GA Advocacy

Since 2017, Green Amendments For The Generations has been helping East Whiteland Township, Chester County, PA community members to advocate for their environmental rights. The focus has been to secure clean up – by wealthy responsible corporations – of the long ignored toxic contamination at the site, and to support community members in their endeavor to secure this site as protected natural open space.

The Bishop Tube Site is a former metals processing plant.  The site is bordered by Little Valley Creek, an Exceptional Value stream. Portions of the site are wooded and include wetlands that are also deemed Exceptional Value.

Due to the actions and decisions of the site’s industry owners, the site is supersaturated with dangerous toxins, including TCE and PFAS contaminants. Toxins are found in the soils, the groundwater and the neighboring creek. The Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection has known about the contamination since at least 1985; and has had the legal authority to hold responsible corporations (very wealth ones) accountable to address the toxic condition at the corporations’ expense. Rather than expedite efforts to secure site remediation, the PADEP has spent much of its time working to cut deals, including with Constitution Drive Partners, who is not only one of the responsible corporations, but is also a developer that wants to develop the site with residential homes. The most recent proposal submitted in the Fall 2020 was for ~92 residential homes.

Neighboring residents fear that the toxic contamination is responsible for serious illness amongst their community members. The contamination has also had serious implications on their sense of safety and their property values.

After years of behind-closed-doors negotiation between the PADEP and the legally responsible corporations – namely Johnson Matthey Inc. (previously known as J. Bishop, Matthey Bishop), Whittaker Corporation, Marcegaglia USA, Constitution Drive Partners – on March 14, 2026, a privately negotiated settlement was issued for public review and comment. The public was given just 60 days for this comment period, with requests for an extension quickly rejected by PADEP.  The settlement was issued in the form of a Consent Decree that will require court approval if it is to take effect.

GAFTG has worked to help inform community members of their environmental rights as they pertain to this settlement/Consent Decree proposal. And we have submitted a comment of our own, focusing on the constitutional environmental rights issues that stand as a strong complement to comments submitted by community members and our sister organization the Delaware Riverkeeper Network.

You can review GAFTG’s comment here.

If you want to learn more about the Bishop Tube site and how it has affected the community, including the battles with the developer (such as the legal SLAPP suit the developer filed against Green Amendments Founder Maya van Rossum and that was threatened against 10 to be named community members), you will find the whole story in the Green Amendment book. It’s the lead story opening Chapter 6, The Paving of America.

In 2021, the people of New York voted overwhelmingly to provide constitutional recognition and protection to our inalienable human right to clean water and air, and a healthful environment.

Our vote for the New York Green Amendment was not perfunctory, it was not performance art, and it certainly was not an effort to advance a toothless policy sentiment that NY State government could ignore.  

With passage of the New York Green Amendment, we were lifting up our environmental rights so they were given highest legal standing that had to be recognized by all government officials within New York state.

Passage of the New York Green Amendment was truly “a dream realized”.

Since that magical moment, when the people of New York exercised our democratic rights to amend our state constitution, government leaders have failed to join us in our environmental protection and environmental justice goals.

Rather than uplift, defend and embrace our New York Green Amendment, the NY State Attorney General has gone to court with legal arguments that seek to undermine and narrow it.

The result is an emerging set of court decisions that are chipping away at the legal vitality and value of the constitutional language. 

Please sign on so we can join our voices and urge – even demand – that the NY Attorney General embrace the NY Green Amendment as an empowering opportunity 

• to better protect the people of New York, 
• to prevent and address environmental racism, 
• to position New York as a leader in addressing the climate crisis, 
• to create a legacy that protects both present and future generations, and 
• to ensure that all New Yorkers have a recognized and honored seat at the decisionmaking table – through the power of our constitutional Bill of Rights.

Our collective voices secured passage of our New York Green Amendment.

Today our collective voices are needed to ensure it has strength, meaning and vitality.

Please sign on to the letter directed to New York State Attorney General now.

This letter is STEP ONE. Stay tuned for more steps in this ladder of engagement designed to strengthen the NY Green Amendment.

Hot News: Green Amendments For The Generations has filed a Petition to Intervene to protect our communities, environment and environmental rights from being ravaged by an ICE Detention Center. Read the Press Release here.

What’s Happening

On January 15, 2026, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), Immigration & Customs Enforcement (ICE) has purchased a warehouse located at 50 Rausch Creek Rd, in Tremont Township, Schuylkill County PA. The warehouse was purchased for $119,515,000.  The facility is located in the Rausch Creek watershed, which is part of the Susquehanna River watershed.

ICE intends to use the warehouse as a detention center, with plans to incarcerate up to 7,500 people onsite. In addition to those incarcerated at the center, employees will be needed for facility operation and management.

ICE asserts the detention center will be active and operating by November 30, 2026. And yet, it has not submitted applications for needed permits or approvals, including to supply needed drinking water and sewage services for the site.

On March 5, 2026, the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection issued Administrative Orders to DHS, to the Township, and to the Schuylkill County Municipal Authority laying out the requirements of law, as well as additional prohibitions and limitations, regarding drinking water and sewage services for the site. 

