Dear Allies,
November 11, 2024 marks the 230th Anniversary of the signing of the Treaty of Canandaigua - one of the most important treaties to the Haudenosaunee and remains the law of the land to this day. The treaty upholds Haudenosaunee sovereignty by establishing “a firm and permanent friendship” between the Haudenosaunee and the United States, and enshrines the right of Haudenosaunee to the “free use and enjoyment” of their lands.
Today, we join the Tonawanda Seneca Nation Council of Chiefs in calling on State and Federal officials to honor the Treaty, respect the Nation’s sovereign rights, and stop the industrial development of the WNY STAMP site on the boundary of the Nation’s reservation territory. Scroll down to take action in solidarity, then keep reading to learn more.
Construction of the WNY STAMP mega-industrial site, which lies next to and upstream from the Nation’s pristine Big Woods and waterways including Tonawanda Creek, violates this historic agreement and is being carried out without proper consultation with the Nation’s Council of Chiefs. The Nation and allies call on Federal and State officials to uphold the Treaty of Canandaigua: stop the construction of the WNY STAMP site, safeguard Nation citizens’ free use and enjoyment of their homelands, and protect the Nation’s woods and waterways from further destructive impacts.
WNY STAMP has only two tenants under construction: Plug Power, which suspended work on its green hydrogen production facility nearly a year ago, and Edwards Vacuum, which is constructing a $319 million facility slated to manufacture dry pump vacuums. Industrial activities at Plug Power and Edwards Vacuum directly threaten the health and well-being of the Nation’s citizens and homelands as well as neighboring communities and protected public lands, and undermine the Nation’s treaty protected rights to hunting and fishing.
Plug Power, which faces ongoing cash shortages, tanking stock prices and a possible federal Inspector General investigation, has “dropped the ball” at STAMP, according to STAMP developer GCEDC. The Nation, which has opposed the Plug facility from the start, calls on the Department of Energy to reject Plug’s application for tax dollars to shore up its shaky finances, and calls on Plug to shutter its facility permanently. “The hydrogen manufacturing facility should never have been sited next to the Nation in the first place,” said Tonawanda Seneca Nation citizen Grandell Logan. “Just a few hundred feet away from our treaty-protected Woods, and we are ones who will suffer from the diesel truck traffic, polluted runoff, noise, and risk of explosion that it brings.”
Likewise, the Nation demands that impacts on the Nation and its treaty rights be considered prior to any federal funding for Edwards Vacuum, and calls on Edwards to suspend construction pending this review.
Finally, the Nation rejects the claim that data centers could be constructed at STAMP without damage to Nation lands and waters protected by treaty. Recently, WNY STAMP developer GCEDC accepted applications from two data center investor groups that hope to site facilities on a 310-acre parcel of land abutting the Nation’s Big Woods and the Tonawanda Wildlife Management Area. Construction on this parcel, which contains extensive wetlands and multiple tributaries that drain onto Nation territory, would drastically alter the hydrology and ecology of the Nation’s waterways and woods.
“George Washington himself told my ancestors that our treaty rights would be secured and protected by the federal government,” said Chief Roger Hill. “We call on the United States to honor that commitment and work with the Nation to uphold the Treaty and protect Seneca rights.”
Use our one click tool below to take action! Tell key decisionmakers to honor the Treaty of Canandaigua and stop STAMP.
In solidarity,
Allies of the Tonawanda Seneca Nation
PS - If you haven’t already, send an email to NYSDEC: we demand comprehensive permitting of the WNY STAMP water transfer!
