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A sincere THANK YOU to everyone who supported our End of Year Appeal – we’re still reviewing the final results, but it’s clear that we met and exceeded our goal of raising 30k to start 2024 off on firm ground!

Your support and member leadership is always appreciated – if you would like to make a late donation towards our End of Year Appeal, you can still do so through our MightyCause page, or directly through our website, and if you are not currently engaged with one of our campaign teams, you can reach out to the staff organizer coordinating the team you are interested in about joining. Phil coordinates our Lovejoy and Seneca-Babock teams, Cindy coordinates our Delavan-Grider and East Side teams, Bridge coordinates our Tonawanda teams, and Gia and Chris coordinate our membership-at-large.

All team members need to be current members or supporters of Clean Air. Any donation made to us directly by individuals who live within our membership areas counts as annual membership dues.

With Bread and Roses,

Bridge, Chris, Cindy, Gia and Phil

Clean Air and Erie County Department of Health will again be offering a series of emergency preparedness trainings with a mutual aid framework in 2024.

All classes will be held at Trinity Church, 371 Delaware Avenue in downtown Buffalo. Due to the hands-on nature of the training, these classes are only available in-person. The space is large and masks are provided and encouraged. Breakfast snacks and/or lunch is always provided. Childcare, interpretation services, or other accessibility services provided with pre-registration.

Our February date will be shared later this month. The topic will be administering Narcan and Harm Reduction principles.
Please email Bridge if you are interested in signing up now.

Please click here to see other 2024 dates and class topics.

Our friends at CWA and New York State United Teachers have invited all Clean Air members and supporters to join them for their daylong Reversing Runaway Inequality workshop on Saturday January 13th 2024 from 9:00 am to 5:00 pm at 270 Essjay Road in Williamsville.

In this workshop, participants will take a deep look at the causes of increasing inequality and the history and patterns which divide workers.

An enormous gap between the wealthy few and the rest of us, increased child labor, deadly working conditions, extreme poverty wages, hostility, and violence towards collective action…this is America in 2023.  Or is it 1923? Today we are facing the same labor conditions, exploitation, and economic disparity we faced and fought a hundred years ago.
How is it we are facing these same conditions of inequity and exploitation all over again? In this workshop, participants will consider these patterns of history and what insights we get from it. Come and learn about how the economy is rigged against workers and how we can put a stop to it!

Please click here to sign up. Seats are limited, so be sure to register soon!

The January East Buffalo Environmental Forum hosted by New York Department of Environmental Conservation has been cancelled for this month. NYS DEC is using this time to prep and plan for the upcoming meetings that will take place in 2024. As previously scheduled, there will also not be a February meeting.

Their feedback survey will remain open. If you have not yet taken it, we encourage you to do so!

Please contact Kayla Baker for more information at kayla.baker@dec.ny.gov or 716-541-9631.

Learn more and purchase tickets by clicking here. Want to meet up with Clean Air members at the luncheon? Contact Chris to coordinate!

The public is invited to comment on a proposed remedy being reviewed by NYSDEC and NYSDOH to address contamination related to the site located at 2101 Kenmore Avenue in Tonawanda.

Ashland (the “remedial party”) will soon begin a detailed environmental study at the Ashland Tank 75 State Superfund site located at 4625 River Road, in Tonawanda. 

Capital B published an excellent piece recently about the direct links between environmental racism and gentrification through systemic demolition in Midwest cities, a story we’re also all too familiar with here in WNY.

Grist published this great piece in response to the publication of the recent National Climate Assessment, critiquing the idea of folks moving to the midwest to be less affected by climate change. In related coverage, the Buffalo News published this analysis of the National Climate Assessment, focusing on how modeling predicts our climate will change in coming years. Meanwhile the pressure to reform FEMA and national disaster relief policy, such as fixing the “No Dough for Snow” policy, continues to grow amid rising costs and floundering insurance markets.

2023 will be remembered as a monumental year for solidarity between the Labor Movement and the Environmental and Climate Justice Movements, with the three becoming one in the pursuit of shared goals like UAW’s hard won contract, which included protections for workers at new Electric Vehicle plants.

The EPA announced new safeguards to cut methane and other hazardous pollutants from new and existing oil and gas operations in early December as part of a larger international clean energy pledge at COP28 to phase-down fossil fuel use and to triple global renewable energy capacity by 2030! These are both big reforms that will positively impact air quality in environmental justice communities throughout the world and right here in WNY.

While the new “Good Neighbors” air pollution rule at the EPA is already having a measurable impact, there have been some roadblocks to implementation imposed through court challenges by some states. Read more from Grist.

We all remember the ominous photos of the chemical fire caused by the derailment in East Palestine OH last year. Jon Oliver recently reported on the under-regulations of freight rail that led to the derailment, and about how legislative action must happen to prevent an even worse accident in the future.

CACWNY Events

• January 24 – Clean Air General Meeting
• February 27 – Clean Air’s 2024 Annual Meeting
• February – Clean Air/ECDOH Narcan Training, contact Bridge to be notified of date when announced

Community and Coalition Events

• January 12 – WNYALF MLK Luncheon
• January 13 – Runaway Inequality Workshop
• January 15 – MLK Day of Service
• January 21 – Anne Braden Anti-racism Training
• January 23 – Citizen Action Advocacy Day

Public Comment Deadlines and Hearings

• January 12 – Bailey and Kensington (Evergreen Foundation) comments due
• January 19 – Jefferson and Best Site (Jefferson Gateway LLC and T.O.P. Enterprises) comments due
• January 27 –  2101 Kenmore Ave in Tonawanda comments due

Also see our regularly updated list of events at bit.ly/CleanAirEvents and linktr.ee/cleanairwny

Be sure to check out the Buffalo Mutual Aid Network Facebook group, where mutual aid services and calls for donations and donations are being posted on an ongoing basis. You can also click here to join the Buffalo Snow Brigade. We also suggest checking out the resources at mutualaiddisasterrelief.org as well as their new website relieftoolkit.com.

If interested in joining mutual aid efforts with Clean Air, particularly in the realm of community resiliency amid climate change,
please reach out to Bridge.

Gia’s favorite album of 2023 is Shadowglow by Flipturn. Bridge’s is Transgender Dysphoria Blues by Against Me!, Chris’ is SOS by SZA, Phil’s is Black Messiah by D;Angelo, and Cindy’s favorite artist is Anita Baker.

Interested in joining our Tonawanda Tomorrow or River Road campaigns, NT Cryptomining campaign, or supporting NYRenews/climate justice?

Interested in joining our Peabody Street, Lovejoy, TESLA, Energy Democracy Alliance, or other Just Transition campaign work?

Interested in joining our
American Axle campaign or supporting our work in the Delavan-Grider neighborhood and greater East Side?

Interested in joining our events committee, mutual aid team, or want to connect with CACWNY about an emerging campaign or issue?

Interested in supporting Clean Air’s grassroots fundraising efforts, or know of a grant opportunity that might support our work?

Want to donate to support our work?