Nearly two dozen people represented by Allies of the Tonawanda Seneca Nation, Westchester members of the statewide NY Renews coalition, and other local community groups held a press conference and rally outside the New York Power Authority (NYPA) Headquarters in White Plains ahead of their Board of Trustees meeting.
Participants highlighted the failure of Governor Hochul, NYPA CEO Justin Driscoll, and the NYPA Board of Trustees to uphold the stated demands of the Tonawanda Seneca Nation regarding allocations of Niagara River low-cost hydropower to industrial tenants at the Western NY Science and Technology Advanced Manufacturing Park (STAMP) in Alabama, New York. The Tonawanda Seneca Nation, a federally recognized Indigenous Nation and member nation of the Haudenosaunee, has raised concerns about the STAMP mega-industrial site since it was first proposed. STAMP poses an existential threat to the Nation’s land, waterways, and treaty-protected rights. These concerns have been echoed by thousands of New Yorkers over the past year through emails and public comments directed to Governor Hochul, NYPA CEO Justin Driscoll, and the NYPA Board of Trustees.
The Nation requests that NYPA inform them directly when low-cost power allocation requests are made for projects at STAMP, which is located in Seneca ancestral territory adjacent to and upstream from the Nation’s treaty-confirmed Reservation Territory…