Tag: Department of Environmental Conservation

Aug 16

2017

When it rains, sewage gushes into Niagara River

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The Lower Niagara River is no stranger to sewer overflows. An Investigative Post analysis of state data shows the Niagara Falls sewer system has spewed more than a half-billion gallons of raw sewage mixed with storm water into the Lower Niagara River since May 2016. Even moderate rainfall can overwhelm the sewer system, causing untreated sewage mixed with storm water to gush into the Lower Niagara. The problem gained the attention of Governor Andrew Cuomo after a July 29 discharge turned the Lower Niagara into a black, smelly disruption for tourists on a busy Saturday at Niagara Falls State Park.  That incident was[...]

Posted 7 years ago

Jul 12

2017

Dispute over Wheatfield landfill test results

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The Department of Environmental Conservation on Tuesday said a toxic landfill in Wheatfield isn’t leaching chemicals onto nearby properties. But Michael Stag, a New Orleans attorney representing current and former residents in a lawsuit, contends that the state got it wrong. In addition, he warned state authorities more than a month ago that his testing found dangerous levels of chemicals inside homes, not the soil. In December 2015, the DEC deemed the landfill a significant risk to public health. The state designated it a Superfund site after removing 80-dump truck loads of Love Canal waste buried there in 1968. Some residents[...]

Posted 7 years ago

Sep 20

2016

DEC: Peace Bridge air quality meets standards

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The state Department of Environmental Conservation said Tuesday that its latest air monitoring program near the Peace Bridge shows the air people breathe in adjacent neighborhoods beset by high asthma rates is comparable to other similarly sized cities and high-traffic urban areas. In fact, state environmental regulators said during the community meeting at the Porter Street Library in Buffalo that some of the air toxins they measured near the Peace Bridge were similar to what one might find near Whiteface Mountain in the Adirondacks. Nonetheless, the DEC called on the federal Environmental Protection Agency to adopt stronger emission standards for[...]

Posted 8 years ago

Jul 30

2014

Cheektowaga pledges action on Scajaquada

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There is progress to report on Scajaquada Creek. The creek has been badly polluted by the dumping of more than 500 million gallons a year of sewage and untreated stormwater runoff by Buffalo and Cheektowaga. As a result, the Scajaquada is plagued by high bacteria levels , botulism that kills birds and sludge up to five feet deep in parts of the creek bed. Town of Cheektowaga officials, who to this point have dodged questions since our initial report two weeks ago, acknowledged to Dan Telvock of Investigative Post that the dumping is a serious problem that they need to address.[...]

Posted 10 years ago
Investigative Post

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