Over a decade ago the Genesee County Economic Development Center (GCEDC) began buying up land for a major new industrial complex near its western border, adjacent to the sovereign territory of the Tonawanda Seneca Nation. The plan was to create "shovel-ready" sites for companies that would locate there to capitalize on anticipated federal and state subsidies for microchip, green energy and climate resilience projects. It would be called STAMP--a "Science, Technology and Advanced Manufacturing Park." So far the STAMP plan has received over $400M in public subsidies including large-scale infrastructure improvements designed for the mega-industrial site the GCEDC envisioned.
Even before any tenants committed, they began building infrastructure based on this hope including a pipeline to bring STAMP 6 MGD of water from Niagara, and another to carry 6 MGD of STAMP wastewater away--across the Iroquois National Wildlife Refuge to discharge into Oak Orchard Creek in Orleans County. Both the Tonawanda Seneca Nation and Orleans County initiated lawsuits against the US Fish and Wildlife Service and Genesee County based on lack of jurisdiction and consultation. In late April 2024, the USFWS pulled the permit for the wastewater pipeline, but the GCEDC presses on.
The only tenant who actually has begun to build on the 1,260-acre STAMP site is Plug Power, maker of hydrogen fuel cells. But even with over $300M in taxpayer subsidies on the promise of 68 jobs, Plug reports "substantial doubt about its ability to continue as a going concern." In terms of nearby workforce, supply chains and markets, a State smart growth analysis failed STAMP, calling it "a poster child of location inefficiency."
The STAMP site is surrounded by the 10,000-acre Iroquois National Wildlife Refuge (INWR), by another 10,000 acres of state wildlife management areas, and by the 7,500-acre territory belonging to the Tonawanda Seneca Nation (TSN) whose stewardship over the centuries has kept the land productive and resilient. Their Big Woods provides food and medicine to the Nation and to Haudenosaunee from across New York State who come here to hunt and collect medicine plants. A DEC wildlife manager who was a principal force in creating the INWR called this area "the most productive inland wetland complex in the eastern half of the United States." Land use planners considering the growing need for viable wildlife habitat and connectivity have designated it as part of an Eastern Wildway--a critical link in a corridor of protected land from the Gulf of Mexico to Maine.
The Western New York Environmental Alliance along with 28 affiliate groups and 160 individuals sent a "Rethink STAMP" letter to federal, state and local decision-makers who have a role in this project (see attached). The letter asks them to consider the value of this site in an age of species extinctions, biodiversity loss, climate change, and the particular importance of this area to our natural and cultural heritage.
Our "Rethink STAMP" campaign is about all of us working together to help our local, regional, state and federal decision makers understand the value of these existing land uses in Western New York--uses that truly support green energy, climate resilience and biodiversity. When biologists like Douglas Tallamy and E.O. Wilson tell us that only 5% of the lower 48 states remains natural land and that biodiversity is plummeting for lack of viable habitat, we the people need to speak up. We must talk with our public officials, publish editorials in local news outlets, defend the places where we live, and offer another way forward.
Here are some things you can do:
Even before any tenants committed, they began building infrastructure based on this hope including a pipeline to bring STAMP 6 MGD of water from Niagara, and another to carry 6 MGD of STAMP wastewater away--across the Iroquois National Wildlife Refuge to discharge into Oak Orchard Creek in Orleans County. Both the Tonawanda Seneca Nation and Orleans County initiated lawsuits against the US Fish and Wildlife Service and Genesee County based on lack of jurisdiction and consultation. In late April 2024, the USFWS pulled the permit for the wastewater pipeline, but the GCEDC presses on.
The only tenant who actually has begun to build on the 1,260-acre STAMP site is Plug Power, maker of hydrogen fuel cells. But even with over $300M in taxpayer subsidies on the promise of 68 jobs, Plug reports "substantial doubt about its ability to continue as a going concern." In terms of nearby workforce, supply chains and markets, a State smart growth analysis failed STAMP, calling it "a poster child of location inefficiency."
The STAMP site is surrounded by the 10,000-acre Iroquois National Wildlife Refuge (INWR), by another 10,000 acres of state wildlife management areas, and by the 7,500-acre territory belonging to the Tonawanda Seneca Nation (TSN) whose stewardship over the centuries has kept the land productive and resilient. Their Big Woods provides food and medicine to the Nation and to Haudenosaunee from across New York State who come here to hunt and collect medicine plants. A DEC wildlife manager who was a principal force in creating the INWR called this area "the most productive inland wetland complex in the eastern half of the United States." Land use planners considering the growing need for viable wildlife habitat and connectivity have designated it as part of an Eastern Wildway--a critical link in a corridor of protected land from the Gulf of Mexico to Maine.
The Western New York Environmental Alliance along with 28 affiliate groups and 160 individuals sent a "Rethink STAMP" letter to federal, state and local decision-makers who have a role in this project (see attached). The letter asks them to consider the value of this site in an age of species extinctions, biodiversity loss, climate change, and the particular importance of this area to our natural and cultural heritage.
Our "Rethink STAMP" campaign is about all of us working together to help our local, regional, state and federal decision makers understand the value of these existing land uses in Western New York--uses that truly support green energy, climate resilience and biodiversity. When biologists like Douglas Tallamy and E.O. Wilson tell us that only 5% of the lower 48 states remains natural land and that biodiversity is plummeting for lack of viable habitat, we the people need to speak up. We must talk with our public officials, publish editorials in local news outlets, defend the places where we live, and offer another way forward.
Here are some things you can do:
- Learn more about this bioregion
- Send a to your nearest elected official or agency head letting them know this project has progressed under the radar for far too long (see the letter WNYEA sent to elected officials as an example)
- Share our flyer! Contact the WNYEA ([email protected]) and the Allies of the Tonawanda Seneca ([email protected]) to receive email alerts and help us keep track of progress
- Use the contacts below to access background materials and to contact media and political groups.
- Contacts for State Senate Native American Relations Sub-Committee (list vetted April 2024)
- Local news outlet:
- Rochester Democrat and Chronicle
- Lockport Union-Sun Journal
- Batavia Daily News
- Orleans Hub (guidelines), then email letter to [email protected]
- Albany Times Union (guidelines), then email letter to [email protected]
- The Buffalo News