Hi {{ FirstName | commonize | default: ‘Friend’ }}, it’s been a busy month for community engagement – scroll down to see photos from some of the events we participated in this month, including Buffalo United’s “For Freedom and Liberation” rally we helped plan and run!

We expect this work to continue all this month and into August.
Our Events team and Base Building team will be leading our General Meeting on July 23 at 5:30 – click here to register to join us either in-person or online. Our Tonawanda Team will also be canvassing through September, and you can also catch us at the Burning Books Block Party on July 27th.

You might see our Summer High Road Fellow Rebecca Nezezon at one of these events – she’s lending a hand with some of our research projects this summer as well as with out outreach work. Be sure to say hi!

Also note that there will be some actions this month regarding cryptocurrency mining and data centers, including online state hearings starting this Wednesday – scroll down for more details and to sign up.

With Bread and Roses,
Bridge, Chris, Cindy, Gia and Kiera

EarthJustice won on our behalf in court in November against the Public Service Commission’s decision to approve the sale of the Fortistar gas power plant without taking the Climate Leadership and Community Protection Act into account! This means, though, that the PSC needs to hear from us that we oppose this sale.

The PSC is accepting comments on this until July 28 – to submit a comment, click here to visit the “Matter Master” page, and click the “Post Comment” button on the upper right. We urge pointing out the enormous energy demand, the lack of job creation, the noise pollution, and the predicted increases in air emissions.

Related, the Draft Generic Environmental Impact Study of cryptocurrency mining has been released! We urge taking a moment to read it by clicking here or visiting the DEC’s webpage (scroll down to the “Cryptocurrency Mining Law” header.) Comments are being accepted until September 25 by emailing climatechange@dec.ny.gov. We will be launching a letter campaign his month, and in the meantime we urge attending one of the online hearings this month listed on the DEC’s webpage, including one this Wednesday at 6pm focused on WNY – click here to register by tomorrow Tuesday July 8 at 6pm.

Clean Air members and staff participated in a site tour of Tonawanda Coke this month. The structures on the site have largely been removed, and nature is taking back the site – we saw an osprey carrying a fish from the Niagara River to it’s nest as well as a bunch of froglets.

Thanks to the advocacy and oversight of the Tonawanda Community Working Group, a buffer zone of the entire site will be remediated to “residential” standards. We remain involved in the TCWG as the other parcels approach their own final remediation decisions, and urge an expansion to include the entire River Road corridor, but we are also pivoting our attention to the future use of the site, and oppose the potential use of the site as a data center.

Speaking of other River Road sites, work is beginning to pick up at Huntley – remediation is picking up pace, and one fun tidbit is that there will be fill brought in from the Bills Stadium construction site to replace the contaminated soils being removed.

Finally, we have deployed enough PurpleAir monitors throughout the region to begin to notice unusual “pocket” readings – this month a member called because of some alarmingly high readings at the Delavan-Grider Community Center’s monitor. Turns out, the Center was running a hot dog cookout! Similarly there were extremely high readings the evening of July 4 across the region, which, as you would expect, came from community fireworks.

We urge reaching out to Clean Air staff if you do see unusually high readings on any monitors, especially if it’s consistently high, and if you are interested in signing up for a free monitor, please reach out to us today.

Clean Air members in Niagara Falls are working this summer to recruit and build a leadership cohort. To support these members, Clean Air held a Town Hall last month to scope priority issues and bring folks together. This fall, we will begin holding a series of workshops in Niagara Falls to dig into some of the identified issues. Register for the first workshop on September 10 for a reminder by clicking here, and contact Bridge to connect with our Niagara Falls leaders.

The People continue to push back on the cuts to EPA programs, including the awarded grant programs. Earlier this month, a federal judge ruled that cuts made to the Thriving Communities programs run by the Green and Healthy Homes Initiative, the Minneapolis Foundation, and Philanthropy Northwest were unlawful! This follows a similar ruling in May which likewise found the termination of awarded funds from the Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund were unlawful.

This is all very promising news for us as EarthJustice and partners just filed a class action challenge to the termination of the awarded Community Change grants and other environmental justice programs, which we are a subrecipient of – much more to come as this case proceeds!

Clean Air joined a sign on letter with 50 other groups statewide to the NYS DEC calling for inclusion of greenhouse gas emissions of incinerators and other sources. Click here to read the letter.

NYRenews is urging NYSDEC to implement the Cap and Invest program – click here to send a letter!

On July 24th at 6:30pm, join NY Renews, Allies of the Tonawanda Seneca Nation, and Nation citizens for a virtual screening of the short film “Unheard Voices: The Fight for the Tonawanda Seneca Nation’s Way of Life.” A panel discussion with Nation citizens and Allies of the Tonawanda Seneca Nation will follow.

Seneca and Tuscarora leaders are urging NYS DEC to require a  geotechnical analysis at the location of the proposed STAMP wastewater pipeline horizontal directional drilling installation, including test boring at the specific location to determine whether soils there can support HDD without risk of frac-out, as well as halt any construction until all permits and agreements are in place. Click here to send a letter in support!

