September 23 General Meeting
Witness to Injustice Blanket Exercise
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NYS Fights Data Centers – Erie Niagara Tour |
Niagara Falls Organizing and Love Canal at 50 |
Clean Air is supporting the grassroots organizing led by Save Our Backyards in Niagara County. This month, notices of possible radiological contamination also began to be received by residents in our Tonawanda-Grand Island membership area – if you recently received notice and would like support from Clean Air, please reach out to Bridge. We’re also thrilled to finally be able to publicly share a new project that we’ve been helping to develop – the Love Canal Disaster was not a single event, but a series of events that largely took place between 1976 and 1984, and this year marks 50 years since the first of these events took place. We have been meeting with community groups in Niagara Falls and with Love Canal veterans for several years to help prepare for these anniversaries, to properly recognize and celebrate their work, and to utilize the anniversaries to move environmental justice advocacy, organizing and policy forward. Learn more here. If you are part of a group, particularly if based in Niagara Falls, and you are interested in supporting this effort, please reach out to Bridge or Chris. On October 1, we will officially kick off this series with a panel event at the Niagara Arts and Cultural Center and will commemorate 50 years since the Niagara Gazette first broke the story. This panel will include several current reporters who have a “watchdog” beat monitoring polluters and other corporate ner-do-wells, as well as Rich Newberg, who covered the Love Canal disaster as it unfolded. Mr. Newberg will also screen a documentary he made about the Love Canal disaster as well as other archival footage. Please click here to register. |
We have a few volunteer opportunities – first, we will be marching in the Labor Day parade on Monday September 7 – line up is at 10 at Cazenovia Park in Buffalo and step off is at 11. If you would like to walk with us in the parade, please reach out to Chris and let us know your tee shirt size. Second, we will be tabling at the Borderlands Music Festival September 18-20, and we need a few volunteers to help cover each day! This is a full day commitment – you must be willing to stick around from 11am-8pm, but you can also go watch some of the musical acts and take breaks throughout the day. We need two volunteers for Friday, two for Saturday, and one more for Sunday – please reach out to Chris if you are interested and available. Finally, we are beginning to plan a Bills-themed fundraiser on Sunday November 15 to kick off our end of year appeal on a fun note. Staff has developed the framework, but we want to have members pick things up from here – there are a multitude of planning roles available, from working with caterers to making raffle baskets to designing fliers and more. Join us to learn about event-based fundraising, build your skills and your leadership, and have a fun time with fellow members! Please reach out to Chris if you are interested in learning more. |
Evict 250 Delaware – Celebrate the Win! |
Clean Air continues to hold monthly vigils at Kenney Park outside of the Customs and Border Patrol station at 600 Colvin Woods Parkway in the Town of Tonawanda which is used for detainment – if you would like to learn when the monthly vigils will be held, please reach out to Bridge. We work with the Evict 250 Delaware campaign which has a very similar but parallel effort to push Uniland Development to not renew ICE’s lease at 250 Delaware Avenue in Buffalo. Last week the groups organizing with E250 celebrated a big win when we stopped DHS from holding a recruitment fair at the Buffalo Convention Center! While DHS did relocate the fair to the Coast Guard station, this is still a big win – every little bit of resistance (or big bit in this instance) helps slow the mass deportation machine, and builds upon each other to bring an end to it. |
Clean Air participated in three voter rights events on Saturday August 8 in Lockport, the City of Tonawanda, and at MLK Park in Buffalo held by BUC. BUC is also planning a big rally in October ahead of the 2026 election – more details soon! |
CEJ Banquet September 23 – Bridge and Ms. Della awardees! |
We’re proud of our organizer Bridge Rauch and our board member Ms. Della Miller, both of whom will be celebrated at the Coalition for Economic Justice’s 2026 Banquet with awards! Click here to buy a ticket. Limited solidarity tickets are available – if you are a Clean Air member and would like to attend, please email Bridge. Please note, unfortunately the banquet is scheduled opposite of our General Meeting, which we are unable to reschedule due to plans already locked in for the Blanket Exercise – we urge our members to use their best judgement in selecting which event to attend. |
Advocacy Institute is coming to Buffalo, and Clean Air members can attend their training for free! Over two action-packed days, you’ll deepen your understanding of the New York State legislative process, build essential advocacy skills, and create meaningful connections with peers who share a commitment to social justice and equity across New York State. Participants can expect to leave this training with a strengthened network of fellow advocates, practical tools to sharpen their strategy, and the confidence to shape policy outcomes at the state level. The training will be held October 15th and 16th at the Downtown Central Library (1 Lafayette Square, Buffalo, NY 14203) in the central meeting room. Spanish interpretation will be provided, as will breakfast and lunch – please register by clicking here, and be sure to note that you are a Clean Air member. ECDOH Training on Grant Management The Erie County Department of Health’s (ECDOH) Office of Health Equity has a set of Free Grants Management Workshops planned this fall. If you are part of an organization that applies for grants or receives grant funding, this workshop offers practical information about preparing for grants, managing grants, workplans, budgets, reporting and the entire grant process. Pre-registration for these workshops is required: email healthequity@erie.gov or call (716) 858-1681. The training dates are
Sept. 9, 2026, 5:30-7:30 pm at West Side Community Services, Buffalo
Sept. 28, 2026, 5:30-7:30 pm at Second Baptist Church, Lackawanna
Oct. 14, 2026, 5:30-7:30 pm at Frank E. Merriweather Library, Buffalo
Oct. 28, 12-2 pm – virtual (WebEx) Align Your Money With Your Values: Banks and Credit Unions Clean Air is planning a training before the end of the year on how to “move your money” to help our members, particularly retirees, prepare financially for the AI bubble pop. In the meantime, we urge attending this training on September 14 at 4pm from our peers at Third Act Upstate about how credit unions can use your deposits to fund local businesses and farms, solar projects, build local housing and invest in your community. Register and learn more here. |
Report Industrial Violations |
Headlines in Environmental Justice, Climate Justice, and the Just Transition |
The New Republic, Greg Sargent – How Trump’s Crazed Fury at Canada Is Already Backfiring Badly for Him Politico, Marie J. French – Western New York’s radioactive legacy spurs calls for action from Hochul Wired Magazine, Molly Taft – Data Centers Are Driving an Alarming Gas Power Expansion in the US Heat Map, Emily Pontecorvo – The U.S. Is Building Natural Gas Power Twice as Fast as China Inside Climate News, Gabriel Matias Castilho – Trying to Get Away From Gas Turbines, Data Centers Place Their Hopes on Small Modular Nuclear Reactors Inside Climate News, Keerti Gopal – Clean Air Policies Help Kids Breathe and Think Better Grist Magazine, Vivian La – US Army Corps approves a pipeline project it knows harms Indigenous lands Grist Magazine, Kate Yoder- ‘Starwashing’: The new space race has an environmental problem Grist Magazine, Emily Jones – The rush to power data centers is weakening the Clean Air Act New York Immigration Coalition (press release) – 71 Organizations in Solidarity With The People’s Forum Against House Investigation |
Residents in Gary Indiana continue to struggle in the aftermath of massive and sustained power outages that lasted two weeks. Black Sun Light Sustainability in collaboration with the Gary NAACP is collecting donations to deliver gift cards valued at $50 each to impacted Hoosiers – click here to donate. |
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