"EPA has set an air quality standard of 0.03 ppm for long-term, 1-year average concentrations of sulfur dioxide. Short-term, 24-hour air concentrations should not exceed 0.14 ppm more than once a year."

Look at the photo at the top of the page, read the EPA air quality standards (posted above) regarding sulfur dioxide pollution and then ask yourself if Ross Valve is adhering to the EPA standards. I think it's very obvious that they are not.

I think the Troy Record should make this a cover story in their newspaper. The only way Ross Valve is going to stop blatantly ignoring EPA emissions laws is if they're forced to. If this issue is made public, more people will notice and the wheels of change may finally start turning.

Ross Valve is a dinosaur of a business that would not be allowed to start up and operate under today's EPA air quality standards. Ross Valve needs to either close down or change their plant to methods of operation that are inline with the EPA standards of today.

I'm tired of breathing in this nastiness! I pity the people living on Sausse Ave. They get the brunt of the toxic smoke and pollutants.

i know someone who use to work for ross valve, this person lead count was 25 and above.......many of the people who work for the ross valve also have high lead counts............... something needs to be done

Yes, something does need to be done!

I don't understand how Ross Valve can continue to spew poisonous toxins into the environment with 2 hospitals so close by?! Those hospitals are treating people with breathing disorders and Ross Valve is spewing illegal toxins into the air on a daily basis?

How can the huge and powerful EPA and DEC allow this to go on? Have they no TEETH, no real power to stop a tiny little manufacturing company in Troy NY???

They don't even come out to Ross Valve and do air quality studies!

I'm sure if a reporter at the Gazette did some FOIL requests within Region 4, they'd find out just how bad the air quality is around Ross Valve and just how inactively the DEC has been dealing with this issue.

This is a BIG health & environmental issue that's been basically ignored for decades. Come on GAZETTE. Bring the story to light. Maybe then the DEC and EPA will finally take off their kid gloves and show Ross Valve who's boss.

HINT: The first step would be to contact Toni Galluzzo at the DEC 357-2046 for FOIL information.

Ross Valve is burning coke again tonight. 11:05PM 8/19/10

The whole neighborhood is forced to close their windows again on another beautiful summer evening.

Thanks Andy Ross! Thanks for NOT caring about the health of your employees, your neighbors or the environment.

Is anyone reading this that can help? EPA? DEC? Please post below.

It must be blowing the other way from me. I went out to check on my back porch and I couldn't smell anything. That doesn't mean it's not happening, just that up by the top of Sausse & 15th I can't smell it. It could be the way the hill is between Archibald St. and Sausse plus all of the trees and houses.

Wow this has been going on for decades and yet they allow Ross Valve to continue to pollute the environment. As a patient of Seton health I’ve experienced the smoke first hand. When they are really burning the coal the fire alarms go off in the Massery building and it feels like your throat is on fire and your lungs burn. Somehow they should have to have scrubbers on the smoke stack or something capturing the pollutants before they get in our bodies

I don't remember exactly but carcinogous waste is burned at GE Waterford at night a black cloud would be visible,and at least two more are local do a search and Ross valve is only a drop in the bucket it's all about money!

Almost as bad as the smoke is the contaminated sand (by-product of the metal melting process) Ross Valve dumps in their backyard.

They take this contaminated sand and spread it all over their property. Then, the rain leaches out all the poisonous contaminants into the earth.

Walk up Archibald street and look at the sandy hill behind the plant. It's amazing what Ross Valve is allowed to get away with in this "GREEN" day and age.

Andy Ross thinks he's being crafty and smart by polluting at night when Seton health and St Marys hospital are less likely to complain ...and the government DEC / EPA workers are home, snuggled in their beds. The neighbors are always effected and will complain!

ERR, consider yourself lucky that you can't smell it. It all depends on which way the wind is blowing.

The "haze" you see around the lights and in the air... that's the massive amounts of dust they're pumping into the air. Sometimes it looks almost like its snowing on Archibald street!

How are they allowed to get away with this?