EarthJustice is urging people to contact EPA Administrator Zeldin to voice objection to the rollback of clean air standards for power plants – click here to send a letter now!

The Buffalo Central Labor Committee’s annual cookout is July 18 – click here to buy a ticket!

The NYS AFLCIO released a statement opposing the “Big Ugly Betrayal” budget bill – click here to read the statement.

Striking REI workers in Durham NC posted this absolute banger picket line song set to the tune of Hot To Go! – well worth taking a minute today to watch!

A UAW member in WNY who survived blood cancer is raising funds to benefit the Lymphoma and Leukemia society – click here to donate.

The New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC), in partnership with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), today announced a vehicle-based ground-level radiological survey of Erie and Niagara counties will begin the week of July 7, 2025. 

This new ground-level survey will supplement data collected during the first aerial phase of the radiological survey that took place in late 2023 and the summer of 2024, as well as historic surveys from the 1970s and 1980s. For more information, please refer to the full DEC press release.

The New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) and Niagara County Soil and Water Conservation District today announced a virtual public meeting from noon to 1 p.m. on Tuesday, July 8, 2025, to discuss restoration progress in the Eighteenmile Creek Area of Concern (AOC) in Niagara County. The meeting will also offer an opportunity for public input on the proposed removal of the Degradation of Benthos Beneficial Use Impairment (BUI). Benthos are organisms that crawl, burrow, swim, or stay attached to the material on the bottom of a lake or stream.

Comments on the draft report and proposed BUI removal may be made during the meeting, via the AOC website or by email at: eighteenmilerap@gmail.com until July 30, 2025.

For more information, please refer to the full DEC press release.

In addition to the comment period flagged above concerning the DGEIS for cryptocurrency mining and the Eighteenmile Creek comment period, there are several more pertaining to our membership area and campaign work that we want to flag –

• Roswell Park renewed Air State Facility (ASF) permit, comments due July 18
• Proposed remedy for the brownfield cleanup at the North Aud Block Site located at 130 Main Street in Buffalo, comments due August 9
• Proposed remedy for the brownfield cleanup at Amherst Commons located at 47 East Amherst Street in Buffalo, comments due August 15
• Amendments to the statewide Environmental Remediation Programs 6 NYCRR Part 375, ie the state Brownfield Program regulations, comments due October 7. More on this point to come as we review the proposed changes!

The New York State Department of Transportation has released it’s 2050 statewide transportation master plan. There will be two virtual public hearings on July 8 that you can sign up for here, and comments are being collected until July 28 by emailing nystransportationmasterplan@publicinput.com. For more information, please visit https://www.nystransportationmasterplan.com/

This has been a tough few months, with a number of losses that will continue to cause harm for decades to come – but it’s important to celebrate the acts of resistance and the wins that have come as a result.

Of note this month –

Residents on Buffalo’s West Side are organizing to protect and support an Iranian immigrant

A state administrative judge sided with environmental justice advocates in Niagara County against CWM’s proposed hazardous waste landfill

Farmworkers in Wayne County have won the New York’s first union contract that covers both seasonal guest workers and year-round employees

More than 250 EPA employees signed a “Declaration of Dissent”

A coal miner in West Virginia successfully challenged the Trump administration’s attempt to gut the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) offices in Morgantown, W. Va.

While the budget bill is a disastrous and dangerous package which will cause systemic harm, due to the pressure put on the US Senate, two especially egregious provisions were killed – the first would have added excise taxes to renewable energy projects and killed the industry, and the second would have prevented states from regulating Artificial Intelligence, possibly including data centers.

Any ground we can keep is ground we can fight on!

Finally, we also wanted to share these reflections from organizers of the 2020 Uprising on lessons learned and advice they have for the moment.

Dylan Baddour and Arcelia Martin, Inside Climate News – Data Centers Are Building Their Own Gas Power Plants in Texas

Misti Allison, Akron Beacon Journal – How EPA helped my hometown of East Palestine — and why funding cuts would be dire | Opinion

Isa Domínguez, Politico – Energy powerhouse to Republicans: Don’t ‘take renewables off the table’

James Baratta, The American Prospect – Industry Lobbyists Pitch Driverless ‘Ghost Trains’ Across America

Maxine Joselow, Washington Post – White House proposes shutting down chemical safety agency

Brendan Gibbons, Oil and Gas Watch News – Some U.S. oil refineries are still using WWII-era heaters and boilers, leading to excess pollution

NYS Focus

• Colin Kinniburgh – Hochul Paused Carbon Pricing to Get More Feedback — But Hasn’t Asked for Any
• Colin Kinniburgh – How the Clock Ran Out on One of Albany’s Biggest Environmental Bills
• Clara Hemphill – How Congress is Reversing New York’s Progress on Clean Energy

Canary Media

• Kathryn Krawczyk – The EPA puts toxic power plant emissions back on the table
• Jeff St. John – Trump admin cuts $3.7B for industrial decarbonization and carbon capture
• Jeff St. John – A Michigan coal plant was about to close. Trump ordered it to stay open.
• Jeff St. John – How states can pick up the slack on industrial decarbonization
• Alexander C. Kaufman – Major US steel company backs away from plan to make green steel

Grist Magazine

• Joseph Winters – ‘Chilling and dangerous’: Grassroots groups sue over Louisiana law that censors air quality data
• Matt Simon – The smoke from Canada’s wildfires may be even more toxic than usual
• Lisa Sorg – The Supreme Court just blew up a major environmental law
• Joseph Winters – The Supreme Court just ended its term. Here are the decisions that will affect climate policy.

