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Nov 21

2017

Sewage inundating Buffalo waterways

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Kevin Koone comes up empty at his favorite fishing hole on the Buffalo River whenever he catches a whiff of raw sewage. “When it’s real strong, the fish don’t bite. It just ruins the fishing down here,” he said in August, while fishing at Mutual Riverfront Park at the foot of Hamburg Street in South Buffalo. The source of the stench: The 255 million gallons of sewage and stormwater runoff that flow into the river upstream every year. Sewage discharges this summer that discolored the Niagara Gorge caused an outcry, but fouled waters are an even bigger problem in Buffalo.[...]

Posted 7 years ago

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 31

2017

More honors for Telvock, Investigative Post

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The environmental reporting of Dan Telvock has been cited for excellence in two national journalism contests. His reporting that documented the disparity in Buffalo’s testing program for lead in drinking water won first place for interactive news by the National Association of Black Journalists. One of the chief findings of his report was that the testing did not target minority neighborhoods where the lead poisoning problem is concentrated. Instead, the city tested more often in predominantly white neighborhoods that report few, if any, lead poisoning cases. The other finalists were entries from Bloomberg News and The Chicago Reader. Winners in other[...]

Posted 7 years ago

Jul 11

2017

Removing the muck from Scajaquada Creek

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The ongoing restoration of Scajaquada Creek has reached one of the most-polluted sections in Delaware Park. For three years Investigative Post has reported on the creek’s disgusting condition. The chief causes of the pollution are the Buffalo and Cheektowaga sewer systems, which spew raw sewage into the creek when deluged by storm water. As a result of decades worth of sewer overflows, the creek bottom is layered with black foul smelling muck. Both Buffalo and Cheektowaga do have plans to address the sewer overflows problems. On Monday, crews began dredging a badly polluted section of the creek by Hoyt Lake.[...]

Posted 8 years ago

Jun 13

2017

Headway on toxic former General Motors plant

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It has been a long wait for Virginia Golden and her neighbors in the Delavan-Grider community. For over a decade, they’ve wanted the state to clean up the former General Motors plant. There is finally progress to report less than a month after Investigative Post’s investigation. The state Department of Environmental Conservation has added a portion of the former General Motors auto manufacturing facility to its Superfund program, making it eligible for state funds for remediation. The state hired a consultant to begin the investigaton of the property at 1001 E. Delavan Ave., where oil laced with PCBs from past[...]

Posted 8 years ago

Apr 28

2017

A threat to Scajaquada Creek – and neighbors

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It’s not the view from Virginia Golden’s front porch of the former General Motors plant that bothers her. It’s the toxic gunk – up to 110,000 gallons of it – that’s underneath the plant. Neighborhood residents have been waiting – and worrying – for a decade since state environmental regulators declared several acres of the plant on East Delavan Avenue a significant threat to public health. The contaminant of concern are PCBs – so toxic that the federal government banned the manufacturing of them in 1979. The residents want the property cleaned up, but have instead endured inaction from state[...]

Posted 8 years ago

Feb 22

2017

Five years on for Investigative Post

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Today marks a milestone for Investigative Post: We celebrate our fifth year in business. We launched with what turned out to be a prophetic story: an analysis of what was then a fledgling program known as the Buffalo Billion. I quoted experts offering advice on how to make smart use of the money and cautioning against the temptation of spending tax dollars to secure on trophy projects. I re-read the story a couple of months ago and it seems as though Gov. Andrew Cuomo has done the opposite of what the experts recommended. Investigative Post has built its reputation for[...]

Posted 8 years ago

Jan 18

2017

Cuomo’s clean water proposal lacks details

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Update 11:14 a.m Jan. 18.: The governor did release some – not all – details Tuesday night about his proposal to spend $2 billion statewide on water quality and clean drinking water projects. First, the money is spread out over five years. So, that’s $400 million a year for five years. What remains unclear is how the money will be distributed. There are numerous programs this money could go to and the governor was short on those details Tuesday night. According to his capital plan, “The Executive Budget includes $2 billion to finance water quality capital projects to ensure continued access[...]

Posted 8 years ago