NYS DEC Commissioner Basil Seggos Stepping Down
Earlier this week NYS Department of Environmental Conservation Commissioner, Basil Seggos, announced he would be stepping down. Seggos has served in this role since 2015.
Seggos’ legacy is a mixed one, as journalist Peter Mantius notes. At our office we have a cardboard cut out of Seggos that we used in a public meeting in early 2020 to call out the parceling up of the Tonawanda Coke site to shift much into the Brownfield program, despite Honeywell Corporation’s clear role as a Potentially Responsible Party for the whole site.
While the final decision on this and other issues rests on the commissioner’s shoulders, ultimately this and other failings of DEC are due to systemic legislative policy decisions that prioritize corporate profits over public health and environmental justice, not just the decisions of one person – we need legislative reforms to shift these systems, such as changes to the Brownfield Clean-up Program.
The Brownfield Clean-up Program Needs Reforms
Members of the Buffalo Building and Construction Trades Council rallied last week at the Wood & Brooks construction site on Kenmore Ave in Tonawanda to bring attention to a loophole in statewide prevailing wage laws. The law currently includes exemptions for projects that receive historic tax credits or brownfield tax credits.
In related news, the New York State Department of Taxation and Finance also recently shared the findings of a report on return on investment for these and other tax credit programs, and found that the Brownfield Program is currently returning only 11 cents per dollar spent, although the report also notes that researchers did not study other positive impacts like community environmental and public health or even the economics of reactivating these vacant parcels. We would love to see a more targeted study that examines these topics in particular, but we wager that taxpayers are not getting the full benefits from this program that we could be receiving.
Overall, the NYS brownfield tax credit program is in need of reform, not only to address the prevailing wages loophole, but also to strengthen community oversight of these remediations through Community Advisory Group and to direct the funds better towards downtown redevelopments that do not have clear parties responsible for the pollution. Far too often, we have seen large large industrial parcels which are still connected with polluters responsible for the contamination (Potentially Responsible Parties, or PRPs) placed in the brownfield program with taxpayer dollars subsidizing the clean up rather than these large corporations.
In early 2022 we co-sponsored a letter to legislators asking them to include these reforms to the Brownfield Clean-up Program which was signed by labor and community groups from all across the state. Unfortunately these reforms did not make it into the final version of the law, but it has spurred conversations in Albany and these changes can be added through legislation.
We applaud our friends in labor for continuing to raise awareness of these issues, and will share more on this issue in the future, including how you can support calls for change. If you would like to join the fight for these changes, please reach out to Chris.
Meet our 2024 Board Candidates!
We are excited to provide our members the opportunity to make their voices heard by voting on the 2024 Slate of Candidates for the Board of Directors. Answers from the Board Candidate Application are listed below so you can get to know our candidates. Cast your vote by our Annual Meeting on February 27. In order for your vote to count you must be a current dues paying member. This means you have made a financial contribution to Clean Air in the last calendar year and reside within our membership areas. Members can vote in 3 different ways; in person at the Annual Meeting, by mailing in your paper board ballot you will receive in the mail if you are a current member, or online by clicking the link here. You can register to attend the Annual Meeting here. Food, non alcoholic drinks, and childcare will be provided.
Board Candidate Name: Bryan Shepard
Why would you like to serve as a member of Clean Air’s Board of Directors? To increase community activism regarding environmental justice issues.
What skills, knowledge (learned or lived!) or experiences can you offer to the organization as a member of our Board? As a labor activist, environmental & safety issues directly affect our labor union constituency. I’ve learned that environmental justice will only come about if we demand it.
It is crucial that the Clean Air Board reflect the diversity of the communities that we are rooted in. The Board should be inclusive in terms of age, race/ethnicity, sex, faith/religion, ability, gender identity/expression, sexual orientation, social economic status, and more- just as our membership is. Please tell us about how you would support Clean Air in reflecting and embracing the diversity of the community. Enlighten community members to the fact that environmental justice affects everyone. We should look to increase membership in all communities across WNY.
