Investigative Post

Niagara Falls is losing not only 200 jobs but one of its riskiest air polluters with the announcement Tuesday that the Chemours Company is closing its plant on Buffalo Avenue the end of next year. An Investigative Post analysis of federal Environmental Protection Agency this summer  showed the Buffalo Avenue plant’s air pollution poses the second-greatest risk […]

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 […]

Joe Cessna’s neighbors include chemical plants that are as much a part of the Niagara Falls landscape as the Cataracts. He’s constantly reminded of their presence. There’s the “nasty smell” that permeates his neighborhood and the greasy film that coats his pool in the summer and car year-round. “I can wash my car and within […]

Federal prosecutors and environmental regulators hailed Monday’s $12 million civil settlement with Tonawanda Coke as a “tremendous environmental victory.” The company will spend $8 million on pollution control upgrades at its century-old plant on River Road. Tonawanda Coke also will hire a third party environmental expert to audit its operations for additional safety and environmental […]

Federal, state and local authorities are intensifying their efforts to force an embattled construction and demolition debris plant in South Buffalo to clean up its operation. Senator Chuck Schumer visited the Seneca Babcock neighborhood Wednesday  to urge the Environmental Protection Agency to send a message to Battaglia Demolition that “we will not stand by and […]

The governors of eight Northeast states, including New York, want the federal government to force Midwest-Rust Belt states to prevent coal plant soot and smog from wafting across borders. The solutions are costly air pollution control technology or closing the coal plants for good.

Michael Heimbinder created a system that allows him to measure air quality in neighborhoods. “You’re not going to be able to tell the difference between clean air and moderately unhealthy air,” he said. “You can’t see it.”

Houston is already in violation of federal ozone standards. Now the city is struggling to meet federal standards for fine dust particles, known as PM 2.5. The highest reading is at a monitor near the Port of Houston, where there’s a lot of truck traffic. A report by Texas Tribune.