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We’re looking forward to seeing you at our Annual Meeting tomorrow Tuesday February 27 from 6-8pm!
If you are joining us online, our program starts at 6:30pm.
For in-person participants, food will be served at 6pm.
Haven’t registered yet? Click here!

With Bread and Roses,

Bridge, Chris, Cindy, and Gia

Earlier this month the Town of Tonawanda posted the revised version of the zoning code that will be brought to official public comment and for a hearing later this spring. We are currently analyzing the changes that were made, particularly focusing on what revisions were made based on the comments we and Smart Growth America submitted.

To prepare for the official comment period and the public hearing, our Tonawanda Tomorrow Team is hosting a basic training on local democracy in suburban governments on Monday March 18 from 7-8:30pm. Please click here to register.

Clean Air is one of 39 organizations who are calling on the City of Buffalo to Follow Proactive Rental Inspections (PRI) Law to prevent lead poisoning. We joined our peers earlier this month for a press conference to highlight this issue – check out the press release from the Partnership for Public Good to learn more. The Attorney General is currently in court with a network of rental companies that owns more than 200 properties in the City of Buffalo, 25 of which are known to have dangerous levels of lead.

In related news, Jay Tokasz wrote an excellent story in the Buffalo News this month about how Newark NJ tackled their lead pipe problem, replacing 23,000 lead lines in less than three years! This month’s NYS DEC East Side Environmental Forum will also focus on this topic – scroll down to learn more.

Join us on Wednesday March 20 for NY Renews’ Mass Mobilization for Climate, Jobs and Justice! There will be a free bus to and from Buffalo, and meals will be provided throughout the day.

Come meet with environmental and climate justice advocates from across the region and across the state, and make our demand for a just transition heard!
Click here to register.

Want to learn more about the bills NY Renews’ coalition is fighting for? Check out this recording of a recent press conference NY Renews organizers held to review the People’s Climate Justice Budget and the Climate Jobs and Justice Package.

NY Renews also teamed up with our friends at Little Sis this month to produce a new report on how fossil fuel lobbyists also work for environmental groups, hospitals, and leading cultural institutions.

One of the bills in the Climate, Jobs and Justice legislative package is the NY HEAT ACT – under current law, gas ratepayers are forced to subsidize new service lines, which is causing significant increases to consumer’s bills as well as undermining our statewide greenhouse gas reduction aims. The NY Heat Act would not only end this requirement, but also create a roadmap for a managed phase down of our gas system which will retain union jobs and reduce consumer costs.

However, the fossil fuel industry is currently bombarding Majority Leader Crystal Peoples Stokes with phone calls. When you have a moment today, please call and leave a message voicing your support for keeping the NY HEAT Act in the state budget –
her local office’s number is 716-897-9714.

We need to retain the William Street US Postal Service mail processing center. Supporters are asked to attend the public hearing on Tuesday February 27 from 6-8pm in Cheektowaga. This is unfortunately also when our Annual Meeting is being held – if you plan to join us, please be sure to fill out this survey voicing your support for retaining the mail processing center!

to bring attention to a loophole in statewide prevailing wage laws. The law currently includes exemptions for projects that receive historic tax credits or brownfield tax credits.

In related news, the New York State Department of Taxation and Finance also recently shared the findings of a report on return on investment for these and other tax credit programs, and found that the Brownfield Program is currently returning only 11 cents per dollar spent, although the report also notes that researchers did not study other positive impacts like community environmental and public health or even the economics of reactivating these vacant parcels.

The NYS brownfield tax credit program is in need of reform, not only to address the prevailing wages loophole, but also to strengthen community oversight of these remediations through Community Advisory Group and to direct the funds better towards downtown redevelopments that do not have clear parties responsible for the pollution. Far too often, we have seen large large industrial parcels which are still connected with polluters responsible for the contamination (Potentially Responsible Parties, or PRPs) placed in the brownfield program with taxpayer dollars subsidizing the clean up rather than these large corporations.

In early 2022 we co-sponsored a letter to legislators asking them to include these reforms to the Brownfield Clean-up Program which was signed by labor and community groups from all across the state. Unfortunately these reforms did not make it into the final version of the law, but it has spurred conversations in Albany. We applaud our friends in labor for continuing to raise awareness of these issues, and will share more on this issue in the future, including how you can support calls for change. If you would like to join the fight for these changes, please reach out to Chris.