Board Candidate Name: Xavier Eddy
Why would you like to serve as a member of Clean Air’s Board of Directors? I believe building grassroots power is the only way justice can be won! I’m extremely proud and impressed with the work Clean Air does, and I believe I can bring some fresh perspective and strategy to our organization.
What skills, knowledge (learned or lived!) or experiences can you offer to the organization as a member of our Board? Hopefully a lot! As a “professional” organizer, I’ve organized in geographically and culturally diverse regions across the country. I’ve been involved in Labor, Racial Justice, anti-imperialist, and Environmental Justice fights across half this country. I was heavily involved with a few Environmental Justice Organizations across the south and particularly in Cancer Alley in Louisiana. I also have an academic background in strategic corporate research and it’s role in successful campaigns, as well as experience review building permits, environmental permits, etc in construction. I also have experience as a street medic, and in organizing rallies and marches.
What do you hope to learn or try on as a Clean Air Board Member? I hope to deepen my connections with the various communities of WNY, and better my skills on the fundraising side of things.
One of the ways that we ask board members to do “the work” with Clean Air is to assist us in fundraising efforts. Are you open to inviting others to join our work by becoming a member or supporter? Are you open to learning more about fundraising and trying it on? Absolutely! I already am a member and would love to see us expand our membership to be even more dues based but am willing to assist in any form of fundraising.
It is crucial that the Clean Air Board reflect the diversity of the communities that we are rooted in. The Board should be inclusive in terms of age, race/ethnicity, sex, faith/religion, ability, gender identity/expression, sexual orientation, social economic status, and more- just as our membership is. Please tell us about how you would support Clean Air in reflecting and embracing the diversity of the community. My mentor in organizing was an old Chicano UFW organizer, and the number one thing he hammered into me was LUPE, la Union del Pueblo Entero. We must strive to build a union of the entire community. To build a truly grassroots organization, we must be both reflective of and responsive to the communities we work in and with. I’m young and queer, and grew up in Rural Poverty, and want to continue to grow a board and organization of kinfolk across all spectrums of diversity.
January/February Monthly Updates – Annual Meeting February 27 and Much, Much More!
Click here to subscribe to our monthly e-newsletter, and view this month’s edition by clicking the “Read More” link below. (more…)
Reflections on the 2024 National LGBTQ Creating Change Conference in NOLA
Bridge, our Tonawanda-area Environmental Justice Organizer, attended the National LGBTQ Task Force’s 2024 Creating Change Conference in New Orleans from January 16-20. Here’s a few of their reflections on the experience.
Organizing can be hard and at times disheartening – and, I should say, I have been feeling that more than usual lately. It’s easy to get depressed this time of year when the outdoor conditions are unpleasant and the sun only visits us for a few hours. Add to that a rather oppressive feeling of dread I have as we enter 2024, and it’s no wonder I have felt so grumpy lately.
Thankfully, returning from the Creating Change Conference, I feel much lighter and more hopeful – given that much of the conference centered on combatting the legislative attacks on the LGBTQIA+ community and the larger overarching issue of resurgent fascism and authoritarianism, you might be scratching your head wondering how.
For one, it’s just nice to be able to share space with others with very similar experiences and worldviews as you – I am an introvert, so I do not gain as much from this as others do, but I still found it extremely refreshing to not only see others doing organizing work for various movements but also be able to talk freely without pausing for explanations.
Second, to know that there are others all across the United States and around the world fighting in parallel is also not only reassuring, but also a reality check – as rough as life may be in WNY, there are folks in far more dire straits fighting back, and they need us to be doing our part to make their work easier.
Third, the Queer Climate Justice caucus session was immensely encouraging –
- To hear others sharing concerns that I have had about what is going on in their communities, and to hear ideas and projects people are proposing and actively working is assuring.
