Dec 16
2013
The Center for Public Integrity references a yet-to-be-published federal study that found 50 cases of bladder cancer at the Goodyear plant in Niagara Falls through 2007. A chemical called ortho-toluidine is believed to be the trigger, but Goodyear didn’t reduce employees’ exposure for over a decade, and by that time it was too late.
Dec 16
2013
An analysis by the influential rating service on the clean energy project recently announced by Gov. Andrew Cuomo concludes: “The long-term impact to the region may be limited … The clean technology industry is relatively volatile … and its ability to jumpstart a struggling post-industrial economy is untested.” A report from State of Politics.
Dec 16
2013
Dec 12
2013
The Erie County Legislature today banned high volume hydraulic fracturing on county land and imports of any drilling waste to its water treatment facilities. The legislation passed 9-2. The vote comes almost three years after Buffalo became the second city in the nation to ban the controversial gas drilling practice, also called “hydrofracking.” On Dec. 3, the County Legislature received a petition with 3,845 signatures supporting the ban. The legislation also includes a ban on importing drilling waste to county water treatment facilities and using the waste on county roads to melt snow and ice. Hydrofracking is a practice that injects millions[...]
Dec 12
2013
Forbes reports that a national jobs survey has found only one metropolitan region in the country is projecting negative job growth in the coming year. Yeah, you guessed where. Click the title of this post for the full survey.
Dec 12
2013
Dec 10
2013
Corporate tax breaks and grants total $1.7 billion this year alone in New York State. That’s up three-fold since 2005. The ROI? Employment is down. A devastating analysis by David Cay Johnston for Tax Analysts.
Dec 10
2013
Although there’s a lack of bulletproof evidence that political influence spoiled the Department of Environmental Conversation’s air monitoring testing at the Peace Bridge, there are anecdotal references worth mentioning. We reported last month several flaws in the Department of Environmental Conservation’s air monitoring program, one of which was the agency concluding that air quality at the Peace Bridge was no worse than anywhere else in the city. That conclusion flies in the face of an overwhelming amount of independent research. Two days after our story aired, the DEC agreed to expand the air monitoring program. The DEC, however, has yet to answer any questions since[...]