This program is designed for children aged 5-10 years old. This program is $5 for Conservancy members or $10 for non-members; kids 12 and under are free. Advance registration is required and children must be accompanied by an adult to attend.

When: Thursday, June 25 from 4:00 pm to 5:00 pm
Where: Damascus Citizens for Sustainability Storefront, 25 Main St., Narrowsburg, NY 12764
For more information and to register

This program is designed for children aged 5-10 years old. This program is $5 for Conservancy members or $10 for non-members; kids 12 and under are free. Advance registration is required and children must be accompanied by an adult to attend.

When: Thursday, June 18, from 4:00 pm to 5:00 pm
Where: Damascus Citizens for Sustainability Storefront, 25 Main St., Narrowsburg, NY 12764
Register here.

Thursday, June 11, at noon on Zoom
Register here

The webinar will cover:

• Overview of what has happened in the last 4 years
• Current status of the Town of Highland’s Camp FIMFO Review Process
• Camp FIMFO’s current SPDES permit application to NYSDEC
• Next Steps

You will have an opportunity to ask questions.

Comments are needed on the Camp FIMFO permit application. The deadline is June 15, 2026.
More information, suggested talking points and how to comment can be found here.

Robert Moor is an award-winning writer and New York Times-bestselling author. Jeffrey Marlow is an Assistant Professor of Biology at Boston University, where his lab studies the links between microbes and their surroundings in a range of extreme environments, from active volcanoes to the deep sea.

Presented in Association with Damascus Citizens for Sustainability and the Deep Water Literary Festival:
When: Friday, June 19, from 6:00 pm to 7:00 pm
Where: Krause Recital Hall, DVAA, 37 Main St. Narrowsburg, NY
Get more information and tickets here

Article 1, Section 27 of the Pennsylvania Constitution guarantees:

The people have a right to clean air, pure water, and to the preservation of the natural, scenic, historic and esthetic values of the environment. Pennsylvania’s public natural resources are the common property of all the people, including generations yet to come. As trustee of these resources, the Commonwealth shall conserve and maintain them for the benefit of all the people.

The Pennsylvania Green Amendment & Data Centers

Data centers are proliferating across the U.S., and Pennsylvania is no exception. But Pennsylvania, unlike many states, has a Green Amendment in place that secures individuals’ rights to clean, safe, and healthy environments and obligates government officials to act as trustees of our natural resources, safeguarding them for present and future generations.

It is important to raise the environmental rights of the people and the natural resource trust obligations of the government when commenting on proposed projects, legislation, zoning changes, zoning ordinances, government land swaps, or other government actions where data centers are the focus. Laying out the environmental rights and duties the Green Amendment prescribes can create the foundation necessary to secure protection from what is being proposed.

Along with the substantive rights and duties articulated by the Green Amendment, the Amendment also creates a constitutional obligation on government officials to undertake a full and fair review of the environmental consequences of proposed actions prior to decision-making.

Download The Pennsylvania Green Amendment & Data Centers as a pdf.
This documents provides much additional information and recommendations on how to raise the constitution in a meaningful and impactful way.

Drawing on Enck’s years in government and advocacy, and Bernstein’s unmatched eye for the intersection of money, influence, and public harm, the conversation will explore plastic not simply as waste, but as policy, politics, and culture: a crisis manufactured in plain sight. A timely exchange about environmental responsibility, institutional courage, and what it means to take on systems built to outlast outrage.

This conversation is a co-production of Damascus Citizens for Sustainability and the Deep Water Literary Festival:
When: Sunday, June 21, 2026 from 1:30 pm to 2:30 pm
Where: Krause Recital Hall, DVAA, 37 Main St. Narrowsburg, New York
Get tickets here.

Damascus Township covers about 51,000 acres, of which about 200 acres are zoned industrial. The Chairman of the Planning Commission expressed the “hope” that any data center development would occur within the existing industrial zone. However, there is concern that the small size of this zone could be interpreted as being exclusionary, which could lead to lawsuits. Asked about rezoning to create additional industrial acreage, the Code Enforcement Officer stated that this is very difficult to do, as it would run into a lot of local opposition.

The Planning Commission is concerned, in my opinion rightfully so, about the possibility of lawsuits by potential data center developers. The Code Enforcement Officer stated that the Township must be able to substantiate every restriction in the zoning ordinance. He also stated that every provision in the ordinance must be enforceable.

Information on data center development in PA can be found here. In many cases, information on site size or electrical demand is not indicated. Here is a list of active data centers near Damascus Township. Here is a list of large data centers in PA that are in the Approved or Under Construction phase. I could not find any active data centers in PA that indicated their site size.

The Planning Commission will hold regular meetings on the 2nd Thursday of every month, at 7 pm, at the Damascus Township Municipal Building (60 Conklin Hill Road, Damascus, PA). Work sessions of the Planning Commission will be held on an as needed basis at the same location. Work sessions are open to the public, but public comments will not be allowed.

