This summer the Clean Air Coalition is a host site for the Cornell High Road Fellowship program – Sia Gu is a 2025 expected graduate who has been working with us on a number of research projects, and will be wrapping up her fellowship with us at the end of July. The following is an introduction she wrote for herself.

Dear Clean Air Members and Supporters,

Hope everyone is doing well! It’s my pleasure to introduce myself as Clean Air Coalition’s summer intern through Cornell University’s High Road Fellowship program. I am very grateful for this opportunity and look forward to working with everyone at Clean Air throughout the summer.

Growing up in Beijing, China, this summer was the first time I visited Buffalo. I’ve had an amazing time roaming through different neighborhoods, exploring new cafes with friends, and immersing myself in all that Buffalo has to offer during the summertime. I’m confident that this is the first, but not the last time, that I’ll be in Buffalo. No matter where I go after this summer, I’ll take everything I’ve learned and experienced, and will always think of returning to this beautiful city.

Interning at Clean Air has helped me recognize the environmental justice concerns lying under some of my surface-level experiences—from how a peaceful neighborhood could be right next to a polluted brownfield to factories emitting toxic waste that could go unnoticed until people fell sick. These narratives of environmental injustice—with working-class communities and people of color being disproportionately impacted by pollution—are not unfamiliar. In Beijing, as the city sprawls and expands, new construction sites never cease springing up. Dust, noise, and other health consequences are always at the back of everyone’s head but never adequately addressed. This is on top of the severe smog in 2013 that people are still recovering from. Or not even recovering, still experiencing; people who live near manufacturing facilities and cannot afford air purifiers in their homes still breathe in the oftentimes polluted air. Not to mention migrant workers and homeless people who are constantly directly exposed to air pollutants outside. I still recall a middle school field trip in 2017 when the Beijing air quality was supposedly already “fixed” and there were barely any smoggy days in the city. When we went to the suburbs and a bit further to nearby cities, we passed by large factories with black smoke floating out from the smokestacks. The air in central Beijing was improved at the cost of moving factories away from the city center to these “less important” neighborhoods. Low-income communities have no say in the air they breathe and have no one to turn to who can address the problem.

Knowing who to inform and consult is crucial when facing environmental challenges, especially when local governmental agencies fail to acknowledge the issue. Clean Air struck me with its close collaboration with Buffalo residents, its continued effort to mitigate the impact of polluting facilities, and its focus on bringing sustainable economic models for regions around Buffalo. With my prior personal and professional experiences in environmental justice, I am excited to work with Clean Air and contribute to greater Buffalo communities.

In Solidarity,

Sia Gu

High Road Fellow

Clean Air Coalition of WNY

Our American Axle/Delavan-Grider Environmental Justice Organizer Cindy Stroud recently attended a training retreat on Cultural Organizing at the Highlander Center. The following are her reflections on her experience – if you a Clean Air member and are interested in this training, there is one more class planned the week of July 31 – reach out to Cindy for more info!

I arrived in Knoxville, TN, being a big girl flying all by myself, and yes, that was my first time traveling alone. I had no clue what to expect upon my arrival, but I enjoyed entering something new as an empty slate. The contact person, Oba, was there. I took a 30-minute ride and learned that the driver was also the drum instructor for Friday night. He tells me how he started in this movement, all because of his mom, an activist. We turn into an area that is nothing less than the exact design of GOD.

Beautiful, open green grass, mountains, hills, valleys, and trees for as far as the eye can see. I couldn’t believe I was here from work; wow, what will they teach me here? I was welcomed by a tall, black, beautiful woman with a clipboard. She introduced herself and then told me what door number I should look for because that was my assigned room. #12 on the door was my name: Welcome Cynthia Stroud.

After settling in and putting my belongings down, I walked around the cabin that slept 15-20 people. It is a beautiful wood cabin with a screened-in porch with about 15 rocking chairs, end tables, and board games in the corner of the porch. I felt like someone tapped into my private thoughts of my perfect place.

As people started to find their rooms, a sense of calm filled the air. Introductions were made, and the simple question ‘Where are you from?’ sparked connections.

