) unloading twenty-seven barges of harmful restricted-use fill after being told to stop by DEC; 2) leaving tons of road salt uncovered to move into the freshwaters of nearby Coeymans Creek or Hudson River; and 3) ignoring poor working conditions at the Coeymans Marina where a fuel tank exploded, sparking a major fire and seriously injuring a Coeymans neighbor working at the Marina.  This was the second fire to hit Carver’s waterfront properties in only a few months.  

Despite a long record of fines from NYSDEC and OSHA, there continues to be a disregard for people and the environment.  In 2023, Carver companies clear-cut 25 acres of woodland in a residential area close to the River without being required to notify nearby residents.  

Port of Coeymans is an “open shop” not required to hire union labor

According to their website, the Port is a “privately-owned marine terminal”.  While there are other potential wind sites in the Capital region that are public companies and would require good paying union jobs, Coeymans is a private endeavor with an “open shop” where employees would not necessarily be required to join a labor union.  

The Coeymans community left behind by the state; the Hudson River has no voice

Carver Companies call Coeymans a “disadvantaged community” in order for its businesses to qualify for state aid under the Climate Act when in fact, it is not classified as disadvantaged by the state. Instead, we are a community that is treated as collateral damage for garbage and wind development, and too small for the state to defend; the Hudson River with no voice of its own, is ignored.

What do we want?

We have real concerns about the Port of Coeymans being chosen as a potential site to develop wind power. With a history of isolated decisions resulting in a fragmented approach to the industrialization of the Port, we believe that a wind energy development will only lead to more garbage in our community and the further destruction of our quality of life and the Hudson River with its rare habitats and shoreline.  For years the residents of Coeymans, Ravena, New Baltimore, Selkirk and others have been asking for studies and an independent cumulative impact assessment for the Port of Coeymans, one that selects important quality of life topics such as traffic, noise, water, land use and biodiversity.

We are tired of losing greenfield land along the river for profit.  It has got to stop.

TAKE ACTION:  Coeymans is the wrong site for a wind development project. Tell Governor Hochul and NYSERDA that only public sites that can provide good paying union jobs and plan to build on existing brownfields without expanding into greenfield sites should be approved. 

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