The beginning of the year is always packed with amazing energy, dedication, progress, and a little heartache. Here’s a few highlights.
Green Amendments Get To Work On Data Centers
Green Amendments For The Generations—GAFTG—is working hard to help communities put Green Amendment protections to work where we have them. Pennsylvania is the first state to pass a Green Amendment and has the most advanced and well-understood language.
Data Center Friendly Legislation Proposal Cut Short.
GAFTG raised the Amendment in challenge to proposed legislation that would have undermined local independence in regulating data centers. We submitted robust comments of opposition, put out a call to action, and worked with partners to urge community members and organizations to speak out about the proposal. Responding to overwhelming opposition to a fast-tracked legislative effort, the vote for HB2151 was tabled the night before it was scheduled. We know this proposal is likely to come back, just in another form, so we remain vigilant.
Talen Data Center Rejected.
Talen Energy Supply, LLC (Talen Energy) was urging the Montour County Commissioners to rezone over 800 acres of land from farming- to industrial-use in order to clear the way for an Amazon data center. The community turned out in force to oppose. GAFTG joined them, bringing forth written comments and testimony emphasizing that the requested rezoning approval, which lacked critical information about the project, could not and should not be approved, based on the protections provided by the Pennsylvania Green Amendment. Our Green Amendment message is breaking through, because at least 3 other testifiers quoted their Green Amendment rights when urging rejection of the request.
On February 10th, the Montour County Commissioners unanimously voted NO to the Talen Energy rezoning request, stopping the project in its tracks.
Data Center-Green Amendment Guide on the Horizon
GAFTG is hard at work on a Green Amendment Data Center guidance document to help communities understand and exercise their Green Amendment rights when challenging proposed data centers or harmful legislation designed to power data centers at the expense of our communities and environment. We’ll let you know as soon as this important new resource is available.
Connecticut Progress Continues to Grow
The Connecticut CTERA coalition hit the ground running with a successful series of trainings and in-person town halls. Every event was well-attended and very engaging—we even saw spontaneous pop-ups from interested legislators and town council members. The tour, which spanned two weeks, included a talk to a graduate studies class and a meeting with the CT Attorney General’s office. We are looking forward to seeing what comes next.
Hawai’i Secures a Unanimous Vote
The Hawai’i Green Amendment got an early hearing before the Senate Committee on Agriculture and Environment and passed with unanimous support (3 ayes, 1 aye with reservations, 0 no, 1 excused). We now eagerly await the next hearing.
New Mexico Gets a Good Hearing, But Was Rolled Without a Vote
After a great hearing before the House Energy, Environment and Natural Resources Committee, which turned out a variety of compelling testifiers and featured Maya as an expert testifier via zoom, the NM Green Amendment was tabled when it became clear the committee votes weren’t there to support it. Even still, the hearing was a great showing of support from the community and our NM Coalition is already planning for a robust outreach and education campaign in the coming year.
New Green Amendment Toolkit Now Available
We released our new People’s Action Guides for uplifting the power of Green Amendments, which include one version for states with a Green Amendment and another version for states working to secure one. We held two great sessions to introduce this new tool to interested audiences, which can be viewed on our Action Platform under our Green Amendment Ambassador Program series.
But now, the exciting part comes. We are looking forward to hitting the road—literally but also figuratively via online forums—to share this toolkit with communities who are doing the work and want special programming helping them put this new tool to work for their communities.
If you are looking for a presentation to help your community better understand and use the power of Green Amendments, download the toolkit and get in touch. We look forward to helping you!
Download your free copy today: bit.ly/GAPeoplesGuide
As you can see, there is a lot of great work happening at GAFTG to secure Green Amendment protections nationwide. Green Amendments are needed now more than ever as we watch even basic protections rolled back at the federal level.
Your donations of support are key to our success. If you are able, a small donation today could yield dividends across generations.
Calling All Artists
We are looking for volunteer artists who are willing to help us with our next development project! Specifically, we are looking for someone who can draw (in your own personal style) some plants and animals that can be converted to png/jpeg files and displayed on a web page. Think trees, shrubs, eagles, fish, etc.
Anyone who is interested please reach out to us at gaftg@forthegenerations.org with an example of your work and we can tell you more about the project specifics!
Upcoming Events
Tuesday, February 24, 11:10am PT/ 1:10pm ET
Green Amendments at the Climate Solutions Now 2026 Conference
Join Maya van Rossum and other great presenters at the Climate Solutions Now 2026 Conference, running, 2/23-2/25 to explore a variety of approaches to addressing the climate crisis and environmental protection. Climate Solutions Now is presented by ICLR, the Initiative for Climate Leadership and Resilience at Cal Poly.
For more information about the conference, including speakers and tickets, go here.
Thursday, February 26, 9am to 1pm EST
Fordham Law: Environmental Law, Public Health, and the Climate Crisis: Protecting Communities in a Changing World
Green Amendments Founder Maya van Rossum will be speaking on an auspicious panel of experts. Join her and the other speakers at this great event.
In Person and on Zoom:
Register to join here
Fordham Law School
New York, NY 10023
Thursday, March 19, 6:00 pm EDT
Leading the Change: Women Shaping a Sustainable Future
Burlington County Library
5 Pioneer Blvd
Westampton, NJ 08060
The National Women’s History Alliance (NWHA) honors the women who have and are reimagining and rebuilding systems to ensure long-term sustainability- environmental, economic, educational, and societal. It recognizes the powerful leadership of women in creating a future that is rooted in equity, justice, and opportunity for all.
Registration opens Thursday, March 5th at 10:00am. Register here.
Wednesday, April 8, 12pm and 6pm ET
WEBINAR – The Pennsylvania Green Amendment: How it Works for Municipal Government, Agency Decision-making, and Legislative Action
On Zoom! Register for either the 12pm session or 6pm session.
This in-depth webinar tells all about the Pennsylvania Green Amendment– its history, language, and applications at the state and local government levels. Experts will speak specifically to Green Amendment obligations and opportunities for municipal government officials, state regulatory agencies, and state legislators, followed by a Question and Answer session. Resources will be made available during and after the webinar.
Expert speakers include…
- Maya K. van Rossum, Founder and Leader of the National Green Amendment Movement
- Kacy Manahan, Senior Attorney for Green Amendments For The Generations & Delaware Riverkeeper Network
- Devin McDougall, Supervising Senior Attorney, Clean Energy Program, Earthjustice
- Devon Guyer, Staff Attorney for Green Amendments For The Generations & Delaware Riverkeeper Network
