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In case you missed our earlier announcement, Phil Gambini has moved on from his role as Just Transition Organizer at Clean Air – click here to read his message for our members and supporters.

We also have several events we are hosting that are coming up this month, from our Community Air Monitoring Card Game Development Kickoff this Tuesday the 30th to the first big community meeting for our Delavan-Grider/American Axle team this Thursday the 1st and, of course, our 2024 Annual Meeting on February 27!

Please take a moment now to register for our Annual Meeting, and scroll down to read more about our other events. Don’t forget to click the “View entire message” link when scrolling to see the full email.

With Bread and Roses,

Bridge, Chris, Cindy, and Gia

Join us for the 2024 reconvening of our Delavan-Grider/American Axle Team on February 1 at 5:30pm at the Delavan-Grider Community Center at 877 E Delavan Ave, Buffalo, NY 14215.
Please contact Cindy for more information.

Thanks to all who attended our January General Meeting last week – if you were unable to attend, or if you attended and want to share the recording of the pop-ed portion of the program, which was a presentation on how we can combat fascism and authoritarianism through organizing for environmental justice, here is the link and it also is embedded in this recent blog post Bridge wrote, which includes their reflections on a conference they attended in January.

Clean Air stands with indigenous groups in our region opposed to the planned STAMP industrial campus, and calls on NYSDEC to reject the SPDES permit for this site. Read more on recent updates and about how folks are asked to take action by clicking here.

As previously scheduled, there will not be a February New York Department of Environmental Conservation East Side Environmental Forum 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.

One of the goals of the Tonawanda Tomorrow plan that Clean Air continues to fight for is to “Advocate for efficient east-west bus route connections to be integrated into the bus operations plan of the proposed light rail extension along the western edge of the Town.” (Page 54)

Please take a moment to support our work to implement this goal by filling out the NFTA Metro Expansion Project survey and voicing your support for better east-west connectivity with the proposed expansion. Want to learn more about the project? Check out their website, or attend one of the two remaining listening sessions, today January 29 at the Amherst Main Library at Audubon, 350 John James Audubon Parkway, Amherst, NY 14228 from 4-6 PM or tomorrow Tuesday, January 30 at the Kenilworth Branch Library, 318 Montrose Avenue, Buffalo, NY 14223 from 1-3 PM.

Over the weekend, in response to overwhelmingly negative response, the public meeting about the proposed closure of the Williams Street Buffalo USPS mail processing center was postponed – but this issue is far from over!

While we wait to see when and where the meeting will be rescheduled, please take a moment to fill out the survey voicing your opposition to the closure.

National Fuel has asked the NYS Public Service Commission to approve an increase in methane gas costs to consumers. To submit a comment, either visit the PSC’s webpage on the case and click the “Post Comments” button on the upper right, or email

secretary@dps.ny.gov with the title line “Case 23-G-0627-NFG”. Comments are due February 16.

Interested in getting more involved on this issue? Reach out to our friend Majadi at PUSH Buffalo.

Comments on the draft investigation plan for 1803 Elmwood are due February 16.

The DEC recently announced that in 2023 they issued 58 Certificates of Completion to sites in the Brownfield Clean-up Program and also accepted 68 new sites into the BCP! This includes a number of sites in our membership area and in the greater WNY region, some of which are highlighted in the announcement.

Of note, in the past several weeks, announcements have been made of completion at 225 Louisiana, 2 Steelworkers Way, Silo City/139 Buffalo River, 1155 Niagara Street, and Mt. Olive Senior Center/227 Sheridan Ave.

We were saddened to hear this month of the passing of Stephanie Barber-Geter, a pillar of our community and a stanch advocate for residents of Buffalo’s East Side. Community leaders shared their thoughts on her legacy in the Buffalo News and on WKBW. Our thoughts and prayers are with her family and loved ones. 

In response to national pressure from frontline and fenceline organizations, the Biden Administration has announced it will apply a climate test to a proposal for a massive liquefied natural gas (LNG) terminal in Louisiana! While this does not end this chapter, this does represent a huge win for these organizations, and is worth celebrating.

Meanwhile, here in WNY, the threat of methane gas fracking has re-emerged, this time packaged as a form of “carbon sequestration.” Whether the pause on this terminal will reduce the demand to push this proposal forward or not, we will keep you appraised about statewide efforts to regulate this emerging new method of fracking.

