Environmental groups, Tonawanda Seneca urge denial of STAMP permit
May 9—Local environmental advocates and members of the Tonawanda Seneca Nation of Indians are hoping to prevent Genesee County's lead economic development agency from obtaining a permit for a project that they say will have a significant impact on habitat for endangered and threatened species in the town of Alabama.
On Monday, representatives of the Western New York Environmental Alliance, the New York State Ornithological Association, Inc. and the Tonawanda Council of Chiefs called on the state Department of Environmental Conservation to reject the Genesee County Economic Development Center's application for a permit that would allow the agency to pursue development on more than 600 acres at the Science, Technology and Advanced Manufacturing Park, commonly known as STAMP.
They argue the permit should be rejected because the development area, located between Tonawanda Seneca territory and the federally protected Iroquois National Wildlife Refuge, is overwintering habitat for short-eared owls, which are on the state's endangered species list, and the northern harrier, which is considered by the state to be a threatened species.
"The Tonawanda Seneca Nation opposes this habitat destruction and would directly be impacted by it," the Tonawanda Council of Chiefs said in a statement. "The permit would allow for unmitigated incidental take on Nation lands when — inevitably — increased human presence, noise, excavation, light and traffic would disturb these species and turn them away ... We do not want our territory, people or future generations to be burdened by the negative impacts of these projects. This is a human rights issue for the Tonawanda Seneca Nation and the Haudenosaunee, who would bear a disproportionate burden from the industrialization of the land at STAMP."
Andy Mason, conservation chair of the NYS Ornithological Association, said his group has "serious concerns" about the proposal and the precedent it would set for two at-risk species in New York. He said the northern harrier and short-eared owl populations are in long-term decline and the recognized primary risk is habitat loss.
"The loss of over 600 acres of actively used habitat would have major impacts not only at the site, but statewide and even nationwide," Mason said.
The DEC has set a Thursday hearing on Genesee County's application for an "incidental take" permit.
Genesee County Economic Development Center, which is serving as the lead agency in the state environmental review process for the STAMP project, previously determined that the development would be considered a "Type 1 Action" meaning it would not have a significant impact on the environment.
In their application to the DEC, economic development officials presented what they describe as a "net conservation benefit plan" which involves setting aside a pair of fields — a 25-acre area on the southeastern portion of the industrial park and a 33-acre parcel north of the John While Wildlife Management Area — to replace wildlife habitats over a period of decades.
Environmental advocates argue that the total 58 acres in the proposed mitigation plan would not suitably restore the habitat that would be lost to development at STAMP.
They have also raised concerns about an as-yet-unannounced project that they say involves the development of a portion of the industrial park for a trucking business.
"The (Genesee County Economic Development Center) further fails to account for the indirect take impacts on public land, including an estimated daily increase of 600 diesel trucks per day on a country road and a wastewater pipeline discharging over 1MGD of effluent into Oak Orchard Creek in the Iroquois National Wildlife Refuge," said Lynda Schneekloth, a representative of the Western New York Environmental Alliance, a network of environmental advocacy groups in the region.
The DEC hearing on Genesee County's permit request held at 6 p.m. Thursday at the Town of Alabama Fire Department, 2230 Judge Road.
