On March 28th, twelve jurors found Tonawanda Coke and its environmental control manager Mark Kamholz guilty on violating the Clean Air Act and Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA).

The trial included testimony from over 30 witnesses, many former employees, and lasted over a month. This landmark verdict is only the second time in US history that a company has been indicted under the Clean Air Act – and has set precedent for a number of environmental cases to come.

As Judith A. Enck, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency regional administrator, said to the Buffalo News “The verdict against Tonawanda Coke Corporation and Mark L. Kamholz sends a strong message that companies and individuals can’t simply ignore environmental law and disregard people’s health.”

The verdict was years in the making for our membership. The Coalition began as just a few people sitting around a kitchen table in Tonawanda. We knocked on doors, tested the air, met with elected officials and rallied at the gates of the plant. We held the government’s fee to the fire and demanded they hold Tonawanda Coke accountable. And it worked. Tonawanda Coke was raided, the plant was indicted in federal court, and now found guilty on 14 criminal charges.

Our work is not done. On July 15th Judge William Skretny will sentence the company. The company faces $200 million in fins and Kamholz faces up to 75 years in jail. Over the last few months, our members have been working to keep a portion of the potential fines to be used for community controlled projects in Tonawanda (see the article in the Niagara Gazette).

On May 23rd at 6pm at the Boys and Girls Club (54 Riverdale Rd. by the GM plant in Tonawanda) we will be holding a meeting to hear what residents in the Tonawandas, Grand Island, and Riverside would like to use this money for in their neighborhoods. During this forum, we will explain the federally mandated criteria for potential community projects, and brainstorm real project ideas that could reduce the risks of toxins and improve the health of neighborhoods.

Also on the 23rd, a settlement leadership team will be established to fine tune each project proposal. The projects ideas will be presented in various community locations through June 15th-20th.  Residents will be able to vote on the projects. The top community identified projects will be submitted to decision makers.

This process is built off of the Participatory budgeting process. Participatory budgeting (PB) is a democratic process in which community members directly decide how to spend part of a public budget.  PB was first developed in Brazil in the 1980s as part of a larger effort to establish democracy and citizen participation after decades of military dictorship, political patronage and corruption. PB is now used throughout Latin America, a growing number of European Countries, New York City and Chicago (Learn more about PB here).

What can you do to become involved in this historic process?

1 – Come to our community meeting on May 23rd.

2 – Join the Settlement Leadership Team by calling Rebecca at 852-3813 or signing up on the 23rd.

3. Host a voting day at your local library, club or coffee shop.

4. Volunteer to turn people out to vote! We need folks to volunteer to make phone calls, hand out fliers, and help with mailings. Call our office to volunteer.

The first session of Tonawanda Reads! will be this Saturday, May 4th at the Brighton Place Library from 11:30-12:30.

To learn more about our first summer book club read here.

We will be discussing Chapter 1 and 2 at the first session, however if you have not yet read or purchased the book, don’t worry! We will catch you up. Questions? or to register email Rebecca@cacwny.org

Raising Elijah Discussion Questions:

Chapter 1:

• What part of the first chapter resonated with you the most? Why?

• On page 5, Steingraber states “Elijah Lovejoy was a persistent and uncompromising man.” Throughout the chapter, the author references social movements that oppose policies that hurt families and children. When in your life have you opposed something in an uncompromising way?

• We hear often about the dangers of smoking to pregnant women, but rarely hear about the dangers of smog, diesel fumes, “new car smell” and industrial releases. Why do you think this is? (pg 11-12).

MORE RESOURCES:

• PCB’s and Social Movements:
  • Dumping in Dixie: Race, Class and Environmental Quality. Bullard, R. D. 1990
  • The effects of PCB’s on Children’s Health – NCBI
  • Daily Freeman (April 29th 2013) Hudson River PCB Drudging Begins 4th Season
• 911 and Worker Exposure
  • Short term impacts of emergency responders – NYC.gov
  • NYCOSH – 911 Environmental Exposures: Regulatory Response and Human Health
  • CNN Health (2010) Years Later 911 Workers Still Show Decreased Lung Function

Chapter 2:

• On page 33, Steingraber asks readers the following question: “If it turns out that we, as parents, can’t easily protect our children from exposure to environmental toxins like arsenic, is it better to know about the evidence of harm? or to not know?”

• On page 43, Steingraber refers to a father who states “As soon as you know, you can’t not know.”  What are some feelings that come with “knowing”. If you were the parents of the  children who used the community center, how would you have acted?

