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The temperature might be cooling off, but our campaigns are HOT.
This month we have updates for you on several of our campaigns, including actions you can take right now in support of the McKiernan family in Niagara Falls and details on the City of Buffalo Common Council vote on a proposed moratorium on data centers this Tuesday – all this and so much more, so be sure to scroll all the way down and click “read more” for the full newsletter!

With Bread and Roses,

Bridge, Chris, Cindy, Ethan, and Milo

50 years ago this October, the Niagara Gazette first broke some concerning news of a growing concern in the LaSalle community of Niagara Falls- strange chemicals bubbling up in people’s backyards and basements.

To commemorate this, Clean Air invites you to join us this Thursday at 6pm (doors 5:30) at the Niagara Arts and Cultural Center for a panel with several local journalists who today focus on environmental justice watchdog reporting, as well as Rich Newberg, who covered the Love Canal disaster as it unfolded for WIVB – please click here to register.

This is not a night to miss out on, and will serve as the public kick-off of the Love Canal 50th Anniversary Series that we and other partners have been working to develop!

Unfortunately, while the work of the organizers 50 years ago greatly advanced environmental justice and helped push for much needed reforms like the passage of the Superfund act, we still deal with impacts from legacy contaminants.

If you have not yet seen the news, the McKiernan’s, a family of five who live a block north of the Love Canal fenceline, were horrified to learn of buried hazardous industrial waste on their property this past summer – read more about their emergency here from WIVB and here from The Buffalo News. They are calling for community support in signing a petition to the EPA to have an immediate emergency evacuation – please take a moment to show your support by signing this petition, and share widely! You can also support their moving costs through their GoFundMe.

This news has emerged amid several other environmental justice stories – homeowners are also organizing under the banner of Save Our Backyards to support each other through the emerging radiological crisis in Niagara County and the Northtowns/Tonawanda-area of Erie County, and drawing links to all of these dangers, insufficient environmental laws or lax enforcement, and the polluters who caused them.

While Save Our Backyards is an autonomous group and not an official campaign of Clean Air, we are actively supporting these residents with their campaign, and if you would like to get involved, please reach out to Chris. Save Our Backyards will hold it’s next public meeting on Tuesday October 27 at 6pm (doors 5:30) at the Frontier Firehall, 2176 Liberty Drive, Niagara Falls NY.

Are you a Northtowns/Tonawanda-area member who has received a letter about possible radiological contamination? Please reach out to Bridge if you would like support through our Tonawanda Just Transition Team.

We are also closely following for any news and asking officials about the new permanent Goodyear stack emission controls that are supposed to be fully installed by October 31 – to date, we have still not received any substantial updates on the progress of this court-ordered installation from the DEC or from Goodyear, nor have we heard any news of the required public engagement meeting.

Given the looming deadline, there may be related actions this month – please stay tuned to our social media, and keep an eye out action alert emails.

We’re thrilled to introduce Ethan Paley, an AmeriCorps member and student at UB who will be joining us though May to help with research and resource development, specifically for our Data Center campaign. Click here to send him a friendly hello, and read his intro below!

My name is Ethan, and I’m a master’s student of urban planning at the University at Buffalo, having studied GIS and urban planning as an undergrad. Though raised in Sandy Hook, Connecticut, I’ve lived in Buffalo for six years, and have worked for Strong Towns Buffalo, UB’s Regional Institute, and the Office of Planning and Zoning in Clarence, NY. I’m excited to contribute my mapping and policy expertise to Clean Air!

We hope you can join us this Tuesday (tomorrow 9/29) at 2pm at Buffalo City Hall (65 Niagara Square) for the Buffalo Common Council meeting on Floor 13, where we expect a vote on the proposed two-year moratorium on data centers 20MW and larger in the city! Click here for a Facebook reminder.

We want to shout out our Data Center Campaign team for pushing this action along so quickly, especially our member Eve Wackett who was crucial in making this happen. Our members helped to directly draft the language on this moratorium! Read more about effort this from WKBW and the Buffalo News.

We have reason to believe that the vote will be in favor of the resolution, but will not know for certain until the vote happens. We still also will need to secure a signature from Mayor Ryan to make the resolution law. Regardless of how the vote goes and the next steps, if you are free Tuesday evening from 5:30-7pm, please pop by Cafe 59 (62 Allen Street) to celebrate this team’s work with us!