Last night (9/2) ross valve was blowing huge amounts of fine dust into the neighborhood air from the square, low stack/blower thing. The dust is supposed to be caught by filters and not released into the air. Last night it was BAD! Just walking up Archibald street made your mouth full of the gritty dust. I can only imagine what it's doing to the neighbors lungs! I am sure they knew what they were doing was wrong because when I said something to a worker outside, he went inside the plant and quickly turned it off. He said he was going to
lock it out" meaning that no one could use the machine until it is repaired and working properly.

Ross Valve just doesn't give a damn about its neighbors or it's employees. They are the most non-neighborly and non-environmentally friendly business I have ever encountered.

OSHA and the DEC need to raid that place again.

More poison pumped into our neighborhood air.

DEC? Any update on the ongoing lawsuit against Ross valve? The neighborhood would love to know what's being done about this.

My god...! This is crazy! They're burning again today (9/21/2010) and tonight (see pics just taken at 5:20pm). Lately, their pollution has been smelling like burning plastic bags instead of millions of sulphur matches.

I wonder what they're burning now?! I'm sure it's not very healthy. I can't believe that their employees are in the middle of all that smoke for hours on end without breathing protection.

It's a beautiful summer day (70 degrees and sunny) but I have to close all the windows in my house to avoid Ross valves pollution. That's not right.

DEC have you done any air quality checks at Ross Valve recently?

Please look at the pics and help us! ! !

More pollution

They are burning again tonight. They just started burning at 11:10 PM. The entire neighborhood is smokey and smells like burning plastic bags.

Thanks Andy Ross for making us all close out windows on a beautiful fall evening.

You should be ashamed of yourself and your polluting business.

They are burning again tonight. They just started burning at 11:10 PM. The entire neighborhood is smokey and smells like burning plastic bags.

Thanks Andy Ross for making us all close out windows on a beautiful fall evening.

You should be ashamed of yourself and your polluting business.

Has this issue been resolved yet? I am looking to move into the area, but when I saw this I was very put-off.

No it absolutely has not be resolved yet. I surmise that it never will be resolved because the DEC has no "teeth". They are all bark and no bite. They ask Ross Valve repeatedly to lessen their pollution but Ross Valve politely ignores them.

To skirt most of the complainers, Ross Valve now does its polluting at night when most of the businesses are closed and the employee and customers have gone gone home for the evening.

This is a great strategy for Ross Valve because now the only complaints will come from the neighbors... and the neighbors are used to the pollution and just live with it without complaining.

Another bad thing about Ross Valve is that you absolutely cannot keep anything clean around the plant. The place emits constant dust and sand from the molding process. Walk up Archibald street and you'll see the dust and sand all over the gorund. That dust and sand is blown throughout the neighborhood. You cannot keep your vehicles clean and the dust permeates your home no matter how tightly you keep it closed up! it is disgusting.

Before you buy a home within a 1/4 mile of Ross Valve, come hang out while they're buring the coke and melting the scrap metal. You will most likely look elsewhere for a home.

Ross Valve is a terrible neighbor. I wish someone told me all this before I bought a home nearby.

http://www.dec.ny.gov/regulations/45353.html Scroll down to the month of January.

In January of this year Ross Valve was fined $9000 by the DEC for a single instance of operating without using the "control box". The emissions are supposed to be run through the control box before being emitted into the air. The control box removes some or or most of the contaminants. It must be cheaper and easier to not use the control box because they do this often.

The DEC actually has to catch Ross Valve in the act before it will issue a violation and a fine. In other words, the DEC would have to oversee every single burn that Ross Valve does (at least 2 burns a week) to assure they are not violating the minimum guidelines (from the 1970's!) that they are currently perimitted for & operating under. But please, keep an eye on the plant when they are burning. The DEC can't always be present but we neighbors are. If you see something that doesn't look "right", take pictures and email them to the DEC contacts earlier in this post.

The main problem with Ross Valves emissions is that because of their small size they are considered a "small emitter". Small emitters are not subject to the stricter EPA air quality standards that the bigger companies are. If Ross Valve wasn't operating in a residential neighborhood, they'd probably go unnoticed and be completely overlooked.

