WNY Youth Climate Council files lawsuit against Kensington Expressway Project

The Western New York Youth Climate Council has filed a lawsuit against the New York State Department of Transportation's $1 billion Kensington Expressway Project.

According to the law office of Hagerty & Brady, the lawsuit was filed due to the project’s failure to be consistent with the NY State Climate Leadership & Community Protection Act’s emissions reduction goals.

In February, New York Governor Kathy Hochul was in Buffalo and announced that the Federal Highway Administration had issued a “Finding of No Significant Impact,” that signaled the end of the formal environmental assessment process that began in June 2022.

Kensington Expressway Project moving into final design stages; construction expected in fall

This meant the NYSDOT could move into the final design stages with construction expected to begin by fall 2024.

The $1 billion project was announced in May 2022 and includes fully covering a portion of the expressway and making it a six-lane tunnel between Dodge and Sidney streets.

Since the project was announced, community members and community groups have voiced their opposition.

According to Hagerty & Brady, there are now four total lawsuits against the project.

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17-year-old Kevin Nadayishimiye was born and raised in the Broadway-Fillmore area. He'll be heading to Harvard University this fall, but before that happens he’s making his voice heard at meetings for the East Side Coalition.

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“I live close to the Broadway Market kind of between there and the highway. So I know a lot of people, my neighbors and people that I got to school with, that I've talked to about it and said that they didn’t even know what’s going on.”

21-year-old Valerie Juang is the co-founder of the WNY Youth Climate Council. It's a youth-led climate justice organization that’s part of two lawsuits against the project.

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“The Climate Leadership and Community Protection Act, or CLCPA, that the Youth Climate Council’s lawsuit at the state level is based on, has a really strong emphasis on climate justice specifically to ensure than no further environmental racism happens in this community,” she says. “And that’s something that everybody in our communities needs to see is possible and happening.”

Although Valerie doesn’t live on the East Side, she does have loved ones here.

“People who I love are here and I don’t have a car. I walk everywhere and man, it is dangerously hot here! People will get heat stroke here because there are no trees.”

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“We have families that have lost their wives and husbands to cancer or to respiratory illnesses. I have a brother-in-law that lives on Humboldt Parkway and he has been sick, his mother-in-law has been sick and a lot of people have been sick in that household."

- Betty Jean Grant, a member of East Side Parkways Coalition

The NYSDOT plans to hire Buffalo residents for the project.

Pastor Steve Lane of St. Philip's Church says that’s not enough.

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“There will be some employemnt and that'll be temporary employment for the area, but it’s not going to help generate wealth for the East Side of Buffalo. But if you restore the parkway you’ll create all sorts of new wealth.”

You can find more information on the project, as well as frequently asked questions, here .