• When Steingraber goes infront of the board of directors, why do you think the board acted the way they did? (pg 43)

• Do you see any similarities between the community center board and our local town and city government?

• Steingraber speaks to the complexity of the “web of causation and responsibility” (pg 52-52). Have you ever experienced something unjust and didn’t know who to hold accountable? Did you figure out who was responsible? If so – how? If not- would you have done anything differently?

MORE RESOURCES:

• National Children’s Study
• Toxic Chemical Safety Act
• The Multinational Monitor: The Precautionary Principle
• Poison Playgrounds: An investigation into wood treated with CCA

 

This June members of the Clean Air Coalition will join the New York State Chapter of the Sierra Club to travel to West Virginia to meet with members of The Coalfield Environmental Health Project, a community organization made up of residents  who live next to Mountain Top Removal sites in Fayetteville WV.

We will learn how residents are fighting coal companies who are stripping their land and polluting water sources near their homes with toxic chemicals.  We will share strategies, action ideas and work to build our movement that priorities people’s health.

According to the organization I Love Mountains, mountaintop removal is a relatively new type of coal mining that began in Appalachia in the 1970s as an extension of conventional strip mining techniques. Primarily, mountaintop removal is occurring in West Virginia, Kentucky, Virginia and Tennessee. Coal companies in Appalachia are using this method because it allows for almost complete recovery of coal while reducing the number of workers required.

Even government agencies that regulate mountaintop removal agree that the effects on nearby homes and communities can be devastating. In their Mid-Atlantic Regional Assessment, the Environmental Protection Agency states:

“The impact of mountaintop removal on nearby communities is devastating. Dynamite blasts needed to splinter rock strata are so strong they crack the foundations and walls of houses. Mining dries up an average of 100 wells a year and contaminates water in others. In many coalfield communities, the purity and availability of drinking water are keen concerns.”

Would you like to join the Clean Air delegation to West Virginia? Call Rebecca at 852-3813 or email her at Rebecca@cacwny.org to learn more.

There will be an informational session about the trip on Thursday, May 16^th at 6:00pm at Clean Air headquarters (341 Delaware Ave. Buffalo, NY).

Road Trip!

The Clean Air Coalition, the Coalition for Economic Justice, Heart of the City Neighborhood, and Hispanics United of Buffalo, along with our members are attending the Second International Conference on Participatory Budgeting May 3-5^th in Chicago!

Participatory budgeting (PB) is a democratic process in which community members directly decide how to spend part of a public budget.

Check out this video to learn more about PB. http://us2.campaign-archive1.com/?u=d7a76e4fc718437c43d63cba5&id=c776358063&e=a8a6e7b2cc

Back in October, Josh Lerner, ED of the Participatory Budgeting Project, along with Melissa Mark-Viverito, visited us in Buffalo to do a series of presentations to our members, partner organizations, funders, and the Buffalo Common Council. You can read about the Buffalo News’ coverage.

We are in for a weekend of panels, presentations, and workshops, from participants, organizers, and researchers of PB initiatives from across North America and the world. The conference will also include site visits to observe PB in action, and observations of the final vote for this year’s PB Chicago process.

Our members are doing their own fundraising in order to attend the conference. Please consider a donation that will allow our members to bring back knowledge and best practices for Buffalo.

If you would like more information on our plans to bring PB to Buffalo, call or email Natasha.

Stayed tune in late May for an opportunity to see PB in action! Update! PB in Tonawanda: cacwny.org/tonawanda-coke-settlement-project

On Tuesday, May 14th, join the Clean Air Coalition of WNY and Green for All – a national organization working to build an inclusive green economy strong enough to lift people out of poverty, for a Neighborhood Leader Summit– an all day long training for Movement Builders.

Topics include:

Collective story telling

Community resiliency

Collective impact

Building power from the base up

Transformational leadership

Tuesday, May 14, 2013

9 AM- 5 PM (lunch provided)
Primera Iglesia Metodista Unida
62 Virginia Street
Buffalo, NY

To RSVP, or more information, email Natasha@cacwny.org or call 852-3813.

Some of you may know that I was away in sunny Los Angeles at Greenpeace’s Non- Violent Direct Action Camp for an entire week, and if you didn’t, now you know. I took in some sun, but most importantly, I took in some climbing skills- yes, climbing!