While the final decision on this and other issues rests on the commissioner’s shoulders, ultimately this and other failings of DEC are due to legislative policy decisions, not just the decisions of one person – we need legislative reforms, like the above-mentioned needed changes to the Brownfield Clean-up Program.

We’re about a month away from a one-in-a-lifetime experience, a total eclipse here in WNY! The Buffalo Science Museum is hosting several events this month in the lead up – click here to see learn more, or here for their calendar.

Our friends at EarthJustice are also sponsoring a letter campaign to the US Department of Transportation to urge them to rein in oil and gas pipeline leaks – click here to send a letter!

The EPA is working to require upwind states rein in emissions to prevent downwind states from bearing the health costs of the industries located in those upwind states, and last year rolled out the “Good Neighbors Rule” to strengthen this regulation.

Ohio and several corporations have banded together to appeal to the US Supreme Court to stop this rule, though, and the Supreme Court heard oral arguments this month about whether the rule should be paused while litigation in lower courts continues. This case is yet another example of how the Supreme Court is taking on the role of conservative activists to roll back regulations and the administrative state.

The NYS Department of Environmental Conservation is distributing seedlings for free to schools (including higher education programs) and youth groups now through March 29 – click here to learn more.

Organizers and legislators in Long Island fighting for Energy Democracy have been working with labor partners to fight for a Just Transition – read more about their work from NY Focus. 

The American Lung Association published a report this month analyzing how a nationwide energy and transportation transition to zero emission sources might improve public health among children, and the results are striking – read the full report by clicking here, or check out this coverage from Grist.org.

Do you want to electrify your home, but don’t know where to start? Want to take full advantage of the tax credits and incentives to help with the costs?

Rewiring America now has a website where you can find out what credits are now available, including for renters, and help you plan which upgrades make the most sense for your needs.

One in 4 Americans are now exposed to unhealthy air due to the climate emergency, according to a new report by First Street Foundation – this includes air quality emergencies like the wildfire smoke that choked our region last summer.

Read more from Grist.org.

We were saddened to hear of the passing of Terri Legierski this month. Terri was the longtime Legislative/Political Director at CWA Local 1133.

As they noted in their announcement of her passing, “her dedication to political activism, pro working party candidates and issues, and to all the members of this Local, current and retired, is unmatched. For those of us who were fortunate enough to know Terri, her charm and kindness will truly be missed.”

The New Jersey Institute of Technology’s Center for Technical Assistance to Brownfield Communities is hosting several webinars this month on brownfields and resources available –

• Brownfield Contaminants & Human Health, February 29
• Climate Change and Brownfields 101, March 7
• Brownfields: A Story To Tell, March 21

CACWNY Events

• February 27 – Clean Air’s 2024 Annual Meeting
• March 13 – NYS DEC East Side Environmental Forum
• March 20 – NY Renews Albany Mass Mobilization 
• March 27 – March General Meeting
• April 13 – Full CPR Certification Class, email Bridge to register

Community and Coalition Events

• Rolling Deadline – Resiliency Retrofits 50/50 Loan/Grant Program
• Rolling Deadline – Highlander Center’s Train the Trainer Program on Cultural Organizing. Dates trainings will be held – 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!

• February 28 – Starbucks Workers United Solidarity Teach-In
• February 29 – Brownfield Contaminants & Human Health
• February 29 – Mohawk Warrior Society book talk
• Starting in March – Environmental Justice Cohort Program with the Buffalo Center for Health Equity, click here to apply
• March 4 – deadline to apply for the FEMA Youth Preparedness Council
• March 7 – Climate Change and Brownfields 101
• March 7 – Justfields Environmental Justice Funding
• March 7 – Super Tuesday Watch Parties with SURJ
• March 9 – CLUW Buffalo Breakfast 2024: Women’s Health Equity
• March 19 – Board Building 101
• March 19 – Deep Canvassing Online Training
• March 19 – Class, Race and Gender book talk
• March 21 – Brownfields: A Story To Tell
• March 27-28 – Smart Growth America Equity Summit
• April 6 – Dare to Repair Clinic at the Crane Library in Buffalo
• Niagara University Peace and Justice Conference – October 24-27, early deadline for proposals May 1 
• April 8 – Total Eclipse!
• May 8-10 – CLUW 50th Anniversary Gathering in Niagara Falls
• May 13 – Hidden Life of Trees book talk

Public Comment Deadlines and Hearings

• March 1 – deadline to submit comments on proposed Brownfield Cleanup at 619 Exchange 
• April 8 – deadline to submit letters to USDOT on the Advanced Leak Detection and Repair Rule

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.

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?