On March 17, 2026, ICE wrote PADEP urging it to relax, modify, circumvent, extend, suspend or otherwise alter or weaken the provided mandates in the Administrative Orders and in Pennsylvania State Law as they pertain to the Tremont Township detention facility proposal.

On March 24, 206, PADEP responded to ICE, identifying the many reasons why the March 17 requests were inappropriate and otherwise not in compliance with law, and why PADEP would not be granting those requests.

On April 8, 2026, DHS appealed the two administrative orders  with the Pennsylvania Environmental Hearing Board (EHB).  The DHS ICE appeal asserts, among other things, that the Administrative Orders “unreasonably interfere with and encroach upon a federal law enforcement agency’s ability to fulfill its responsibilities of enforcing the nation’s immigration laws.”

On April 17, Green Amendments For The Generations filed a petition with the Pennsylvania Environmental Hearing Board seeking to intervene in the case titled Department of Homeland Security and U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement v. Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, Department of Environmental Protection.

If the petition is granted, GAFTG will become party to the case as Intervenor, with the opportunity to fully participate in the legal proceedings to come.  

On May 4, both DHS ICE and the PADEP have filed motions that oppose our Petition to Intervene. DHS opposed GAFTG intervening at all; PADEP said that if intervention was granted they want the breadth of the arguments and information we can put forth to be limited. GAFTG has filed a motion to allow us to respond.

Want to know more about the proposal and impacts? Read the info sheet here.

SIGN ON TO JOIN YOUR VOICE WITH OURS: bit.ly/GAFTGNoICECenters

Sign on to urge PADEP and Governor Shapiro to stand strong on the firm mandates issued to DHS and the Townships, which make clear that operations of the detention centers are prohibited without the required permitting from PADEP.

February 12, 2026, the federal government eliminated its endangerment finding—a foundational step taken years ago to support nationwide reduction of GHGs, particularly as the result of vehicle emissions. Green Amendments For The Generations and our sister organization Delaware Riverkeeper Network write to the Secretary of the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection to urge strong state action. Our letter makes clear that regardless of where the federal government ultimately lands in the battle to regulate climate-changing emissions, Pennsylvania government officials and agencies have — by virtue of the Pennsylvania Green Amendment constitutional mandate — their own independent duty to mitigate climate change.

The letter sent today makes clear that Pennsylvania’s Green Amendment – Article I, Section 27 of the state constitution — requires Pennsylvania Agencies to use their statutory and regulatory authority to abate and remedy climate change. This duty exists even if the Commonwealth is not the cause of environmental degradation, and even if the actions of the PA Agencies alone are unsuccessful in preserving the public natural resources from climate change.

You can read the letter here.

UPDATE!

All the calls and outreach worked. The scheduled vote was cancelled. We are expecting an amended version to come forth, but for now, and by working together, we achieved a major victory! Good news article laying it all out.

Pennsylvania legislators are considering a proposal to amend the state Municipalities Planning Code with a model zoning ordinance for data centers written by the industry friendly Department of Community & Economic Development. There are many concerns. Among them is that the ordinance will be designed to benefit data center developers rather than to protect communities and our environment.

Green Amendments For The Generations has joined forces with Delaware Riverkeeper Network to submit a comment of opposition. We are also joining with our colleagues at the Better Path Coalition and Food and Water Watch to encourage others to speak out. While the proposal keeps rearing its head, so far the public outcry has kept it from passage.

In Pennsylvania, Talen Energy Supply, LLC (Talen Energy) is asking the Montour County Commissioners to rezone over 800 acres of land from zoning as agricultural, public/semi public or rural residential uses to an industrial use designation.  In response to strong community advocacy, Talen Energy confirmed that the change in zoning was needed to support a planned data center.

Very little information has been made available about the actual data center itself.

After a robust hearing in November, 2025, the Montour County Planning Commission recommended that the  rezoning request be rejected by the County Commissioners who are the final arbiter of the petition.

The County Commissioners invited written comment and held a hearing on January 23, 2026. Despite it being a work week, work day hearing (friday starting at 9:30 am), the room was full and the testimony was powerful.

Green Amendments For The Generations submitted written comment urging rejection of the rezoning request and joined the community in offering testimony at the hearing.

On February 10^th, the Montour County Commissioners unanimously voted NO to rezone approx. 1000 acres of farmland to industrial to allow for a data center and powerplant proposal by Talen Energy and Amazon. Community member after community member described this battle as David vs. Goliath, and they couldn’t be more right. Pennsylvania’s Green Amendment, Article 1 Section 27, was mentioned several times at the earlier commissioners hearing in January.

The duties articulated by the Pennsylvania Green Amendment apply to government officials at the state level, but also at the county and municipal level. With this vote the commissioners have upheld their constitutional duty by denying this harmful rezoning that would have opened the door to a harmful industry. The Green Amendment is a powerful tool for communities to stand up against harmful projects, like data centers, and we are seeing it being used more and more by community members like those in Montour County.