After a few hours, everyone started to ask how we were going to get food and drinks. Do you guys drink bottled water or straight from the tap? For some reason, that was a big joke. There was some kind of mix-up with the dinner issue. We did get pizza and salad that evening, and the refrigerator had a filter on the water dispenser. By 11 p.m., with all that open land, clean air, and travel, I had to hit the hay.

Up by 6 am, I found out that a big food order had been delivered after I went to bed. In your room is a notebook with an itinerary and a number; the paper reads Wed- breakfast will be served at 9 am in the mess hall. At 10 am, everyone should meet in the round room located upstairs from the cafeteria.

We did that, then we found out what the numbers were in our notebooks; instructions were to do some research to find out what was going on that year in Highlanders, 1990 was the year I had, so we had to find out how many other people had that number also, You meet up with the group, gather all the info, and put together a presentation; we had 3 hours to work on this.

This was when I learned that Miles Horton was one of the founders of Highlanders Folk School-1930, and 1934 the first African American came to Highlander Folk School. They bring social solidarity and continue fighting for justice and equality, supporting organizing and leadership development.

But I don’t want to talk about things you can google. I want to describe my personal experience; after the first assignment, I was ready to see how they set up this entire training. The instructor’s name is Je Nae; she assured us that anything needed could be obtained.

The group talked and learned what is essential when facilitating a meeting. Who were we trying to help? What help looks like when in despair,” We are all we need.” ironically, when ever someone mentioned they were having sinus issues, a headache; someone in the room always had something with them to help,” we all we need was reiterate, which left me feeling that I didn’t have to be the person in charge, the one everyone looks to to solve whatever issues that have arisen and make it better.

I’ve been that person for so long; it’s so lovely when you can allow others to play their role.

We were instructed to close our eyes and think of someone in our family that you never met but they are no longer with us. I did what was asked and thought and reflected on pictures and the few stories that I heard about her- y grandmother that I never met, Molly. I still can’t explain what happened, but I can tell you that was the first of many meditation sessions just focusing on my ancestors.

The people that I met were amazing. Most of them lived in the south; a few of the young ladies were Doulas. We talked about having babies and all the ways childbearing has changed. My experience comes from life, theirs mostly from a books—that’s one of the things I enjoy about being a Seasoned woman. The lessons that I have lived I’ll never forget. GOLD!

After lunch, we did a different exercise; all we had to do was find a partner, introduce ourselves, and ask the person ten x’s who are you. Then tell the person what the relationship between you and the deceased person was, from the am session.

It sounds pretty simple; well, by the 5th, who are you? I was in tears. Hearing you say the affirmation was powerful, a MOM, a SISTER, AUNT, HELPER, a NEIGHBOR, an activist GRANDMOTHER a EXWIFE, I was not the only one; the room was filled with open, raw emotions, people sobbing with this belief that the question opened their eyes to hear you are a lot, you are the help I need. I felt vulnerable, open, and ready to learn more.

The next two days were spent learning how effective protest are, when coming together chants and, how they stay in your head, the power that they possess. I could only imagine how Martin Luther King and Rosa Parks felt being at Highlanders with like minded people believing in the movement.

I am a true believer that everything happens for a reason; at this time of my life going to Highlanders was an answered prayer that I didn’t even ask for. I needed this more than I knew, I was at a point in my life where I needed to redefine who I was, and I didn’t quite know how to do it this time; Highlanders reassured me that Clean Air is precisely where I’m supposed to be helping the community, and trying to build grassroots leaders.

I experienced early morning meditations, being able to think, not hearing the inner city sounds, it was like not being in the real world for a few days. I was unavailable to the world. It’s been forever since I have stepped away from my world. I experienced a sound bath; by this time I am allowing my mind, body & spirit to be open, free and non judgmental.

I closed my eyes, listened to the sounds and felt like I was transported to a place of calmness, acceptance, and healing.

This is how people get in tune with mother earth and their inner being. I felt my third eye being wide open, it woke up something in me – it’s time to step into what you’re going to be doing for the next 10 years and I’m sure I’ll be doing this work until I die. I love it.

We learned about the Triad or triangle, what it means, how it helps us to stay focused on the problem, people and targets. People don’t plan to fail; they fail to plan.

Knowledge is the key understanding, making sure everyone is on the same page- we will make sure that we are all ok.

