Photo by Virginia State Parks. Creative Commons license Attribution 2.0 Generic (CC BY 2.0). https://www.flickr.com/photos/37922399@N05/52749816654. Image description: Closeup of a Scarlet Tanager, a bird with a bright red body and black wings and eyes, perched on a branch, with many crisscrossing gray branches and greenery blurring in the background.
Action Alert - May 17, 2024
Background info
The STAMP developer, Genesee Economic Development Corporation (GCEDC), would have you think that this planned mega industrial site is already a cleared brownfield, poised and ready for heavy manufacturing tenants. GCEDC’s promotional materials also suggest that Niagara Falls is visible from the site and that the Canadian border is a stone’s throw away.
These impressions are dangerously false advertising. Today, we are calling on you to take action in defense of the current reality of the “STAMP site” - a spectacular oasis of irreplaceable ecological and cultural value.
Far from the wasteland described by GCEDC, the site comprises 1,200 acres of gently rolling farmland, criss-crossed by small streams, pocketed with lush wetlands and graced with dense stands of oaks, firs, and white pine overtopping a remarkably biodiverse understory of flora and fauna. Moreover, this site abuts not Niagara Falls but rather the Tonawanda Seneca Nation Big Woods, an extraordinary old growth forest long cared for by the Nation’s citizens. What beings make their home on this verdant piece of land, nestled next to the Iroquois National Wildlife Refuge, the Tonawanda Wildlife Management Area, and the Tonawanda Seneca Nation?
While nearby biosurveying conducted in 2018 and 2020 indicates the presence of unparalleled biodiversity, we may never know the full extent of these ecological riches. Why not? STAMP developer GCEDC refuses to let scientists access the site. That’s right: since 2023, the Tonawanda Seneca Nation has been asking GCEDC to allow scientists from the State University of New York (SUNY) to visit the site for additional surveying. GCEDC has repeatedly blocked these botanists, ornithologists, and other biologists from doing their job of inventorying the local biodiversity.
Most recently, GCEDC’s lawyer informed the Nation that a data center company now has exclusive rights to access a large portion of the site - in order to explore possibilities for siting a habitat-destroying facility there. Is this hypocrisy outrageous, or what?
The Buffalo News Editorial Board recently called out the threat to the environment posed by STAMP, noting that permits issued by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and NYS Department of Environmental Conservation facilitated massive spills of toxic drilling fluid by STAMP’s developer - despite GCEDC’s strident claims that the pipeline posed absolutely no chance of spilling. GCEDC’s similar claim that plant and animal species on the STAMP site have been exhaustively surveyed ring hollow under these circumstances.
To understand what STAMP might destroy, we need to know what’s there now. Call on GCEDC to stop hiding and let the scientists do their job. Keep scrolling for how to take action.
Here’s how to take action: Let’s call on the Genesee County Economic Development Corporation Board of Directors and brand-new CEO Mark Masse to let the SUNY scientists do their job!
To:
Mark Masse, CEO of the GCEDC
Peter Zelif, GCEDC Board of Directors Chairman
Matthew Gray, GCEDC Board of Directors Vice Chair
Paul Battaglia, GCEDC Board of Directors Member
Chandy Kemp, GCEDC Board of Directors Member
Katherine Manne, GCEDC Board of Directors Member
Craig Yunker, GCEDC Board of Directors Member
Marianne Clattenberg, GCEDC Board of Directors Legislative Liaison
Sample email text
To:
[email protected]
[email protected]
[email protected]
[email protected]
[email protected]
[email protected]
[email protected]
[email protected]
Bcc: [email protected]
From:
<Your email address>
Subject: Let the SUNY scientists do their job!
Dear Mark, Peter, Matthew, Paul, Chandy, Craig, Kathleen, and Marianne,
I just learned that GCEDC continues to deny requests from the Tonawanda Seneca Nation for SUNY scientists to conduct biosurveying on the STAMP site. This is outrageous!
I demand that GCEDC immediately allow the scientists to access the site and DO THEIR JOB.
Sincerely,
<Your name and address>
Background info
The STAMP developer, Genesee Economic Development Corporation (GCEDC), would have you think that this planned mega industrial site is already a cleared brownfield, poised and ready for heavy manufacturing tenants. GCEDC’s promotional materials also suggest that Niagara Falls is visible from the site and that the Canadian border is a stone’s throw away.
These impressions are dangerously false advertising. Today, we are calling on you to take action in defense of the current reality of the “STAMP site” - a spectacular oasis of irreplaceable ecological and cultural value.
Far from the wasteland described by GCEDC, the site comprises 1,200 acres of gently rolling farmland, criss-crossed by small streams, pocketed with lush wetlands and graced with dense stands of oaks, firs, and white pine overtopping a remarkably biodiverse understory of flora and fauna. Moreover, this site abuts not Niagara Falls but rather the Tonawanda Seneca Nation Big Woods, an extraordinary old growth forest long cared for by the Nation’s citizens. What beings make their home on this verdant piece of land, nestled next to the Iroquois National Wildlife Refuge, the Tonawanda Wildlife Management Area, and the Tonawanda Seneca Nation?
While nearby biosurveying conducted in 2018 and 2020 indicates the presence of unparalleled biodiversity, we may never know the full extent of these ecological riches. Why not? STAMP developer GCEDC refuses to let scientists access the site. That’s right: since 2023, the Tonawanda Seneca Nation has been asking GCEDC to allow scientists from the State University of New York (SUNY) to visit the site for additional surveying. GCEDC has repeatedly blocked these botanists, ornithologists, and other biologists from doing their job of inventorying the local biodiversity.
Most recently, GCEDC’s lawyer informed the Nation that a data center company now has exclusive rights to access a large portion of the site - in order to explore possibilities for siting a habitat-destroying facility there. Is this hypocrisy outrageous, or what?
The Buffalo News Editorial Board recently called out the threat to the environment posed by STAMP, noting that permits issued by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and NYS Department of Environmental Conservation facilitated massive spills of toxic drilling fluid by STAMP’s developer - despite GCEDC’s strident claims that the pipeline posed absolutely no chance of spilling. GCEDC’s similar claim that plant and animal species on the STAMP site have been exhaustively surveyed ring hollow under these circumstances.
To understand what STAMP might destroy, we need to know what’s there now. Call on GCEDC to stop hiding and let the scientists do their job. Keep scrolling for how to take action.
Here’s how to take action: Let’s call on the Genesee County Economic Development Corporation Board of Directors and brand-new CEO Mark Masse to let the SUNY scientists do their job!
To:
Mark Masse, CEO of the GCEDC
Peter Zelif, GCEDC Board of Directors Chairman
Matthew Gray, GCEDC Board of Directors Vice Chair
Paul Battaglia, GCEDC Board of Directors Member
Chandy Kemp, GCEDC Board of Directors Member
Katherine Manne, GCEDC Board of Directors Member
Craig Yunker, GCEDC Board of Directors Member
Marianne Clattenberg, GCEDC Board of Directors Legislative Liaison
Sample email text
To:
[email protected]
[email protected]
[email protected]
[email protected]
[email protected]
[email protected]
[email protected]
[email protected]
Bcc: [email protected]
From:
<Your email address>
Subject: Let the SUNY scientists do their job!
Dear Mark, Peter, Matthew, Paul, Chandy, Craig, Kathleen, and Marianne,
I just learned that GCEDC continues to deny requests from the Tonawanda Seneca Nation for SUNY scientists to conduct biosurveying on the STAMP site. This is outrageous!
I demand that GCEDC immediately allow the scientists to access the site and DO THEIR JOB.
Sincerely,
<Your name and address>