This is the second direct action camp GP has held in the past 21 years, when they used to do them quite regularly (at least that is my understanding), and they offer 4 different tracts: Climbing, Arts in Action, Blockades, and Boating. Me, I chose climbing so that I can scale buildings a fly through downtown like Spiderman! If you are not familiar with GP they are “the leading independent campaigning organization that uses peaceful protest and creative communication to expose global environmental problems and to promote solutions that are essential to a green and peaceful future.” They work all over the world on various environmental campaigns: Protect Ancient Forests, Protecting our Oceans, Stop Global Warming, No New Nukes, Chemical Security, and Sustainable Agriculture using non-violent direct action- which is what I went  to learn.

If you are an active member of Clean Air, you know that we use actions to gain media and public attention, and to push our elected officials to act, but those actions have equated to rallies for the most part, and I think we need to shake it up! At camp, I learned how to climb on ropes and scaffolding, how to scout for an action, a little bit of stenciling and blockades, and the basics of dropping banners, and I am really excited to bring all of these skills to the Coalition.

I also learned that we have a lot of work to do if we want the environmental movement to be completely inclusive of the individuals who are most affected by environmental injustices.  The training was free and GP provided some travel stipends, but traveling to Los Angeles isn’t cheap, and I did some fundraising for it (thank you to those who donated!), the gear needed to climb and to drop banners is also expensive, not to mention the insurance needed to perform those actions, and possible bail money depending on the type of action- all of these factors add up and contribute to whom can participate.  Also, from about 160 participants at camp, there were only about 9 individuals of color, and I think that’s a problem. There was a serious disconnect between environmentalism and environmental justice throughout the week.  To me, those two things are very different, and while ultimately they are hopefully achieving the same long term goal, the means to get there look very different and GP was very intentional about admitting that they still have long strides to make to bridge that gap and to make sure that the movement is more inclusive than it has been in the past, and how it is currently.

All in all, I am very glad to have gone to camp (I also got a tan!) and to have met such great people doing amazing work, and to have come back in one piece and with great skills in my back pocket.  I will be speaking with the ladies at the office on how we can use these skills to advance our work in the future, but until now, it will be stored in my head, fermenting and juicing until we can make it our own- and it will be delicious!

You can read more about Greenpeace and Action Camp in their blog: http://greenpeaceblogs.org/2013/03/27/at-greenpeace-action-camp-a-vision-of-the-movement-we-want/

Stone Circles at Stone House- Facilitating Deeper Practices Training Retreat

Firstly, I want to express my gratitude to everyone who made a contribution in order to make it possible for me to attend the Training Retreat- THANK YOU, it was EXACTLY what I needed.

I entered Stone Circles the first day thinking that I was going to get a set of tools that I could use to make me a better facilitator, but quickly found out that it was not that type of training.
Sure, Claudia Horwitz, and Marian Urquilla presented us with tools and supplied us with handouts we should use when planning and facilitating meeting that I found extremely useful. But the deep thought and practice facilitated by Marian and Claudia was what enlightened me to why my meetings with my West Side leaders were not going as I wanted them to. So far, my takeaways from the trainings I have been to in the past are less tangible skills that I can place into my toolbox to use until they get rusty- they are more learnings about the inner workings of my persona. I find that even more relevant with Facilitating the Deeper Practices of Transformative Social Change Training Retreat (whew!) at Stone Circles where many of the activities involved meditation, reflection and journaling.

So if you’re wondering what it was that I learned whilst away- well it was simple: my group of dynamic, fearless woman warriors from the West Side is mirroring me and my behaviors all the time. Let me explain. More often than not it is far too easy to get lost in the day to day happenings of Clean Air and arrive to meetings frazzled, frustrated and far from composed and it turns out people can pick up on those feelings regardless of how well you think you are suppressing them. And I don’t mean simply “leaving your shit at the door”, but feelings of inadequacy I may be having with the work I’m doing that particular work- as you all know, it can be pretty daunting at times- gets thrown right back at me. My fearless ladies start asking me what the point of any of this is, and blame their neighbors of being apathetic when I know, they know that’s not true.

Amazing right?! Well I didn’t know these things were going on (and please pretend you didn’t either). If you are in need of a soul scrubbing, honest look into yourself that is agitational enough without being mean, I highly recommend Claudia and Marian’s work- they have a Soul Sanctuary coming up!

http://www.stonecircles.org/

As a student thinking about pursuing a career in environmental justice, interning at the Clean Air Coalition has been an amazing

opportunity, and one that I am so thankful I was able to experience before graduating from Canisius College.  For myself, at least, and for I’m sure many other interested students, working for a non-profit organization provides an attractive opportunity to obtain a career and a job working for a cause they strongly believe in. While I have been seriously considering non-profit work for some time, I had never worked extensively with or for a non-profit and had no idea what that exactly entailed. Therefore, working for

the Clean Air Coalition has been an invaluable opportunity to do just that.