In the wake of the East Palestine derailment last year, the EPA has begun taking steps to increase regulation on vinyl chloride, which is used by the plastics industry to create PVC pipes.
Read more from Grist Magazine.

The reporters at Heated recently shared an analysis of hazardous chemical incidents in the U.S. in 2023 and found that there was a chemical disaster almost every single day.

In related news, an analysis by Oil and Gas Watch of injury data at oil refineries in the US over the past 5 years identified a single small refinery in nearby Warren PA as topping the list, with 119 injuries reported.

Congratulations go out to resident organizers in Niagara Falls for their win against Allied Waste for their mismanagement of the Niagara Falls Landfill – Allied will pay a $671,000 penalty and operate a gas collection and control system to reduce the amount of harmful chemicals released into the air, according to a news release from the Environmental Protection Agency.

University at Buffalo chemist Luis Colón is working with a team of student researchers to test a new method for detecting PFAS – read more about their research here.

Andrew D. Stayzer, 58, of Eden, suffered critical injuries while working at WestRock on Robinson Street in North Tonawanda. Our thoughts and prayers are with his loved ones, and we urge OSHA to take action to prevent any further harm to workers in our area.

February 7 webinar – click here to register

February 21 webinar – click here to register

CACWNY Events

• January 30 – CAM Card Game Meeting
• February 1 – East Delavan/American Axle Community Meeting
• February 16 & 19 – office closed
• February 24 – Clean Air/ECDOH Narcan and Harm Reduction Mutual Aid Training
• February 27 – Clean Air’s 2024 Annual Meeting

Community and Coalition Events

• January 30 – Brownfield Basics Webinar
• January 30 – Reconnecter Friendraiser and Ibram X. Kendi in Conversation with Ariel Aberg-Riger, both events at Babeville
• February 1 – Beehive Collective – Art of Resistance at Burning Books
• February 7 – Brownfields and EJ webinar

• February 7 – NYS DEC Women in Science webina

• February 12 – Nature Book Club by Buffalo & Erie County Library
• February 14 – Munincipalism Webinar Series – Intercommunalism
• February 15 – deadline to apply for the 2024 Anne Braden Program
• February 21  – NYS DEC Women in Science webinar
• March 4 – deadline to apply for the FEMA Youth Preparedness Council
• March 27-28 – Smart Growth America Equity Summit
• Rolling Deadline – Highlander Center’s Train the Trainer Program on Cultural Organizing. Dates trainings will be held – Feb. 12-16, May 7-11, June 26 – July 3, and July 31-Aug. 7, 2024. Highlander is accepting applications until all slots are filled. This training is free including room and board, but transportation costs might be borne by applicants. If you are a Clean Air member and interested in applying, please speak to one of our organizers!
• Niagara University Peace and Justice Conference – October 24-27, early deadline for proposals May 1

Public Comment Deadlines and Hearings

• Submit your comments on the proposed consolidation of Buffalo’s USPS Mail Processing Center through this survey.
• Submit comments on the SPDES permit for the STAMP campus using this toolkit
• January 29 & 30 – NFTA’s Public Listening Sessions on the proposed Metro expansion. Visit https://www.nftametrotransitexpansion.com/ for details or submit a survey response.
• February 1 – Virtual Information Session on Draft Disadvantaged Communities Investments and Benefits Reporting Guidance
• February 16 – public comments to the Public Service Commission due on National Fuel’s proposed rate increase. To submit a comment, either visit the PSC’s webpage on the case and click the “Post Comments” button on the upper right, or email secretary@dps.ny.gov with the title line “Case 23-G-0627-NFG”.
• February 16 – comments due on Draft Investigation Work Plan for 1803 Elmwood Ave in Buffalo

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 about trainings or to Chris or Gia about our events and membership committee.

Bridge loves mozzarella sticks, Chris loves chips and guac, and Cindy and Gia love chicken wing dip!

Interested in joining our events committee, mutual aid team, or want to connect with CACWNY about an emerging campaign or issue, or interested in 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 Tonawanda Tomorrow or River Road campaigns, NT Cryptomining campaign, or supporting NYRenews/climate justice?

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?