We learned songs and learned to listen to the messages in the music; it was a cultural teaching that I was so glad to be getting. We were privileged to learn about an Altar and welcomed to place things on the altar and offer sacrifices; it made me feel like I was acknowledging my memories.

I learned from one of the facilitators when you stand before a group of people that you may be a little nervous to speak in front of, stand, take a deep breath, and with your hands beside you, palms to the back. You stand and allow your accessories to support you to stand behind you and give you that support that only something in you knows how to help, hold, reassure you that, we got this.

It’s the You that is in you that supports, loves and protects you, that allows you to become a better you. Believe in you.

Friday is the last day of coming together, working in groups to strategize, acknowledge the targets, help the oppressed, and show people that we are worth speaking up for and fighting for.

People are power; we must be reminded.

We did a compelling presentation on different subjects; my group worked on Seeds; the idea was to draw a picture of a seed on a pregnant woman’s belly, to show how a human (seed) is growing. The group talked about the entire family unit, how to impact the unit, what is needed to assist the male, encourage him to learn to farm, and how to be a helper in the unit; everyone plays a vital part in a family.

After dinner, we had a three-hour break and needed to meet at 8 for the drum lesson. 8pm- in a big circle were bongos and chairs; we sat and tried to mimic what the instructor played, 1-2 -1-2 1-2.

After a while, everyone hitting the drums sounded like folk music to me—seeing a group of 15 people coming together on Wednesday as strangers, we were nothing less than a chosen family by Friday. It was wonderful, food for the soul.

It’s Friday, and we are Kindreds now. I felt as if the universe replaced people I had lost in the past ten years with new people. Who am I? I don’t deserve more souls to love; I guess I do because I have them now.

Then, the frosting on the cake happened when the skies opened up, and a vibrant burst of majestic pink fuchsia and purple exploded in the sky, making what looked like a neon rainbow. It was the Northern Lights, which could only be seen in Knoxville, Tennessee, and Buffalo, New York (it was all for me). That was my experience at Highlander’s magical trip for a GOLD lady ME.

As we have been openly stating for almost a year now, NYS DEC has a significant backlog of Title V air permits and other permits that has developed over time since the staffing and program funding freezes and cuts that Governor Cuomo put in place at state agencies in response to the 2008 Financial Crisis. We began learning of this problem as we examined the Title V permit for the Fortistar power plant in North Tonawanda, and were shocked to see permits for sites like 3M in the River Road corridor with permits that expired over a decade ago. NYS Comptroller DiNapoli released an in-depth report in September 2023 specifically about the backlogged air permit reviews.

An expired permit does not necessarily mean dangerous levels of emissions from these sources – but it is a red alert that our regulatory agencies are not staffed to sufficient levels to protect the public and that there are gaps in our oversight capacity. Further, it means that permits that these sites are operating under were written under older environmental laws – earlier this year, for example, the EPA strengthened the rules about PM 2.5 safety thresholds, and older permits were written for the older threshold.

We are also alarmed by the slow tick upward in reported emissions at some of these facilities – while still operating within the parameters set by their older permits, at least to the best of our knowledge, it’s very worrying to see these increases, especially in Hazardous Air Pollutants (HAPS), Volatile Organic Compounds (VOCs), and greenhouse gas emissions like CO2. Not only does that put public health at increased risk, all of these increases also threaten to undermine the actions that we’re all taking to reduce and ultimately eliminate our statewide impacts on climate change, like transitioning away from the use of gas in our homes.

The Buffalo News this past Sunday featured deep dive coverage on the statewide issue of expired Title V permits, including the almost 90% of expired Title Vs in Erie and Niagara counties – click here to read the coverage!

Yesterday the Editorial Board also featured commentary further called on our representatives in Albany to take immediate steps to address the backlog, whether that’s NYS DEC prioritizing the reviews, our State Legislature passing environmental bills like S9370 which would mandate that permit reviews be completed within 5 years of expiration, or Governor Hochul taking the lead to steer these actions and develop a plan to address systemic understaffing at our state agencies. Click here to read the editorial!

Want to take action to pressure our representatives to take these steps? Join us on Wednesday July 24 for our next General Meeting to learn about what we are currently doing, and to talk with peers about how you’d like to get involved or what you’d like to take leadership on!