In Albany County, upstate New York, residents organized under the moniker Lights Out Norlite, have been fighting to protect themselves from polluting air emissions released by Norlite.  Norlite is an industrial facility that burns hazardous waste, including waste fuels and used heating oils. Releases from Norlite include crystalline silica and dangerous levels of particulate matter.  Inhalation of crystalline silica can cause irreversible lung damage, and can lead to lung disease, COPD, kidney disease, autoimmune disorders, cardiovascular impairment, and lung cancer. Exposure to small particulate matter of the kind released from Norlite can cause severe adverse health consequences, including cardiac disorders, exacerbating asthma, causing bronchitis, cerebrovascular incidents, increased risk of diabetes, and increased rate of mortality for those exposed. In addition, Norlite is responsible for noxious odors, fumes, smoke, noise and vibrations that have harmed neighboring residents and communities.

Norlite is known by the state to repeatedly violate air emission limits that apply to their facility and operations.  Despite these known and repeated violations, the state has allowed the facility to continue to operate, and failed to tak meaningful legal or enforcement action to protect the environment and the environmental rights of impacted neighbors.  Several of the impacted neighborhoods around the plant have been identified as potential environmental justice areas and include a high proportion of minority and/or low income residents.  In response, with their Green Amendment rights now in hand, residents have brought legal action against the facility, but also against the state for its failure to protect the constitutional rights of impacted community members to clean water and air and a healthful environment.

To support the community’s legal action and the Green Amendment arguments they have raised, Green Amendments For The Generations and our sister organization Delaware Riverkeeper Network filed an amicus brief.  You can read the Amicus Brief we filed here. 

Unfortunately, the court’s have not ruled with the people. This bad legal outcome is one of the reasons fueling the new call for communities to sign on and urge the NY Attorney General to change her posture in court when it comes to the proper interpretation and application of the NY Green Amendment. You can sign on to this letter here:  https://bit.ly/ProtectMyNYRights

To learn more about, & support, the Norlite community their website can be found here: https://lightsoutnorlite.org

Global Pact Coalition

Green Amendments for the Generations

Joint Statement

The U.S. team of the Global Pact Coalition and Green Amendment for the Generations are thrilled to announce that they will now work together towards securing the right to a healthy environment in the United States.

The goal of Green Amendments For The Generations is to advance a Green Amendment movement that sweeps the nation and secures for all people constitutional recognition and protection of their inalienable rights to pure water, clean air, a stable climate and healthy environments. Communities are suffering as the result of environmental degradation, with increasing harm caused by a human induced climate crisis, including floods, droughts, disease, impacts to food, changing weather dynamics and more. Reliance on legislation to protect the environment has not been enough, as our laws are designed to accommodate pollution rather than prevent it. Securing the passage of enforceable environmental rights amendments in the Bill of Rights section of every constitution – state and federal – provides a powerful solution for the people here today and generations to come.

The goal of the Global Pact Coalition is to mobilize support towards the adoption of a Global Pact for the Environment, an international treaty that would recognize the right to a healthy environment for all and secure our environmental rights and duties. This draft international text aims to enshrine a new generation of fundamental rights related to the protection of the environment, and in particular, the right to a healthy environment. While the Global Pact Coalition works at the international level, the U.S. team of the Global Pact focuses on American citizens and residents’ environmental rights and aims to receive support from American citizens/residents, hoping that the federal government will support the adoption of the Global Pact for the Environment.

Civil society must come together to demand that States recognize and protect the rights to a healthy environment in the Bill of Rights section of the Constitution. Green Amendments For The Generations and the U.S. team of the Global Pact will therefore join their forces and work together to mobilize support and inspire the recognition of your right to a healthy environment at the federal level.

The Delaware River is home to a genetically unique population of Atlantic Sturgeon found nowhere else in the world. The Atlantic sturgeon, listed as a federally protected endangered species since 2012, has a storied history in our Delaware River. Early American settlers said there were so many they could cross the River walking on their backs. But today, there are less than 250 spawning adults left of the River’s genetically unique line. Resource managers and regulatory agencies have neglected their duties to protect the health, habitat, and safety of the sturgeon. Soon it will be too late. The agencies have lacked in their duties by:

• The Delaware River Basin Commission is failing to pass legal standards needed to ensure the sturgeon have enough oxygen in the water to support every aspect of their lives.
• The USEPA is, like the DRBC, failing to ensure needed pollution protection standards.
• The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers keeps dredging and deepening the River, inflicting direct harm on the sturgeon and permitting passage of bigger ships that are slicing the sturgeon with their propellers or bashing them to death with their immense size.
• The National Marine Fisheries Service says yes to every dredging, development, port, industrial operation and powerplant put before them, despite their direct harms on the sturgeon.

On November 16th, 2022, Green Amendments For The Generations, along with organizational allies gathered outside of Philadelphia City Hall in a mock funeral demonstration to demand action to save the Delaware River’s unique population of Atlantic Sturgeon. Read more about the action in our press release.

If you want to help, please sign the petition to urge the agencies to act and Save The Atlantic Sturgeon of the Delaware.

For more information about the event, issue, and background information, please visit https://dinointhedelaware.org/