Ross Valve is not permitted under the most recent and more strict 1998 AFS (air facility system) act. They are permitted under the 6NYCRR "small jobbing foundries act" from the 1970's. Ross Valves current particulate limits (particles it can legally emit into the air) were set back in 1970 when the DEC & EPA were first founded!

That amazes me. Ross Valve is operating in a residential neighborhood under air quality limits set back in 1970! It's not funny but you really have to smack your forehead & laugh out loud at that! 1970?! Back when smoking cigarettes was the norm... the "stars" on at the TV game shows had ash trays next to them and most smoked on camera! You can still see Richard Dawson puffing away on "Match Game 74" reruns! Seatbelts weren't even put in new vehicles until 1975. PCBs were legally dumped into the Hudson. I could go on and on.

The DEC has recently asked Ross Valve to become permitted & compliant with the 1998 AFS standards. This will be costly for Ross as all their equipment is ancient and would have to be updated. Maybe they'll be forced to move to their other plant?

Ross Valve is considered an "environmental hazard" by homefacts.com

http://www.homefacts.com/environmentalhazards/New-York/Rensselaer-County/Troy/Ross-Valve-Manufacturing-Co-Inc.html

Do you still want to buy a home nearby?!

I hear all this talk about Ross vaulve, I would like to contact some one about this situation.

- former worker Ross value

To Former RossValve worker contact DEC

contact pjohnq363@gmail.com

Photo of me (left) 1989 pouring moulds. I got more photos to come.

Ross Valve lets employees pout molten metal with zero safety gear?! WOW! That can't be too good for your respitory health?! As a nearby neighbor, I'm not happy breathing in all their pollution and silica dust. What can be done to stop them?

Have you contacted Don at dawelste@gw.dec.state.ny.us He's the DEC contact who is watching over the case at Ross Valve.

POURING MOULDS

picture two

picture 3

picture 4

picture 5

picture 6

The DEC and OSHA needs to get in there and shut that placed down before more people end up with COPD, Cancer or even death.

That sand they use in the moulding process is heavily contaminated and is the same sand they regularly dump all over their back lot and smooth out with an excavator right? Then the rain washes through the sand and leeches the contaminates into our ground water.

Anthony, maybe you should explain to the readers here about your employment history at Ross Valve and your subsequent medical problems as a result of working there for 2 decades.

My name is Anthony Paone , I worked at Ross valve for many years in 1994 I was diagnosed with copd. I haven't worked there since 1995 because I went to the occupational health clinic and the doctor told me I would end up dead if I continued to work there. I am on workers comp. and ss disability. In dec. of 2009 I was diagnosed with lung cancer in both lungs. I had treatment and I am in remission. In 2012 I had a mediastinoscopy that confirmed I had silicosis and they said I got this from smoking you get silicosis from breathing in dust and sand particles from many years.

picture 8

picture 7

Should nearby neighbors fear the same respiratory illness from the emissions at Ross Valve? I live very close to the foundry and am always surprised at how quickly the dust builds up on everything in my house. It's fine black dust. I bet if I had it tested, it would be found to be emitted at the ross valve foundry.

I gotta think that if OSHA saw these pics they'd have a COW! Workers not even wearing ANY protective clothing or air masks?

If the Ross' care this little about their employees health... I'm pretty damned sure they don't care about the neighbors health. I want the DEC and OSHA to come back to Ross Valve and scrutinize the foundry as if they lived nextdoor or worked there. Comeon OSHA and DEC.... come back here and protect us from these polluters.

theres more vidoes of inside ross valve on youtube under (foundry ross valve). http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DBvtPjqqtIo

I'm no OSHA expert but I would think the workers would be wearing a lot more protective gear? A couple guys aren't even wearing dust masks or dark glasses? One guy is shielding his eyes from the glare with his hand! LOL. If something mechanical broke and all that molten metal spilled on their feet and legs... I can only imagine how quickly they'd become parapalegics. Is OSHA looking into the work practices here?! My thoughts have ALWAYS been that if the Ross family cares this little about their employees health and safety, they care even less about the neighborhood residents health and safety. Have any air quality studies been done recently while the foundry is burning?