In today’s rulings the Supreme Court sided with corporate oligarchs against every single American, especially residents of environmental justice communities. The conservative majority of the court ruled 6-3 to end what is known as the Chevron Deference 

We wish we could say we are surprised, but in all honesty, a ruling of this kind this has been expected ever since the conservative majority took over the Court. 

The Chevron Deference refers to a case that has been precedent since 1984 which empowers regulatory agencies like the EPA to utilize their expertise to interpret and implement the enforcement of broad laws. For example with a law like the Clean Air Act, Chevron gave the EPA the authority to utilize science and expert input to set limits on levels of pollutants in the air we breathe. The justices decision takes away this authority and gives justices in the Supreme Court and lower courts the sole power to interpret whether regulations can stand.  Polluters that Clean Air fights against are celebrating this decision. Based on the courts current partisan makeup we know which way these decisions will fall. 

What we need now is for our representatives in Washington to step up to begin to push for a change to the law to reinstate the Chevron Deference Doctrine.

We need our representatives in Albany to stop holding back statewide action. The session closed in Albany with only one major climate and environmental bill passed, the Climate Superfund Act – this is far short of the kind of response that we need to the climate emergency and ongoing environmental injustices in our communities. 

We also need each and every person to learn more about what is proposed in Project 2025 under a Trump administration, and to understand that the ultimate goal of that document is the dissolution of the ability of regulators to protect us. 

Ultimately, what we need is for every single person reading this statement to get plugged in to advocacy and organizing, whether that’s with us (click here to donate to join or renew your membership) or with other organizations that are close to your heart. 

None of us have the privilege to be passive amid the growing crises of rising fascism, worsening climate change, and increasing social and economic inequities.

Click here to subscribe to our monthly e-newsletter, and view this month’s edition by clicking the “Read More” link below.

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Today Clean Air joined North Tonawanda residents and friends from EarthJustice to call on Governor Hochul, New York State Department of Environmental Conservation, and the North Tonawanda Common Council to take action to rein in cryptocurrency mining by Digihost Technologies at the Fortistar gas-fired power plant and by other companies statewide. This press conference follows recent coverage by the Buffalo News documenting the issues North Tonawanda residents have been grappling with.

Read the press alert by clicking here, and watch the recording below.

The following is the text of Bridge’ remarks on the expired Title V Air Permit issue at Fortistar and other facilities in Erie and Niagara County as well as statewide. Want to learn more? Here’s a link to the Comptroller’s September 2023 report, here’s the DEC’s webpage with information on all Title V air permits statewide, and here’s an earlier blog post on this topic.

Good morning! My name is Bridge Rauch, my pronouns are they/them, and I am one of the Environmental Justice organizers at the Clean Air Coalition of Western New York.

Listen, we could chat about a ton of topics here today, from the recent New York Independent Service Operators report on energy demand and how much demand is coming from cryptomining to how the flailing fossil fuel sector is supporting cryptocurrency mining to remain viable, but to state the obvious, it’s hot. Because of the heat emergency today, driven in part by climate change, I will keep my remarks short and to the point – the Fortistar facility, being used by Digihost to mine for cryptocurrency, has a Title V air permit that expired back in 2021. 

A Title V air permit, for those unfamiliar, is required by Title V of the Clean Air Act for all major air pollution sources. Here in NY, the Department of Environmental Conservation manages permit enforcement, applications, and renewals.

Digihost is allowed to continue to operate under that expired permit, initially issued to Fortistar, due to the rules set by the New York State Administrative Procedure Act or SAPA as long as NY DEC continues to review their application for renewal and the transfer of the permit.

As absurd as this all seems, we have learned from the research we have done into this permit that this is just a fraction of a larger statewide issue – according to DEC’s own data on issued Title V Permits, which you can find on their website, of the 306 Title V permits statewide, 182 are currently expired – that’s 59% of permits statewide that are expired. 

Within Erie and Niagara counties, which are home to 33 Title V facilities, a whopping 89% of Title V permits are expired! The vast majority of these are within Environmental Justice areas under DEC definitions. Several of these permits expired well over a decade ago, with two that expired back in 2012.

As the NYS Comptroller’s Office noted in their September 2023 audit, “the longer these Title V permits remain extended under SAPA, the greater the risk that facilities are not operating under requirements that align with the most up-to-date air pollution control standards” and what we’ve found from annual emissions reporting is that some of these facilities have exceeded their permitted emissions standards.

