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 Condemns Rollbacks of Climate Law and SEQRA In Fiscal Year 2027 NY State Budget

  • New York lawmakers and the public were given their first look at the Transportation and Economic Development (TED) section of NY’s $268.5 billion state budget, mere hours before voting, concluding a secretive and one-sided negotiation process that delayed the State’s fiscal plan by nearly two months. Among the dozens of Article VII bills within the TED are provisions that dramatically weaken New York’s landmark 2019 Climate Leadership and Community Protection Act (CLCPA) and language to exempt most housing construction from the State Environmental Quality Review Act (SEQRA). Both foundational environmental laws took years to enact, and were shaped by the input of tens of thousands of New Yorkers, significant case law, and deliberate, transparent legislative actions. Despite public outcry and initial resistance from the legislature, the governor used her significant leverage in negotiations to undermine both laws that she asserted could negatively contribute to future energy and housing affordability issues. 
  • Read our full statement here.

• 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!