In related news, the NYS Public Service Commission is currently accepting public comments until October 20 on the Draft Scope of the Draft Environmental Impact Statement studying the effects of data centers. Translated, that means the PSC is looking for your input on what they should be studying and looking at (water use, air emissions, etc.), how many public hearings they should hold and where, and how long public comments should be open.

To submit your thoughts, please click here and then find the “Post Comments” button on the upper right of your screen.

Clean Air will be submitting comments based on our member’s feedback, and NY Renews, Food and Water Watch and other statewide partners are developing a one-click toolkit to submit comments, which we will share once available.

We’re also happy to share that Clean Air is launching a coalition roundtable this month modeled on the Huntley one we convened a decade ago, this time to find consensus points in policies about data centers between community, labor, fenceline residents, and elected officials. We’re very excited by the potential of this roundtable and can’t wait to share more about this effort as it evolves.

The Advocacy Institute is coming to Buffalo for a two-day training course on the New York State legislative process and related skills like Powermapping – Clean Air members can attend for free! The classes will be October 15th and 16th and will be held at the Downtown Central Library. Please click here TODAY to register – the deadline technically already passed, but if you register today your application may still be considered!

We are also working to arrange a training from NY-BEST on the basics about Battery Storage Systems – tentatively, this will be held online on Friday October 23 from 12pm-2pm. Please pay attention to our social media for more information, or email Bridge if you are interested in attending. If you are unable to join us, you can also email Bridge your questions, and we will post the recording on our website and on our social media after the event.

Relatedly, Canary Media recently posted this advice guide for speaking up in favor of renewable energy projects.

Our friends at PUSH Buffalo will also be hosting the Bread and Puppet Theater on October 28 – click here for more information and to register! This is a really unique and rare opportunity to learn about how to build protest puppets and other protest art that we’re looking forward to!

We’ll be tabling at a few events this month – if you are interested in joining us at TheyFest, please email Bridge or Milo. We’ll also be tabling at a few Halloween events – please contact Cindy if you would like to lend a hand!

Please join us for our next vigil at the corner of Colvin and Colvin Woods Parkway in Tonawanda at 4:30pm on Wednesday October 28.

Our friends with Evict ICE 250 led a direct action this past Saturday – read more in the Buffalo News here, and check out their statement on the action here!

Join us and the Buffalo United Coalition on Saturday October 17 at these following locations and times!

Lockport

5735 S. Transit Rd: 11am-1pm

Williamsville

Amherst Town Hall, 5583 Main St: 1-3pm

Buffalo

Niagara Square: 3-5pm

Our events committee is planning a Friendraiser on Wednesday October 21 at 5:30. Please stay tuned to our social media for event details as those come together.

We are holding a fundraiser screening of the Bills vs. Jets game on Sunday November 15! There will be a vegan wings contest, basket raffles of Bills-themed items, pizza, chicken wings, snacks and beverages, and more – please save the date now, and we’ll have more details in a few weeks to share.

Interested in volunteering, or have items to donate for the basket raffles? Please reach out to Chris – crafted items encouraged!

On October 12 from 5:30-7pm at North Park Theatre (1428 Hertel), please join the East Side Parkway coalition for the first screening of “Humboldt”, a documentary about the Humboldt Parkway and the impacts of the 33, directed and produced by Stephen McKinley Henderson, Stephen Rosenthal & Jillian Hanesworth.

We’re excited to share that we will be working with Stephen Rosenthal and Stephen McKinley Henderson to produce a short documentary about our Data Center fight, and that our plan is that will be part of a longer documentary for our 20th anniversary in 2030!

Early voting will start Saturday October 24 – make a plan now, and ask your neighbors if they need help to get to the polls!
In Erie County, you can preview your ballot on the Board of Elections website here, and find the list of early election sites here. For Niagara County, ballot previews are available here, and the early voting stations are here.

This year there are Ballot Propositions in Cheektowaga, Amherst and North Tonawanda, as well as a long slate of proposed charter revisions in the City of Buffalo. Learn more on the City’s Charter Revision page here.

The City of Buffalo Charter Revision Commission is hosting five public forums across Buffalo to help residents understand what is being proposed before Election Day. These are nonpartisan educational forums designed to explain each proposal, answer residents’ questions, and help voters understand the choices on the November ballot. No recommendations will be made for or against any proposal.
All forums are from 5:30–7:30 PM:

September 24 – Central Library
September 29 – Northwest Buffalo Community Center
October 7 – Gloria J. Parks Community Center
October 8 – Tosh Collins Community Center
October 13 – Frank E. Merriweather Jr. Branch Library

Lee Zeldin and the Trump admin’s EPA this month literally took steps to roll back the Clean Air Act and related provisions limiting harmful emissions, with the stated goal of keeping older power plants online to meet the demand of data centers. Learn more from the New York Times here and here, as well as from Canary Media here.