We need NYS DEC to prioritize Title V permit renewals and renewals of the permits for smaller scale facilities which share many of the same issues. We need DEC to step up inspection and enforcement of these facilities as well, and rein in emissions.

We need NYS DEC to prioritize the Fortistar facility here in particular, which has proven to be a community nuisance for all the reasons you have heard today, and is being used for an industry that is non-productive and does not contribute to the local economy.

We’re under a heat dome today – while we are all well aware of the immediate acute dangers of heat, one issue we have heard less about is how it worsens air quality. Fossil fuel emissions when heated create ground level ozone and smog. Climate justice and environmental justice are intertwined – reducing our emissions from fossil fuel use not only reduces the harm of climate change, it also makes our air cleaner and safer to breathe. By continuing to use old facilities like Fortistar, especially for large energy consumers like cryptocurrency, we are doing the opposite, and endangering not only ourselves but also future generations. 

We need action NOW. NYS DEC, we need you to do the right thing here and get on top of these permit renewals and enforcement of existing permit rules! We need DEC to stop sitting on Digihost/Fortistar’s air permit application, to bring it to the public review process, and follow the precedent DEC set last year with Greenidge Generation by denying Digihost/Fortistar’s air permit.

Click here to subscribe to our monthly e-newsletter, and view this month’s edition by clicking the “Read More” link below.

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This post is written by our spring intern, Clover Kagle

In summer of 2023, one of our members went to four sites (Selkier, Melton, Peabody, and Babcock overpasses) to record and monitor noise pollution data along major throughways. The data was recorded 12 feet from the throughway with an LG v60 Thin Q using the SoundMeter application. Noise pollution recorded with this setup had a peak reading of 115 dB. The time of recording was also noted with most of the recordings done between 12:00pm – 8:00pm.

The recorded sites all reached the peak of 115dB frequently, and had an average of measurements of typically 90-100dB. Nearly all recorded data points at most times of the day had an average measurement of above both the chronic exposure safety threshold of 70dB, and the two hour acute safety threshold of 90dB, as designated by the CDC. The CDC also outlines a number of health-related outcomes when citizens are exposed to high levels of noise pollution. Among these are increased anxiety, blood pressure, and hearing loss.

Some of these conditions can be deadly – excessive, persistent noise is a public health condition which can kill!

Pedestrian hostile environments, such as those created by noise pollution, are often unsuited for accessible living. Individuals without access to a car must choose between commuting alongside these noisy streets (on bike or on foot) or using expensive ride sharing services like Uber. While public transit does exist, current service levels and area coverage are inadequate to serve all residents of our region – even city residents, who may prefer to use public transit, are often forced to rely on personal vehicles or taxi services to reach areas outside the city.

In 1972, the Noise Control Act was passed in order to attempt to bring down rising noise levels in cities.

Just 9 years later in 1981, the program was entirely defunded by congress under Reagan’s administration.

To this day there is no federal replacement or funding for the Noise Control Act, and legislation is typically left up to local municipalities, which often lack the means for enforcement such as expensive noise monitoring equipment.

To remedy this issue, funding for enforcement of this act needs to be reallocated by our congressional representatives to give the EPA the ability to monitor and regulate noise pollution in cities.

Just as we cannot predict with 100% certainty that our region will be affected by a large scale blizzard, we cannot say for certain that our region will be affected by wildfire smoke as much as we were last year – but what we can say is that the Climate Emergency is here, now, and that we need to prepare for wildfire smoke emergencies just as much as we do for any potential weather emergency.

Our region has already begun to be affected by wildfire smoke this year, and will likely continue to be to some degree throughout the summer.

Here are several resources to bookmark or download to prep and protect your household.

All these links are also found at https://linktr.ee/cleanairwny to easily share with your peers.

