Coalition Announces 600 Signatories to Letter Opposing a Potential Plan for an Even Larger Data Center
Press release
Concerned residents are planning a rally and press conference on Saturday, November 8 in Batavia to celebrate a recent legal victory against the development of a massive data center at the WNY Science and Technology Advanced Manufacturing Park (STAMP) in Alabama, NY.
Organizers are also highlighting a sign-on letter to data center developer Stream U.S. Data Centers and its corporate parent, Apollo Global Management. The letter, which opposes plans for an even larger data center at STAMP, has been signed by more than 500 individuals and 100 organizations across New York State.
What: Rally and Press Conference to Protect Our Woods, Waters, and Way of Life
Let’s Celebrate our Victory, then Keep Fighting. ReThink STAMP NOW.
When: Saturday, November 8 from 12-1pm
Where: Batavia City Hall, 1 Batavia City Centre, Batavia, NY 14020
Saturday’s event celebrates the successful outcome of litigation by the Tonawanda Seneca Nation and the Sierra Club challenging the legality of approvals for the data center project. The petitioners recently dismissed their petition in State Supreme Court after STAMP developer Genesee County Economic Development Center (GCEDC)’s Board of Directors voluntarily retracted the challenged approvals. This victory adds to a growing record of legal success for opponents of industrial development at STAMP.
The sign-on letter to Stream and Apollo forcefully rejects GCEDC’s stated intention to consider an even larger data center project at STAMP. According to the letter, “Stream’s first proposal was met with powerful, unanimous opposition from local community members and the Tonawanda Seneca Nation…. A proposal for an even larger project would be an insult to the many people who passionately detailed the unsuitability of this site for a data center project.”
Local residents and the Tonawanda Seneca Nation have raised concerns about the STAMP mega-industrial site since it was first proposed. The 1,263 acre STAMP development is planned for a rural, agricultural area. The proposed industrial park is surrounded by a network of public protected lands visited each year by thousands of nature enthusiasts drawn to the area by ecologically rich wetlands and forests that provide critical habitat for a diversity of birds, plants, and animals, including threatened and endangered species.
The litigation victory confirms the moniker of STAMP as a ‘failing boondoggle’ and extends a lengthy track record of failures, environmental disasters, and backtracking that collectively demonstrate the so-called ‘industrial mega-site’ is not viable as currently conceived. Despite nearly twenty years of effort and more than $410 million in taxpayer subsidies, GCEDC has struggled to attract viable advanced manufacturing tenants or to construct basic infrastructure at STAMP. Currently, Edwards Vacuum is the only tenant under construction. Plug Power paused construction on its green hydrogen manufacturing facility in 2023, leaving a gap in financing for the onsite electrical substation. The company, which recently lost millions of dollars in federal funding and fired its two top executives, has never turned a profit. Stream U.S. Data Centers had committed to covering $50 million of the substation financing gap as part of their data center proposal; the status of that financing remains unclear.
For more information: alliesoftsn@gmail.com