Tag: Niagara Falls

Oct 5

2017

The DEC’s puzzling fixation on Falls overflows

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The Niagara Falls Water Board is once again in the crosshairs of the state Department of Environmental Conversation for sewer overflows – a problem that plagues communities across the state. The Water Board reported three separate sewer overflows to the DEC on Wednesday. A total of 23.8 million gallons of untreated sewage mixed with dirty stormwater gushed into the Lower Niagara Gorge following a rainstorm. “These continued violations are wholly unacceptable,” the DEC said in a press release. Water Board officials said the rain overtaxed its sewer system, spewing raw sewage and stormwater into the river. Problem is, this happens[...]

Posted 7 years ago

Aug 23

2017

Feds pull plug on radioactive remediation

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Federally funded work to remove radioactive gravel from numerous hotspots in Niagara County has run out of money and come to a halt. Left in limbo are property owners in Niagara Falls and Lewiston, who were told by Environmental Protection Agency officials that there is no firm date of when – or whether – they will return to finish the clean up. Eric Daly, the EPA’s project manager, said he gave his superiors “options of what I could do and what I needed to do.” “What came back to me was we want you to shut down, meaning trailers out[...]

Posted 7 years ago

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

Aug 26

2015

Labor groups protest hotel subsidies

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Around 100 people from local labor groups gathered Wednesday morning to protest the Niagara County Industrial Development Agency’s awarding of tax breaks to hotels. They say low-cost hotels like the Budget Inn on Niagara Falls Boulevard, where the protest was held, should not receive subsidies because they don’t create good-paying jobs. The protest was organized by the Coalition for Economic Justice. Investigative Post reported on the subsidies in January, documenting how the IDA’s indiscriminate granting of tax breaks to hotels defied the recommendations of a 2011 study commissioned by the state. That study found that the city had already had a “glut” of lower-end hotel[...]

Posted 9 years ago

Jun 2

2015

Goodyear’s emissions a concern

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Investigative Post and WGRZ continue their coverage of the potential risk air pollution poses to residents in Niagara County. We reported Monday that the risk to public health from air pollution released from chemical and industrial plants, most of them in or around Niagara Falls, is higher in Niagara County than in nine out of every 10 counties across the United States where emissions are reported to the federal government. In Tuesday’s report, we focus on Goodyear Tire and Rubber Co. The plant’s emissions, which include two carcinogenic chemicals, account for nearly half the county’s risk score. Goodyear’s risk score is[...]

Posted 9 years ago

Feb 12

2015

Falls hotel subsidies defy recommendation

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The American side of Niagara Falls has too many cheap hotels and not enough high-end ones – so a specialist consultant told state officials in a 2011 report. The proposed solution: build more high-end hotels and don’t subsidize budget or mid-range ones because of their “limited potential for economic impacts.” The state has since invested $5.6 million to help finance three upscale hotels. The Niagara County Industrial Development Agency has given another $8.3 million in tax breaks to three high-end hotels, including two that also received money from the state. But the IDA has also approved $7 million in tax[...]

Posted 9 years ago

Mar 22

2013

Nonsense in Niagara Falls

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The Buffalo Pundit explains the “ small-minded, petty, outrageous, and stupid” politics that Niagara Falls Mayor Paul Dyster is contending with these days.

Posted 11 years ago
Investigative Post

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