• Air Monitors
  • NYS DEC’s air monitors, periodic readings throughout the day – http://www.nyaqinow.net/
  • Buffalo’s official Air Quality Index, daily average – https://www.airnow.gov/?city=Buffalo&state=NY&country=USA
  • All NYS DEC region’s AQI, daily average – https://extapps.dec.ny.gov/cfmx/extapps/aqi/aqi_forecast.cfm
  • PurpleAir’s live map – https://map.purpleair.com/1/mAQI/a10/p604800/cC0#9.14/42.953/-78.9253
  • World Air Pollution live map, includes PurpleAir, government monitors, and other consumer monitors – https://waqi.info/#/c/41.245/-71.848/6.5z
• North American Wildfire Smoke Maps
  • Canadian – https://firesmoke.ca/forecasts/current/
  • United States – https://fire.airnow.gov/
• Weather Maps
  • Wind Map, live – https://www.windy.com/?43.310,-78.555,9
  • Weather Channel for the Buffalo area
  • National Weather Service Buffalo Forecast Discussion (tip, use “ctrl-f” and search for “smoke”) –
• Protect Your Household from Wildfire Smoke
  • Instructions for how to create a DIY Air Purifier for under $50.
    • We have a few extra MERV 13 furnace filters at our office if cost is a barrier – contact one of our organizers for more info.
  • Instructions for how to create a clean room
  • Wear a mask when the AQI is poor – the same masks that will provide some degree of  protection from respiratory diseases like COVID will also provide some limited degree of protection from smoke as compared to no mask at all.
    • We have a limited stock of N-95 and surgical masks available at our office – contact one of our organizers for more info.

Take Action

As advocates for environmental justice, we believe in taking action not only to protect ourselves and our community against the acute harms of climate change and extractive industries, but also to take action to combat the core causes for the climate crisis and fight for a Just Transition, which is one of the reasons Clean Air is a member of NY Renews and supports the Climate, Jobs and Justice bill package.

Our NY representatives from Western New York need to hear from you, because they are hearing from fossil fuel interests – take a moment to send a note in favor of the NY Heat Act and the Climate Superfund Act. The 2024 session is scheduled to end June 6.

• Via Renewable Heat Now – Cleaner Heat, Lower Bills: Help Pass the NY HEAT Act!
• Via NYPIRG – Tell Governor Hochul to support the Climate Change Superfund Act!

If you are interested in getting further engaged with NY Renews through the Clean Air Coalition, please email Bridge.

Please take a moment to sign the No New Jails petition that our dear friends at Black Love Resists in the Rust are sponsoring. 

Read more at https://linktr.ee/nonewjailec, and donate to BLRR by clicking here.

On a warm sunny Saturday afternoon two years ago today, a white nationalist terrorist, homegrown right here in NY, walked into the Tops grocery store at Jefferson and Utica on Buffalo’s East Side with an AR-15-style semi-automatic rifle. He shot 13 people, murdering 10, and terrorizing and traumatizing an entire community.

We mourn those we lost – 

• Celestine Chaney, 65
• Roberta A. Drury, 32
• Andre Mackniel, 53
• Katherine Massey, 72
• Margus D. Morrison, 52
• Heyward Patterson, 67
• Aaron Salter Jr., 55
• Geraldine Talley, 62
• Ruth Whitfield, 86
• Pearl Young, 77

We also remember, support and center the survivors and their families who are still recovering two years later. 

We mourn, and we are angry. 

Two years later, what has changed? 

This is not, by any means, the first white supremacist terrorist attack, that stemmed from the racial inequities of Upstate, nor the first that targeted Black folk in Buffalo and our region. Notably, Timothy McVeigh was raised in Niagara County. The Southern Poverty Law Center tracks several currently active white nationalist organizations from the areas he grew up.

Also notably, Black communities in WNY and upstate have been terrorized systemically through both direct and indirect acts of violence.

Every single mortgage denied to a Black family, every insurance company that designates predominantly Black areas as “too high risk” to insure affordably, every junkyard allowed next to a school or residential neighborhood, every property contaminated by industrial dumping, every industry that offers Black employees a lower wage and every single act of physical police violence is a form of white supremacist terrorism that business and elected leaders choose to take or passively allow and that residents of Buffalo’s East Side awaken to every single day.

We do not need roundtables of business and elected leaders to wring their hands and talk about how to better include Black residents in their flawed white supremacist systems. 

We need business leaders to stop opposing progressive changes that may undermine their shareholder profits but will build a better world that no longer relies on the exploitation of Black, Brown, and working class folk. 

We need our elected leaders to make policy changes that will force system changes to bring an end to white supremacy. 

As Mother Jones told us, pray for the dead and fight for the living.