Working for the Clean Air Coalition has taught me many things, namely that working for a non-profit, or working for any cause is HARD and takes a ton of work. Not that my internship was particularly stressful but just watching Erin, Rebecca, and Natasha run around the office and listening to the phone ring off the hook wa sproof enough that if you’re looking for a cushy or nice and easy job, don’t work for a non-profit. That’s not deterring me from still pursuing a career in a non-profit, however, as I know that the payoff when you are finally able to affect positive change makes up for all of the work a thousand times over.

Working for a non-profit also takes tireless energy and a positive attitude to be able to interact with all of the people whose minds you are trying to change or who would like to get involved with your cause. It takes incredible patience, especially when dealing with anything related to governmental operations. Justice by its nature is slow-moving and takes baby steps to get anywhere, and environmental justice is no exception. Appreciating the small victories is the only way that one can stay sane and not completely lose hope while working for a non-profit.

I’ve also learned that people are generally interested and excited to hear about the work that one does in a non-profit, especially one that works for the environment, since its such a popular and hot-button issue. This past weekend, for example, I had the opportunity to speak with the judge who is currently presiding over the Tonawanda Coke case; a monumental case in the history of environmental justice and one that hopefully will end up in favor of the environment and people of Tonawanda! I had a great conversation with him and learned that he considers the case to be of the utmost importance. It definitely makes working for the Clean Air Coalition more rewarding, as it provided me with hope that since so many people do care, we really can change the way people view and treat the environment.

While I unfortunately will not be in Buffalo past May to continue my internship with the Clean Air Coalition, I have learned so much in the past few months and will continue to do so until my departure. This is an amazing organization and I’m so happy to play a small role in it!

Mariel Klein, Canisus College

We are excited to announce our 2013 Lois Gibbs Fellows! This year the Coalition received a record number of applications. The following fellows were chosen to participate in this highly-selective program because  of their commitment to their community and desire to lead.

Congratulations to this years class!  Lindsay Marlow, Junnior Vidal, Irene Cederleaf, Mike Ruggiero, Yvonne Annarino, Rebecca Soto, Gayla Thompson, Alex Kuttesch, Sherman D. Webb, Tangia Delk, Will Flynn, and Sue Kelley.

The Lois Gibbs Fellowship is a 9-month program that provides citizen leaders with the tools and training to build sustained political will to improve the environment and health in Western New York neighborhoods.

The program is named in honor of Lois Gibbs, a grassroots environmental justice advocate from Western New York. She is best known for her successful campaign to relocate families living on top of a toxic waste dump in Niagara Falls. Lois Gibbs in emblematic of the program’s philosophy: ordinary individuals can make a extraordinary difference when they organize.

We believe that leadership development among a grassroots bases is critical to build an effect environmental health movement in our region. Congratulations to our 2013 Fellows! We are excited to build with you!

For more information on the Lois Gibbs Fellowship, click here. 

Dear Mr. Hoyt,

You owe the residents of the West Side an apology.  Last week the authority you chair was allowed to go ahead and demolish eight homes on Busti Avenue, and in fewer than twelve hours the homes were mere rubble.  During the coverage of this momentous event you said that you and the authority are “going to send a message [that] you’re not entering a ghetto when you cross into the great city of Buffalo.”

If the West Side is a “ghetto”, Mr. Hoyt, it is because the Public Bridge Authority has made it so.  They have owned those eight homes on Busti for more than 20 years and have let them deteriorate. They have created uncertainty in our neighborhood – no one knows what will happen in our neighborhood because the authority has been talking about expansion for the past 20 years.  Our neighborhood has been disinvested in because no one knew what the future would look like; our sidewalks are un-walkable, or streets un-drivable, and our people are un-interested. Not to mention the consistent lack of inclusion by the PBA of the residents that live adjacent to the Peace Bridge.  Because of the ambiguity and lack of transparency displayed by your authority, Mr. Hoyt, it is becoming far too easy, and far too common for my neighbors to throw their hands up in the air.

This is not what a community should be like.  Neighbors should talk to each other, they should care about each other, and they should care for their community. If the West Side, our community, is a ghetto, Mr. Hoyt, it is because the authority that you chair made it one- and we should get an apology for it.

– Natasha Soto
Organizer for the Clean Air Coalition of WNY, compiling feelings held by our West Side members

http://www.buffalonews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=%2F20130313%2FOPINION%2F130319777%2F1074