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Feb 8

2013

Pegula of Sabres pushed for hydrofracking in New York

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Buffalo Sabres owner Terry Pegula, who made his fortune hydrofracking, has used his status as a sports mogul at least once to lobby state lawmakers to embrace drilling for natural gas. Jon Campbell of the Gannett News Service’s capital bureau in Albany is reporting that Pegula invited lawmakers to his hockey arena 15 months ago and pitched them on the merits of hydrofracking. In late November 2011, nine months after he took control of the National Hockey League club, Pegula gathered Buffalo-area officials and state lawmakers in a boardroom at then-HSBC Arena. There, he and members of his East Resources team[...]

Posted 12 years ago

Jan 31

2013

Is traffic—or money—driving Peace Bridge plan?

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Public Bridge Authority officials say they’re focused on expanding the Peace Bridge Plaza on the American side because it will improve traffic flow. But a look at the authority’s books reveals another possible motive: Money. While passenger vehicles account for almost 80 percent of bridge traffic, car tolls account for only 21 percent of authority revenue. Truck tolls, on the other hand, generate 48 percent of the authority’s revenues, almost $16 million a year. Duty Free stores at the base of the bridge in Buffalo and Fort Erie account for another 22 percent, or $7.2 million projected for this fiscal[...]

Posted 12 years ago

Jan 27

2013

Q&A: Jordan Levy

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Jordan Levy is one of Western New York’s most successful entrepreneurs in recent times. He might be best known to local residents as the former chairman of the Erie Harbor Canal Development Corp., which is developing Canalside. He served in that capacity for four years before stepping down in 2011. During that time he first supported the controversial plan to construct a Bass Pro store in the inner-harbor then lead the EHCDC  in its embrace of a more popular approach dubbed “lighter, faster, cheaper.” Levy, 57, has enjoyed a long and successful career in the private sector. He is a general partner[...]

Posted 12 years ago

Jan 20

2013

Interview: Preservationist Tim Tielman

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Few people in Buffalo elicit a stronger response than Tim Tielman. To some, he is a champion of preserving the city’s urban fabric. Others consider him an obstructionist. Tielman, 53, is executive director of the Campaign for Greater Buffalo History, Architecture & Culture and principal of The Neighborhood Workshop, an urban design consulting firm best know for its design of Larkinville, aka Larkin Square. He is also a member of the Buffalo Preservation Board.  Tielman has been involved in every preservation issue in the city for the past 25 years, usually as an advocate and sometimes as a plaintiff. His causes have included  the Richardson[...]

Posted 12 years ago

Jan 18

2013

Lack of ice in Great Lakes threatens economy, ecology

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There is less ice cover on the Great Lakes, which poses numerous economic and ecological problems, scientists say. The map above is a snapshot of the Great Lakes for January 17, showing very little ice cover so far. Normally, Lake Erie would be iced over by the second week of February. For example, watch this ice coverage video that shows each winter day, frame by frame, in 2007. George Leshkevich, a physical scientist with the NOAA Great Lakes Environmental Research Laboratory, said that while there is variability in the data, trends show there is less ice coverage on the Great Lakes over the past 40[...]

Posted 12 years ago

Jan 10

2013

Buffalo shatters temperature record

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Some weather experts believe the record-breaking heat in 2012 is a warning that the frequency of extreme weather will increase in Western New York and the nation. The average temperature in the United States for 2012 was 55.3 degrees, which is 3.2 degrees above the 20th Century average, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s State of the Climate report. The new record national average temperature is 1 degree hotter than the previous one, set in 1998. The temperature climbed even more in Buffalo. In 1998, Buffalo recorded its highest average temperature at 50.9 degrees. This record was shattered in 2012 by[...]

Posted 12 years ago

Jan 3

2013

Is hydrofracking safe with DEC?

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A year-old state report leaked to the New York Times and Gannett’s Albany bureau says that hydraulic gas drilling can be done safely if the state Department of Environmental Conservation stays on top of the regulations. Never has there been an environmental issue in New York that has garnered so much emotion and attention than hydrofracking. A record-breaking 80,000 comments were sent to the DEC when it released its first review of the controversial process of extracting natural gas deep underground with sand, massive amounts of water and chemicals. Gov. Andrew Cuomo has long delayed a decision on hydrofracking in the state,[...]

Posted 12 years ago

Dec 20

2012

Job claims inflated for Billion To Buffalo project

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Governor Andrew Cuomo summoned hundreds of muckety-mucks to the Buffalo Niagara Convention Center two weeks ago to make the kind of announcement that politicians live for: government aid to bring jobs to an economically struggling region. In this instance, Cuomo told the assembled that the first $50 million of his $1 billion in promised state economic development funds had leveraged a commitment from Albany Molecular Research Inc. to bring 250 jobs and up to $250 million in private investment to the Buffalo Niagara Medical Campus. Reads the headline on the governor’s press release: “Governor and (Western New York Regional Economic[...]

Posted 12 years ago
Investigative Post