{
"type": "rich",
"version": "1.0",
"provider_name": "Action Network",
"provider_url": "https://actionnetwork.org",
"html": "",
"author_name": "Clean Air Coalition of WNY",
"author_url": "https://actionnetwork.org/groups/clean-air-coalition-of-wny",
"title": "Please build for renewable energy projects, not data centers",
"thumbnail_url": "https://actionnetwork.org//images/generic_facebook.jpg",
"description": "Ontario Specialty Contracting has a great business doing a community service by cleaning up industrial brownfield sites to bring rotting contaminated properties back into productive use. While we may disagree about the use of the state taxpayer funded Brownfield program for industrial clean-ups when the Superfund program is funded by the fines on polluters, we do genuinely appreciate seeing toxic contaminated industrial sites cleaned up, removing public health hazards and helping to restore our communities. Unfortunately, while OSC is sometimes supportive of renewable energy projects for some of the industrial sites they revitalize, at others, like the Riverview Innovation Tech Campus at the former Tonawanda Coke, they build for hyperscale data centers. We are writing to OSC leadership to urge them to instead pivot fully into building for renewable energy projects, like solar generation and battery storage, and cease developing hyperscale data centers, at least until the state of NY passes regulations for this industrial sector. A parallel corporation to OSC, Viridi Parente, builds battery storage for industrial purposes, and we are pushing OSC and VP to lean into this relationship for the benefit of the public grid, rather than developing hyperscale data centers and battery storage for data centers, which under the present regulatory framework (or lack thereof) does not fit with our vision for a just transition. The State of NY is seeking partners to help build renewable energy projects through NYPA - hundreds of millions in funding is available. We believe renewable power generation and storage is a win-win for their bottom line and the community vision of a just, equitable, and sustainable future for Western New York's economy. A vision of a restored Tonawanda Coke site serving public benefit as renewable energy generation and storage for the grid would not only serve as a generative use that would directly create hundreds of permanent good paying union jobs in our community, but also inspire people both locally and globally for what not only possible, but achievable now with current renewable energy technologies.",
"url": "https://actionnetwork.org/letters/eee508c0d17a5ea8a8566fe8e309ae27cbd6f972"
}