That may not sound interesting, but it is important. Sullivan County is considering placing an incinerator in Monticello, NY. If they go ahead, it will have major negative health impacts on local residents and the “put or pay” contract could force the County to import trash, with tax payers footing the bill.

Energy Justice Network is a national nonprofit organization headquartered in Philadelphia with member organizations throughout New York State, including Sustainable Sullivan in Sullivan County. It is a research-based organization that supports communities to transition to clean energy and zero waste systems with a focus on preventing and avoiding polluting industrial operations such as trash incineration.

Executive Director Mike Ewall has responded to the Sullivan County, DRAFT REQUEST FOR PROPOSALS on WASTE TO ENERGY R-25-21. His thorough response covers these following questions and comments:

1. Is this asking for a trash and C&D waste incinerator or a plastics pyrolysis facility?
2. Why is the county trying to import waste from throughout the region?
3. Is this RFP open to anaerobic digestion, possibly as part of a true Zero Waste approach?
4. Where will the ash go? Does the county plan to host a landfill for it as well?
5. Environmental Justice & Civil Rights Act violations
6. Conflicts with state’s Solid Waste Plan and climate plans
7. Incineration vs. Landfills
8. Incinerator Health Impacts
9. Zero Waste Solutions

In his opinion, informed by 35 years in this field, this “waste to energy” RFP 25-21 needs a lot of work and should probably be completely rewritten, as it is confused and off-track.

Be SMART (Save Money And Reduce Trash) Handling Trash

Sullivan County does NOT have to invent new ways to reduce trash volumes and disposal costs. Many places have achieved trash reductions of 50% and more (see our SMART guidelines).

According to PA state law, all municipalities must provide a zone for any kind of potential development; no use may be excluded, not even “undesirable industries.” In order to have some control over potential data center development, municipalities are moving to update their zoning ordinances to serve the interests of their residents in regard to data center development. You can have influence at your local level by learning about zoning for data centers. The Data Center Ordinance Guide, prepared by Chester and Montgomery Counties, is a great place to start:

April 2026
Data Center Ordinance Guide Version 1.0
Prepared By Chester County and Montgomery County Planning Commissions

From the INTRODUCTION

“Like the electric grid and roadway networks that form the more traditional parts of our critical infrastructure, data centers are becoming a component of modern-day infrastructure that drives our increasingly digitally-oriented lives and economy. Local municipalities are beginning to understand the potential environmental and community impacts of this use and recognize a need to provide regulations specific to large data centers.

These facilities require substantial and continuous electrical power, fiber connectivity, specialized cooling systems, and often significant land area. As this use was not contemplated in many existing zoning and land development regulations, municipalities should proactively evaluate and establish clear standards. The purpose of this data center ordinance guide is to define large-scale data centers as a unique land use and to provide a regulatory framework that protects public health, safety, and welfare while offering predictability for property owners, residents, and developers. This ordinance guide provides information about the key topics related to data center development and recommendations for performance standards that can help ensure that any data centers provide the most community benefit with the least impact.”

Download DCS Data Center Flyer

From Caroline Baillie, Rebekah Creshkoff, and Eric Feinblatt for Sustainable Sullivan:

We’ve been resisting legislators’ plans to bring in a trash incinerator (they call it a “waste-to-energy facility”), which would inevitably harm human health in our communities and change Sullivan County forever.

But it’s not enough just to say “No.” We need to offer viable alternatives so legislators can see a better path forward. And by regarding waste as a resource to be mined instead of garbage to be disposed of, we can identify new possibilities.

To that end, we are holding a workshop on Friday, May 15 from 5:30 to 8 pm at SUNY Sullivan for community members to learn about promising options, discuss how we could implement them in our county, and form working groups to start addressing them. Register here.

We’ll hear from Diane Cohen, founder and executive director of Finger Lakes ReUse, a nonprofit that diverts literally tons of waste from landfill every year while supporting the local economy and providing job training and skills development. Its activities include: deconstruction services, an alternative to demolition that salvages building materials; a program that refurbishes and repairs computers and electronics; and a warehouse full of gently used or repaired items diverted from the “waste” stream. All three activities yield useful products that are sold back to the community at affordable prices.

We’ll also hear from Shabazz Jackson and Josephine Papagni of Greenway Environmental Services in Ulster County. This commercial composting operation processes not only food scraps and yard waste, but stumps, logs, pallets and unpainted lumber into high-performance topsoil and compost to restore our rapidly deteriorating soil health. Biodegradable materials make up 30-35% of what we discard, so diverting the bulk of them could make a significant dent in the county’s waste stream.

Help pave the way toward responsible waste management in our county. Please RSVP here today and join us on Friday, May 15 from 5:30 to 8 pm at SUNY Sullivan, 112 College Road in Loch Sheldrake. Park in Lot 1 and follow the signs to the Upper Herman conference room.

We hope to see you on the 15th. Together we can strategize a sane and sensible future for waste management in Sullivan County.