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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.

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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.

Summer means it’s canvassing and festival season! We plan to kick off our summer outreach with the Pride Parade on June 2, and continue over the next several months. Sign up to volunteer with us using these links!

• Buffalo Pride Parade – Justice Movement Bloc
• All festivals and canvasses

Our Tonawanda Tomorrow Team was in the Buffalo News yesterday discussing the updates to Tonawanda’s zoning code! Click here to read the coverage, and join us this coming Monday May 6 at our Spring Tonawanda Community Meeting to talk with other area residents about environmental justice concerns in the area!

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Last night, Clean Air rallied with drag performer Freddie Hercury to raise public awareness of deficiencies we have identified with the draft zoning amendment, as well as to drive attendance at the public hearing on the draft.

While the town board did vote to move forward with the draft as written, members of the Town’s staff, board, and the consultant team did concede that there needs to be immediate follow-up to address issues we and members of the public raised. In particular, definition of “Adult Cabaret Entertainment” that was carried over from the former draft was identified by town staff as “antiquated and illegal wording” in their response to the public comments.

All agreed that this is a living document that will be built on, so our work continues, in the Town and beyond. Town staff also noted that the Comprehensive Plan will be revised this year, so many of our larger policy asks could also be codified as part of that process. If you are interested in joining our advocacy work for equitable and just development in our membership area, particularly the Tonawandas, please reach out to Bridge about our Tonawanda Tomorrow Team.

The audio recording of last night’s hearing and meeting is available by clicking here, and video of our rally is below, as are photos from the entire evening. Further down is the text from our press release.

Press Release, April 9, 2024

Clean Air Coalition Rallies with Drag Performer to Alert Public About Deficiencies in the Town of Tonawanda Draft Zoning Code

Town to Hold Public Comment Hearing Tonight on Draft Code After Rally

Kenmore, NY: The Clean Air Coalition of WNY rallied today, April 9, 2024, prior to the Town of Tonawanda Town Board meeting to alert the general public of a public comment hearing the Town held on the draft Comprehensive Zoning Law Amendment, as well as to flag some deficiencies in the draft zoning code that they found.

Clean Air highlighted how this is a prime opportunity passing by to add protections in the zoning code for residents who live in areas currently zoned for industry, such as residents who live adjacent to the former Tonawanda Coke facility. 

Adding these protections would also bring the code into alignment with recent state legislation, such as the Cumulative Impacts bill which was signed into law in December 2022 and which requires municipalities and regulatory agencies to consider whether a neighborhood is bearing a disproportionate pollution burden due to inequitable siting of industrial facilities, such as census tracts 83 and 84, which are home to six Title V facilities that lie within 2000 feet of residential areas, such as the Sheridan-Parkside neighborhood.

As Clean Air’s Board Chair and former Tonawanda Town Engineer James Jones (he/him) noted,

“Opportunities like this to rewrite and update our zoning codes extensively only come along once in a generation for the most part. We should take advantage as fully and completely as possible to instill best practices related to our environment, our mobility and our economic future together as a community. This draft falls short on many of the recommendations our organization has put forth with respect to these metrics.”

Clean Air also noted that some discriminatory language from the prior version of the zoning ordinance, originally written in the 1940s, has been carried forward into this version. Of note, the definition of “Adult Entertainment Cabaret” largely bans drag performances in all areas of the Town except those zoned Industrial. Clean Air invited local drag performer, Freddie Hercury (he/they), to join the rally and hold a drag story hour to protest the continued restrictions. Freddie Hercury said

“Drag is so much more than the sterile wording of long outdated laws would have people believe. Drag is hope, drag is joy, drag is art, and drag, quite literally, saves lives.”

Clean Air is also extremely concerned about the shortcomings in the town’s public outreach and engagement process to date. As Tonawanda resident Melissa Hubbard (she/her) noted, 

“I’m here tonight because I care about Tonawanda, but I know that there are many residents who care just as deeply but could not be here. I call on our Town Board to create more opportunities for residents to talk with one another about zoning and how it impacts the Town. Everyone who lives in Tonawanda should have an opportunity to participate in this process. To me, that’s what democracy looks like.”

The Clean Air Coalition of WNY calls on the Town of Tonawanda Town Board to work in partnership to continue to amend the code with a focus on environmental justice and equity, and to take swift action through separate legislation to address the deficiencies identified.

For more information, please contact Clean Air’s Environmental Justice Organizer for our Tonawanda-area campaigns, Bridge Rauch, (they/them) at bridge@cacwny.org.