- As part of this caucus, we took a break to join NOLA-area climate and environmental justice activists, who were protesting nearby against the Americas Energy Summit, a national conference of fossil fuel interests. An earlier demonstration local activists held led to the early end of the conference, and in the says since, we’ve learned that the Biden Administration is putting a pause on pending decisions on exports of Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) to non-free trade agreement countries until the Department of Energy can update the underlying analyses for authorizations – a huge win for environmental and climate justice communities in Louisiana as well as across the nation and world. This issue has local connections as well – we’ve started to see gulf coast drilling companies begin to push to again bring back methane gas fracking to NY, this time as a false “carbon sequestration” method. By putting this pause in place, NY lawmakers may have more time to develop regulations for this dodge of the existing moratorium – but pressure will need to continue to be exerted to make this happen, as while the demand will be lessened in the short term, these fossil fuel companies will attempt to forge forward on a bet that the LNG terminals will eventually be approved.
Finally, bigger picture, it is clear that we are one organization in a much larger fight for democracy and against fascism, and it’s all ultimately tied into our need for a Just Transition. In one session I attended, I heard from organizers with BlueprintNC about how they’ve organized in the wake of a terrorist attack on electric substations in early December 2022. Although the investigation is still ongoing, all signs at this time point to a concerted and planned attack by white supremacists in response to a Drag Queen Story Hour.
I was struck by some of the parallels to what we’ve experienced in Buffalo recently – the Christmas Blizzard, which struck only a couple weeks after the attack, led to massive power outages throughout the region, particularly in the environmental justice areas we organize within, which are predominantly black and brown communities, and in most part the outages happened due to systemic underinvestment in protective housing for our substations. While overt attacks by white supremacists aimed at bringing down electrical systems is certainly an escalation, I also think that it’s worth noting that the constant acts by extractive capitalists also serve as attacks on the same communities those terrorists target – and is no less deadly.
We need to continue to forge ahead for a Just Transition despite what will be thrown our way this year and beyond.
Did you miss our pop-ed training and discussion on how to combat authoritarianism and fascism through local environmental justice organizing that we held as part of our January 2024 General Meeting? No worries! Here’s the recording, as well as links to a few of the resources referenced throughout.
https://www.commondreams.org/news/varieties-of-democracy-institute-2023
https://www.whitesupremacyculture.info/what-is-it.html
https://www.teenvogue.com/story/what-is-ecofascism-explainer
https://www.gq.com/story/donald-trump-shady-scheme-to-buy-nfl-buffalo-bills
https://grist.org/extreme-weather/boots-on-the-ground-fema-oath-keepers-natural-disaster/
Goodbye for now from Phil!
We want to give thanks to our Just Transition Organizer Phil Gambini who has moved on to a new chapter after giving us 2 incredible years of his passion, energy and care to our movement. We are proud of what Phil has accomplished and wish him well on his journey of full time education in the health care field! Please see Phil’s message below.
Dear Clean Air members and supporters,
I’m writing to you because my time at Clean Air is coming to an end. I am stepping away from my role as the organization’s just transition organizer in January. It’s a bittersweet announcement. I’m excited to be moving on to my next chapter in my life, but will be sad to leave the coworkers, supporters and members I’ve grown close to since joining the team at Clean Air.
There’s a lot to be grateful for. My tenure at Clean Air has been a deep learning experience. It has tested me, taught me and humbled me. I remain in awe of the dedication and energy of members who fight day in and day out for themselves, their people and their community. Each of them, in their own way, have their own struggles and hardships. Despite them, their drive and desire to change the world they live in for the better does not diminish. It should be a lesson to us all. It certainly is for me.
Though I am leaving Clean Air, I am not leaving the movement. My role and responsibilities will change, but my admiration for the work and the people who do it will not.
In solidarity,
Phil
January 2024 General Meeting
Join us on Wednesday January 24 from 5:30-7pm on Zoom for our first General Meeting of the year!
2024 will be a tumultuous year, with all eyes on the November election, and everyone is already feeling the related stress – join us as we discuss how organizing for environmental justice is a means to combat the rise in fascism and authoritarianism, and talk with peers about how you would like to take action. We will also review news from our current campaigns and how you can become a member or join a team.
This meeting will be online only due to weather concerns and the recent spike in respiratory illnesses. Please register to receive the link to the Zoom – https://actionnetwork.org/events/clean-air-january-2024-general-meeting
A chemical disaster occurred almost every day in 2023
Our friends at Heated, an online newsletter for “people pissed off about the climate crisis,” have some staggering news. They found that a chemical disaster occurred nearly every day last year in the U.S.