When was that video taken?

ross valves foundry

ross valve foundry

Anthony if there are things being done wrong and unsafely in the pictures and videos you're posting, maybe you can point the problems out because I'm not sure people even understand what they're looking at.

videos were take in 2007-2009

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wHweCFfIBoE Here's a video of Ross Valve completely ignoring the air quality laws and NOT using their "control box". That big cover on top of the chimney is supposed to be closed so all the dangerous noxious fumes are forced into the control box ... which supposedly seperates the contaminates BEFORE they are released into our neighborhood. Andy and Bill Ross are so "above the law" that they completely disregard the laws. It is no wonder that this area has been deemed an "environmental hazard" by the watchdog group "HomeFacts". http://www.homefacts.com/environmentalhazards/New-York/Rensselaer-County/Troy/Ross-Valve-Manufacturing-Co-Inc.html

Anthony, have you gone to any of the local news stations about the foundry working conditions and the polltuion that Ross Valve is regulalry spewing into our neighborhood? I really think that once the news becomes involved, things will start to happen. People just are not aware of the pollution that a metal foundry emits. It should not be operating in a city and residetial area.

After being assured for years by the Ross' (and an employee at the Schenectady office of the DEC) that the air quality from the smokestack is within the guidelines set forth by the government... I did a FOIL request for the results of any air quality tests done at the Ross Valve foundry.

GUESS WHAT?! THERE HAS NEVER BEEN A SINGLE AIR QUALITY TEST DONE. Not ONE! The DEC knows this. Yet, they continue to renew the foundries 10 year registration.

This is government at its worst. The DEC needs to do a surprise air quality test while the foundry is melting metals. The employees and the neighborhood deserves to know what the Ross' are forcing us to breathe. I garauntee that when a test is done, the amounts of toxic pollutants will be shown to be much higher than current government thresholds allowed.

Everyone has to have the emissions of their vehicles checked anually but the Ross Valve foundry is allowed to spew "god know what" into the air on a regular basis, completely unchecked?

It's time the employees and the neighbors demand a surpsise air quality test be done. Anyone know how to make that happen?

7-19-2013
Back in the hospital again....I never thought I would be in this condition at 59 yrs. old, with these occupational diseases silicosis , COPD , and lung cancer. Thank you Ross valve.

- Anthony Paone

Anthony, sorry to hear you are back in the hospital. Did you read that the DEC has been giving Ross Valve registrations to operate their pollution spewing foundry in a residential neighborhood... but... AS NEVER EVEN DONE AN AIR QUALITY TEST?! NEVER!?! No one knows what Ross Valve is pumping into our community or their workers lungs except Ross. The DEC is letting Ross police themselves. AMAZING. I hope you've contacted the news media. If you don't do anything, who will?

I keep telling the troy record that there's a story here... a big one... but they're not interested it seems. I gaurantee that if the smokestack at the ross valve foundry is tested during a burn campaign, the levels of toxins and pollutants will be off the charts.

Ross Valve has been there for over 100 years before zoning so get over yourself Nobody goes after GE and there dumping and they know they have polluted and take the fine cause its cheaper than cleaning up the problem and they keep doing it pulling the blanket over your eyes Ross Valve has never been found guilty of this But you keep blaming them How about the burning that the hospital has done they also have a stack They burn garbage medical waste and bodies Enlighten yourself to who is really polluting the area

I've NEVER seen it but... if St Marys hospital has ever burned anything, the nearby homes are not overcome with noxious fumes... like when Ross Valve burns on a regular basis. Their having been polluting the neighborhood for 100 years doesn't make it OK for them to coninue doing so. This is the "greener" day and age. This isn't the stone age. Ross Valve has been found guilty of violating the DEC air quality standards MANY TIMES. Do a FOIL request to see all the times they've been fined.
And you'll find out that if it wasn't for the complainging businesses and neighbors, Ross Valve wouldn't have spent the time & money to get their smokestack scrubber back in operation in 2009.

