Tonawanda Seneca Nation, Sierra Club sue to stop massive data center at STAMP

They allege environmental reviews not properly followed by GCEDC

Press Release, Allies of Tonawanda Seneca Nation

BATAVIA – The Tonawanda Seneca Nation and the Sierra Club filed suit today in State Supreme Court in Genesee County, challenging two resolutions issued by the Genesee County Economic Development Center for the development of a massive data center at the WNY Science and Technology Advanced Manufacturing Park (STAMP) in the Twon of Alabama.

The petition states that GCEDC violated both procedural and substantive requirements of the State Environmental Quality Review Act (SEQRA) when it issued decisions that awarded subsidies of $472 million to Stream U.S. Data Centers for the development of the data center and concluded environmental review without project specifics or site plan review. The litigation names GCEDC, Stream U.S. Data Centers LLC and the Town of Alabama as defendants.

The data center would be built within 300 feet of the nearest residence and roughly one half mile from the Reservation Territory of the Tonawanda Seneca Nation, which has strongly opposed the siting of a data center at STAMP. According to Chief Kenith Dale Jonathan, “Our reservation Territory is protected by federal treaty and it is our duty to protect our Territory – the land, plants, animals, waters – for future generations… The Territory and its natural resources is all that the Nation’s citizens have – if the Territory is damaged, we will have no place to go.”

The petition shows that GCEDC failed to follow the requirement that its review of environmental impacts be based on actual plans, not mere concepts. In addition, GCEDC failed to ensure that its SEQRA review was coordinated with the Town of Alabama site plan review as required by the FGEIS it issued for STAMP. Moreover, the petition shows that GCEDC made mistakes in its review and failed to provide the careful analysis of environmental impacts required by SEQRA.

The suit aims to invalidate GCEDC’s decisions and force it to carry out a new environmental review that complies with SEQRA’s requirements. The Tonawanda Seneca Nation and the Sierra Club have also sought a Temporary Restraining Order to prevent the defendants from taking further action to advance the data center project. To date, Stream U.S. Data Centers has not completed a purchase and sale agreement for the land and the Town of Alabama Planning Board has not conducted site plan review.

If ultimately built, Stream’s data center would cover 900,000 square feet – the size of 15 football fields – and would use 250 megawatts of power per year, store and burn 60,000 gallons of diesel per year, and guzzle 10,000 gallons of water per day. Taxpayers would subsidize Stream at a cost of $472 million dollars, equivalent to $3.9 million per job.

The Tonawanda Seneca Nation, a federally recognized Indigenous Nation and part of the Haudenosaunee, has raised concerns about the STAMP mega industrial site since its inception. STAMP poses an existential threat to the people and culture of the Nation, as well as to birds, fish, deer, water, and medicinal plants in the Nation’s Big Woods, which are located adjacent to the proposed data parcel site.

In an affidavit, Chief Jonathan addressed likely impacts of the data center on the Nation’s way of life: “The construction and operation of the Project will diminish the Big Woods as a pristine hunting ground and forever change the character of the area with the additional noise, lights, pollution, and surrounding human development… Any spill or pollution event at the Project site that results in contamination to either ground or surface waters threatens the drinking water resources for the Nation and its Citizens.”

The 1,263-acre STAMP site is being constructed in the middle of a rural, agricultural area and is surrounded by a network of public protected lands that are visited each year by thousands of nature enthusiasts, who are 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 such as the Short Eared Owl.

The Sierra Club stands with the Tonawanda Seneca Nation to oppose GCEDC’s plans to turn this pristine and ecologically sensitive area into an ill-conceived and recklessly planned industrial mega-site. The data center industry is notorious around the world for its excessive noise, air pollution, excessive water use and the consumption of massive amounts of energy.

If GCEDC’s plans are effected, the diversion of 250 megawatts of renewable electricity to the data center will undermine New York’s ability to meet our climate change goals and add massive amounts of greenhouse gases and other air pollutants to the atmosphere. This environmentally precious area needs to be protected and expanded under New York’s 30 by 30 Initiative, not degraded by environmentally damaging industries.

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 the rural site proposed to become a “mega industrial park.”

Currently, Edwards Vacuum is the only tenant under construction at STAMP. Plug Power paused construction on its green hydrogen manufacturing facility in 2023, leaving a gap in financing for the onsite electrical substation; Stream U.S. Data Centers committed to covering $50 million of this gap as part of their data center proposal. According to the petition, “To fast track the development of a data center and jump start the stalled STAMP Site, the GCEDC resorted to taking shortcuts around the very environmental review standards and procedures” put in place under SEQRA.