There were at least 322 hazardous chemical incidents in the U.S. in 2023, Heated found after consulting data from the Coalition to Prevent Chemical Disasters. The incident rate is up 70 percent over 2022. Of the total, 138 of the incidents caused injuries, evacuations, a shelter-in-place order or death.
“Put another way,” Heated reported, “a chemical incident caused serious consequences in the U.S. about once every two-and-a-half days in 2023.”
According to Heated, the incidents break down like this:
- Most involved fossil fuels, or products derived from them. Some 47 happened onsite at oil and gas extraction sites, while 83 happened at manufacturing locations.
- Another 48 chemical incidents occurred in transport. The most infamous among them was the East Palestine train derailment.
- At least 39 chemical incidents occurred at food and beverage storage facilities, largely due to ammonia leakage, a petrochemical responsible for approximately 1 to 2 percent of global carbon emissions.
Lives were lost, too. At least 18 people died in chemical incidents last year, Heated found.
“Lives claimed by petrochemical disasters in 2023 include a 25-year-old Illinois wrestling coach who was killed by an asphalt tank explosion; an Illinois father and his two young children who were killed by ammonia exposure after a semitruck derailed; and a 55-year-old father who was ‘burned alive’ after a ‘petrochemical event’ at the Marathon Petroleum refinery he worked at, according to a lawsuit filed by his family,” the newsletter reported.
As heartbreaking as it is to review, it’s important we have this data. The oil, gas and chemical industries routinely minimize the harm caused by toxics and the damage they do to communities.
Deidre Helms, the communications manager at environmental justice nonprofit Coming Clean, which helps manage the database where Heated sourced its information, said the chemical industry usually claims “incidents at hazardous facilities are isolated events.”
“But our data show that fires, explosions and releases involving hazardous chemicals are happening on a near daily basis,” she told Heated.
The scarier part of the data is it’s likely an underestimate. The database Heated used only tallies disasters that were reported by the media. According to Helms, that’s because government data on incidents is “very delayed, limited, and hard to find.”
Meanwhile, there are efforts to address the issues. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency is expected to finalize the Safer Communities by Chemical Accident Prevention rule this year, which would bolster safety and prevention requirements for the chemical industry. In fact, a group of Democratic lawmakers have called for the rule to be strengthened, particularly to include considerations for workers and climate disaster risk. Republicans, on the other hand, are calling for the weakening of the rule, citing “economic challenges and operational burdens” for the private sector.
According to Heated, “That rule is expected to be finalized in August—by which time the U.S. will have experienced another 200 hazardous chemical incidents; at least if the 2023 rate continues apace.”
December/January Monthly Update – Starting Off 2024 Strong, Thanks to You!
Click here to subscribe to our monthly e-newsletter, and view this month’s edition by clicking the “Read More” link below. (more…)
Buffalo News Editorial Board – “Tonawanda is justified in taking former Huntley site by eminent domain”
This is a big win – what this means is that, barring NRG appealing to the US Supreme Court, the Town of Tonawanda can finally move forward to directly claim the property and open it up for development!
The Buffalo News Editorial Board concurs, writing this week that “NRG offers little to no justification for sitting on waterfront property that could be reused to substantial community benefit” and that “With seven years elapsed and a long road of cleanup and development ahead, it’s time for NRG to step aside, and if that takes place through successful eminent domain proceedings so be it. The residents of the Town of Tonawanda have waited too long.”
Our Tonawanda Tomorrow Team has been somewhat neutral on this eminent domain claim, but is generally in favor – our biggest concern is, regardless of whoever is the owner, that all redevelopment must be done with resident leadership and a Community Benefits Agreement or other legally binding framework that prioritizes residents as well as waterfront access with the new site use.
We applaud this news, and look forward to working with the Town to ensure that these protections are included as the redevelopment process moves forward.
If you are interested in joining our Tonawanda Tomorrow Team, please contact Bridge for more information.