The DEC had to take Ross to court to FORCE them to repair and use their scrubber. For decades, they were simply letting ALL the noxious pollutants right out into the neighborhood air with no effort to lessen the emissions. They knew what they were doing was 100% wrong but in the interest of saving time and money, they kept polluting... until Seton Health, st Marys and concerned neighbors started to complain.

Now, it's time for the DEC to do an air quality study of the smokestack and see what's REALLY being pumped into our air.

If you live neaby, you know the dust that permeates everything... your house, your car, your outside areas? That's silca dust spewed from the factory. Breathing it over time causes the lung disease, "silicosis". http://www.silicosis.com/niosh/ Ask Anthony Paone about that. He has it and is in the hospital. You don't get silicosis from anything other than breathing silca dust. The only place that uses silca dust around here is the Ross Valve foundry.

If people think the foundry is operating within the emission thresholds set by the government, WHY NOT JUST TEST THE EMISSIONS? It would be pretty simple to shut up all the complainers.

Educate yourself meeshka. I have,

The homeowners at 1300 Sausse Ave are now selling their house and moving due to the pollution from the Ross Valve foundry. I bet they wished they'd seen this FIX-IT posting before they bought that home.

Ask anyone on Sausse Ave or at seton health or H&V about the silca dust and sulphur smell. You'll get an earfull. You ever try to paint a car with fine silca dust everywhere?

These signs should be posted all over the foundry & the neighborhood. People don't even know they're being exposed to silica dust.

and then what,. What GE has done is OK then
BREATHE IT IN How about a school next to Norton Company in Watervliet Nobody cares
everyone is still making money and you don't count ...REALLY

Let GE and Norton's neighbors worry about them. I don't own a home near those polluters... I own a home near Ross Valve.

And actually, I do count. Ross Valve is now using their "scrubber" and they're mowing their own lot on 10th street for the 1st time in decades. Yeah, I count. We all do. Speak up and you will count too.

One step at a time.

See like I said MOVE Cause nobody cares
You don't care if GE or Norton pollutes So nobody cares in your
neighborhood either. See how it works Keep sucking it in
NOBODY CARES

People get used to things being a certain way even if they things are health hazards. My neighbors care. If they knew they had a choice to either breath in toxic pollutants or not. They just don't all realize they have a voice and can make change happen.

Just the few voices so far have made a HUGE impact in the quality of life in this neighborhood. If no one spoke up, Ross Valves emissions wouldn't be running through a scrubber.

We'll all wish they cared more when we're laying in the hospital with all the lung diseases that former Ross Valve employee Anthony Paone now has.

meeshka you live on howard street over by the projects right?

That's pretty nice...when the city of Troy is upset about taking down a building on king street next to bombers and there worried about the pollution in the air and people going into bombers air quality.... Whens Ross valve has been polluting the air for years and no body has done anything about it!

- if anyone wants to contact the Troy city councilman that handle the district do Ross valve his name is DEAN BODNAR his phone number is (518) 727- 6570. Or email him at. Bodnar@troycitycounsil.com.

Hey Dean Bodnar how about holding Ross Valve to the same codes as the rest of the city are held to?

Mainly, enforcing chapter 109 sections 2, 4, 5 and 6. Forget about the toxic pollutants they're releasing on a regular basis... their smokestack should have been capped decades ago due to the City codes mentioned above. Yet, Troy officials continually turn the other cheek... in the name of tax revenue maybe?

If I produced that amount of smoke from my backyard, I'd be shut down immediately and permenantly.

Anthony- I noticed you mentioned that you were a smoker. I assume you are aware that smoking is a leading cause of COPD and lung cancer? Blaming Ross Valve for all of your health issues may be the easiest thing to do but you should be aware that your own life choices also contributed to your current state of health.