CACWNY Events

• July and August Tonawanda canvasses – various evenings on Thursdays and  Fridays and Saturdays midday, contact Bridge to sign up

• July 23 – Clean Air General Meeting

• July 27 – tabling at Burning Books Block Party

• September 1-  Buffalo Labor Day Parade, contact Chris if you’d like to march with Clean Air

• September 10 – Niagara Falls Environmental Justice Workshop

Upcoming Training Opportunities, Conferences and New Resources

Are you a Clean Air member or supporter who is engaged with a current campaign, and is there a training opportunity that you would like to pursue to strengthen your organizing? Please let a staff organizer know, as we budget to support leadership development! All Clean Air members and supporters also have free access to trainings from the Advocacy Institute.

• WE ACT TCTAC – resources, technical and policy trainings on demand 
• EPA Contaminated Site Clean-Up Information Center – multiple webinars, both live and on demand recordings
• EPA Superfund Training and Learning Center – multiple webinars, both live and on demand
  
• Little Sis – on demand webinar recordings

New This Month – 

• Starting September 3 – Cooperation Buffalo’s Fellowship Program, applications due August 1

Community and Coalition Events

• Various dates and events hosted by Organize for Action WNY
• Every Last Tuesday – heARTburn: monthly civic arts meet-up
• July 8 – 169 Allen Street Pocket Park Visioning Workshop
• July 18 – Buffalo CLC Annual Cookout
• July 19 – Co-op Fest
• July 22 – Lecture at Burning Books about Elon Musk and Pronatalism
• July 24th – Virtual screening of the short film “Unheard Voices: The Fight for the Tonawanda Seneca Nation’s Way of Life followed by panel discussion
• July 26 – Geology Day tour of Zoar Valley led by Ray Vaughan

Public Comment Deadlines and Hearings

• July 28 – comments due to the Public Service Commision regarding the proposed sale of the Fortistar gas power plant to Digihost/Digi Power X.  To submit a comment, visit the “Matter Master” page and click the “Post Comment” button on the upper right.
• September 25 – comments due regarding the Draft Generic Environmental Impact Study of cryptocurrency mining. Learn more by visiting the DEC’s webpage (scroll down to the “Cryptocurrency Mining Law” header) and submit comments to climatechange@dec.ny.gov.
  • Multiple hearing dates in July, you can sign up for any, must register 24 hours in advance –

    • Finger Lakes – Wednesday, July 9 at 2:00 pm, click here to register

    • Western NY – Wednesday, July 9 at 6:00 pm, click here to register

    • Southern Tier – Wednesday, July 16 at 2:00 pm, click here to register

    • Central NY – Wednesday, July 16 at 6:00 pm, click here to register

    • Mohawk Valley – Tuesday, July 22 at 2:00 pm, click here to register

    • North Country – Wednesday, July 23 at 4:00 pm, click here to register

    • New York City/Long Island – Wednesday, July 30 at 2:00 pm, click here to register

    • Capital Region/Hudson Valley – Wednesday, July 30 at 4:00 pm, click here to register

• July 18 – Roswell Park renewed Air State Facility (ASF) permit
• July 28 – comments regarding the New York State Department of Transportation 2050 statewide transportation master plan due. There will be two virtual public hearings on July 8 that you can sign up for here,
• July 30 – comments due regarding the restoration progress in the Eighteenmile Creek Area of Concern (AOC) in Niagara County, virtual meeting on July 8
• August 9 – Proposed remedy for the brownfield cleanup at the North Aud Block Site located at 130 Main Street in Buffalo
• August 15 – Proposed remedy for the brownfield cleanup at Amherst Commons located at 47 East Amherst Street in Buffalo
• October 7 – Amendments to the statewide Environmental Remediation Programs 6 NYCRR Part 375 (brownfield regulations)

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

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 Gia about our events and membership committee.

At least 70 people are already reported dead from the flooding in Texas. As residents struggle to respond, calls for mutual aid are beginning to pop up on GoFundMe – https://www.gofundme.com/c/act/flood-relief#/

Interested in connecting with CACWNY generally as an organization, have an emerging campaign or issue you’d like CACWNY to consider, or are you interested in joining our Peabody Street or  Lovejoy campaigns?
Do you know of a grant opportunity that might support our work?

Interested in joining our Tonawanda Just Transition campaign teams, our work to regulate cryptocurrency mining, our Energy Democracy work, or have a submission for this monthly newsletter?

Interested in supporting Clean Air’s grassroots fundraising efforts, or joining our events or membership committee, including our Rapid Response Team?

Want to join our American Axle campaign or support our work in the Delavan-Grider neighborhood and greater East Side, or support our statewide climate justice work with NYRenews,?

Interested in donating to support our work?