Atlantic Chapter

Welcome to the Atlantic Chapter's website - learn more about the work we are doing to protect New York's air, water, communities, and remaining wild places!

• Sierra Club's Opposition to the CLCPA (Climate Law) Rollbacks

  • We strongly oppose the reported proposed deal on CLCPA rollbacks in the budget that would undermine New York’s progress towards clean, affordable energy that secures our energy future and protects communities from deadly pollution. We call on the legislature to reject the Governor’s latest proposal to gut the climate law and advocate for binding targets, near-term pollution reductions, increased safeguards for overburdened communities, and accelerating clean energy deployment to advance energy affordability.
  • This is not a negotiation. It’s a manufactured crisis deployed in an election year. Our recent op-ed in the Times Union outlines the political choice being made to avoid accountability to a lawsuit and coerce the legislature into becoming accomplices in rewriting the climate law under the guise of protecting New Yorkers or risk being perceived as willing to sacrifice them to higher energy bills for the sake of climate progress. This is at the very least disingenuous, at worst, simply propaganda.
  • Read our full letter here.
     

• Tell Lawmakers: Protect SEQRA and the Climate in the Budget

  • This is a very dangerous time for New York’s environment. The Trump administration has severely undermined foundational laws that protect clean air and water and has thwarted our efforts to fight climate change by blocking clean energy projects and deregulating carbon emissions. We need New York lawmakers to push back and protect the health and safety of our communities - because Trump’s agenda is costing us our future.
  • But instead of standing strong, Governor Hochul has aligned herself with Trump’s policies by approving once dead fracked gas pipelines New Yorkers do not need and cannot afford, issuing permits to dirty cryptocurrency mines once deemed in violation of our Climate Law, and suspending other laws that would advance emissions free buildings - all prolonging our dependence on expensive fossil fuels. And these giveaways to big polluters are just the start. Will you ask your legislative leaders to push back on Governor Hochul's reckless assault on our environmental laws? Take action today!
     

• New mini-documentary from the Sierra Club Atlantic Chapter shows how upstate NY towns are taking the lead in fighting the spread of toxic sewage sludge on farmland in NYS

  • Dangerous PFAS “forever chemicals” are found in sewage sludge, the solids left over from wastewater treatment plants, yet the NYS Department of Environmental Conservation allows big companies to dump them on farmland and golf courses in the state, billing it as fertilizer. Working with the Sierra Club Atlantic Chapter's Farm & Food Committee, Documentarian Alexa Tumbarello interviewed neighbors in the towns of Thurston and Cameron, NY (Steuben County), as well as impacted community members in Albany county. These community members took on the big companies like Casella Organics - who spread toxic sewage sludge on nearby farmland - and these community members are continuing to fight for the health of streams and fresh groundwater -- and themselves -- even as some neighbors’ wells are shown to be contaminated.  

• Sierra Club Atlantic Chapter's Statement in Response to Governor Hochul's Plan to Build New Nuclear in Central New York (June 23, 2025)

  • Sierra Club Decries Governor Hochul's Plan to Spend Billions Developing New "Advanced" Nuclear Energy in New York
  • Read full statement here

Click here to take action on important issues in NYS!