The Environmental Protection Network, a network of former EPA employees, published a report on the health impacts of data centers here, including suggested actions to fight back. Read more coverage from Mother Jones here.

Here are a few recent movement wins we wanted to highlight –

1) CWA has announced that employees at Blizzard Entertainment now have a contract!

2) Organizers in NYC have officially won a fight to ban AI in elementary and middle schools!

3) Offshore wind projects have continued construction despite the Trump admin, and Revolution recently announced completion of their project!

4) $7 billion in investments from the Solar for All Act, which the Trump administration tried to clawback, has been court ordered to be released!

Devon Cupery, Hannes Brunner, and Scott Russell, Unicorn Riot – Canadian Oil Giant Enbridge Builds Unauthorized Pipeline Bypass Following 1.3 Million Gallon Spill

Roxanne Ali-Robinson, Buffalo-Toronto Public Media – University of Toronto researchers create map that tracks tariff impacts across Canadian cities

Sarah Lazare, Prospect Magazine – Gary, Indiana, Is America’s Latest Climate Victim

Perla Trevizo, Propublica Magazine – Listen to 911 Calls From Inside an Immigration Detention Center: “We Just Need to Take Him to the Hospital”

Gary LaBarbera and Mario Cilento, NYS AFL-CIO – N.Y. is ready to tap into thermal energy. What are we waiting for?

The Guardian

• Maya Yang – Fossil-fuel firms in line for billions in benefits after answering Trump’s donation call
• Oliver Milman – ‘Planetary boundaries’ necessary for flourishing of life have been massively breached, scientists warn

Canary Media

• Ysabelle Kempe – Trump’s DOE keeps forcing coal plants to stay open. Here’s the latest.
• Maria Gallucci – New York, California ramp up fight against Trump’s offshore wind deals

Grist Magazine

• Tik Root – Trump is backing a diesel export ban. How much would that do?
• Kate Yoder – A federal judge just told Trump there’s no ‘emergency’ to justify keeping a Michigan coal plant open

Inside Climate News

• Dan Gearino – Climate Crisis Is No Longer a ‘Distant Warning,’ UN Leader Says
• Bob Berwyn – Climate ‘Overshoot’ Is Coming—Are We Ready?
• Arcelia Martin – Super El Niño to Cause 451,000 Heat Deaths
• Leana Carbonez – In a Hard-Fought New York House Race, the Environment Is on the Ballot

Niagara County News

Buffalo News –

• Mackenzie Shuman – Cleanup advances at Niagara County site tied to Manhattan Project
• Mackenzie Shuman – NY DEC staffer fired for insubordination in rift over response to Goodyear toxic pollution

Dan Telvock, WIVB – Historical Love Canal records disappear from state repository

Data Center News

Dan Swinhoe, Data Center Dynamics – Blockfusion signs CoreWeave as a customer in Niagara Falls, New York

• Note – this is in reference to the facility at 5380 Frontier Avenue in Niagara Falls, which has already largely completed all SEQR steps required.

Colin Kinniburgh, NYS Focus – Lawler Attacks Conley on Data Centers — While Tiptoeing Around the Issue Himself

Scott Neuman, NPR – The data center backlash is reshaping American politics — one community at a time

Greg Sargent, The New Republic – The Real Reason Obama’s Harsh Warning to Dems About AI Is So Unnerving

In These Times

• Stephanie Jordan and Mary Armas – Elected Officials Are Facing a Reckoning Over Their Collusion with Big AI
• Sarah Lazare – AI’s Rise is Being Fueled by the Sprawling U.S. Military State

Michael Sol Warren, Gothamist – Data center spills 5K gallons of diesel into New Jersey Meadowlands

Damien Gayle, The Guardian – ‘Tidal wave’ of Pfas being launched to satisfy AI industry, campaigners warn

NRDC – Chemours and Data Centers: A Love Story

Oliver Milman, Mother Jones – Data Centers Now Facing Backlash Over Contaminated Wastewater

Gabriel Matias Castilho, Inside Climate News – Trying to Get Away From Gas Turbines, Data Centers Place Their Hopes on Small Modular Nuclear Reactors