That last commenter was probably Andy Ross or one of the other Ross' posting anonymously. That's a low blow.

Does smoking also cause the serious lung disease "SILICOSIS"? No, of course not. Silicosis is caused specifically from breathing silica dust which he could have ONLY GOTTEN FROM THE ROSS VAVLE FOUNDRY. https://www.osha.gov/OshDoc/data_General_Facts/crystalline-factsheet.pdf It's pretty much a given that all the workers in that foundry are going to end up with life threatening, serious lung diseases. You can't work in a place like that and not be effected eventually.

Look at this video and notice only one guy is wearing a cheap respirator. He's the smart one! The other works are all breathing in very toxic substances and will end up like Anthony sooner or later.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DBvtPjqqtIo

OSHA & the DEC should come back to the foundry and witness the numerous operational & environmental hazards.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=chx94wEYQG0 look at all the dust particles in the air inside the work environment. Notice the steam of sunshine and all the silica dust swirling through it? The workers aren't even wearing masks!? WTF Ross Valve?

http://www.latimes.com/nation/politics/politicsnow/la-na-pn-silica-dust-osha-20130823,0,7832094.story

Anthony
Although you are correct that smoking can cause cancer and other health ailments I lived for 28 years in that area and now I have lung and other problems and I have never smoked anything in my life other than the air that came in from your plant at night while I slept. Yes it's hard to find a direct link to that smoke but it was a contributing factor and how many other people in that area have died from the so called safe smoke that Ross Valve puts out? Why do they seem to burn at night are they hiding something? When will we put peoples health and the Environment 1st while leaving corporate greed last. Maybe we need to picket the plant and get the media involved .

I agree that the media needs to get involved. I find it appauling that the DEC has NEVER done a single air quality test at the ROss Valve foundry. Yet, the DEC gives the foundry a registration to operate (supposedly within the air quality guidelines set forth by the government) every 10 years. The DEC has no idea what that smokestack is spewing out into the neighborhood. No idea at all. They let Ross Valve police itself regarding its emissions. That is absolutely crazy!

Fozzy, call the DEC at 518-357-2359, demand a supervisor ...because Don, the guy that answers the phone is not interested in helping. Trust me I know. Ask the supervisor to come to your home and test the dust inside and outside your property. If they find silca dust in your home, you have good evidence that the Ross smokestack needs to be better filtered.

The reason they burn at night now is because seton health (right behind the foundry) complained about the emissions. Instead of stopping their toxic emissions, the Ross' decided to burn after seton health closes for the day. Pretty sneaky and it appears to be working. Too bad the neighbors still have to put up with the toxic air.

In reference to Anthony (guest), you missed the whole point. The person after you on 9/7/13, silicosis anyone? He says it all. Silicosis you don't get from "smoking cigarettes period" you get it from being exposed to silica dust , which is from working in the foundry. Silicosis causes lung cancer. It sometimes takes 10 to 20 years to show up, and by that time you could already have lung cancer. Besides one of Ross valves past employees died of silicosis and lung cancer

The ross's had a banner year for profits in 2013 and expect even more in 2014. Great for them but not so good for the neighbors. Why won't the DEC do an air quality test at the foundry when they are burning? How hard would it be to do a simple test to see what the smokestacks are emitting into the neighboring children's lungs? Our residents and kid deserve better from our DEC.

Is anthony paone still alive? How many more people have to get cancer and other diseases that are directly related to the ross valve foundrys pollution before the government steps in and caps that smokestack?

http://youtu.be/p8fSt-6lwBE This video was taken today. The DEC allows Ross Valve to police itself regarding the recording of the amount of pollutants it emits each year. Ross generally submits reports of less than 50 lbs per year. Look at this video... if all that dust was caught for just one day, it would probably equal more than 50 lbs!

Yes, Anthony Paine is still alive, no thanks to Ross Valve.

Yes I Anthony Paone am still alive . The workers comp. board has determined that my lung cancer and silicosis was caused from working at ROSS VALVE.

andy ross is a child abuser so the safety of someone he does not know is not at the top of his list