Tag: Environment

Jul 25

2022

Buffalo is slowly losing its trees

Published by

 Buffalo is cutting down twice as many trees as it’s planting. And residents are noticing the loss. “It’s nothing like when I was a child,” said Catherine Faust, a Highland Avenue resident in the city’s Elmwood Village.  From 2016 through 2020, the city cut down more than 4,300 trees. They only planted about 1,900 new ones.  An Investigative Post analysis found the rate of tree loss is greater in parts of the East Side. Masten District, for example, lost four times as many trees as were planted. “It is one of the most despicable things that I can imagine[...]

Posted 1 year ago

May 10

2022

Q&A: Explaining cryptocurrency & blockchain

Published by

Dr. Bina Ramamurthy is director of the Blockchain ThinkLab at the University at Buffalo. She’s also a crypto miner herself. That puts her at the forefront of the industry, which poses a challenge to traditional currency and has raised environmental concerns because of its demand for energy. Blockchain and cryptocurrency are mysteries to many people, so to understand the interview, let’s define what we’re talking about. Blockchain, introduced in 2011, involves computers and servers programmed to solve complicated mathematical problems on an ongoing, virtual ledger. This work is managed by so-called “crypto miners,” who earn cryptocurrency – most commonly Bitcoin[...]

Posted 1 year ago

Feb 24

2022

Study links Tonawanda Coke to toxins

Published by

Soil contamination near Tonawanda Coke most likely comes from the now-shuttered plant, a just-released study has found. A previous phase of the study of soil samples taken from the town and city of Tonawanda, Grand Island and Buffalo found elevated levels of toxins. The second phase of the study, released Thursday at a virtual meeting, evaluated 95 soil samples.  An unspecified, but small number of those samples contained elevated levels of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, or PAHs, which are carcinogenic chemical compounds produced as a byproduct of burning coal and other fossil fuels.  Researchers determined with 85 percent confidence that Tonawanda[...]

Posted 2 years ago

Feb 20

2022

‘Completely stupid’ burning of toxins

Published by

A Niagara Falls waste incineration plant burned almost 13 tons of firefighting foam over a three-year period, potentially releasing into the air and water insidious toxins linked in studies to infertility, birth defects, developmental disorders, compromised immune systems and cancer.  When questioned by state officials, Covanta Niagara at first denied it. Eventually, the company admitted burning “a small amount” of the material — aqueous film-forming foam, or AFFF — but claimed it didn’t know what it was burning. “That is not a small amount,” said David Bond, a Bennington College professor who fought to stop a waste incinerator doing the[...]

Posted 2 years ago

Jan 19

2022

Enck: Test for “forever chemicals”

Published by

A former top EPA official is calling for the monitoring of members of Buffalo’s Burmese community because of their consumption of fish contaminated with so-called “forever chemicals.” Judith Enck is responding to an Investigative Post story published in September. The story, ‘More Danger Lurking in the Water,” covered a state and federal study of fishermen who eat their local catches.  All of the fishermen tested had elevated levels of the toxin known as PFOS, one in a class of chemicals known as PFAS, but the highest were found in Burmese citizens, who make up one of Western New York’s largest immigrant[...]

Posted 2 years ago

Jan 17

2022

Ortt’s failing environmental report card

Published by

Few in the state Legislature protect the environment as poorly as Senate Minority Leader Robert Ortt, according to one leading ecological advocacy group. Environmental Advocates Action gave Ortt its 2021 “Oil Slick Award” for his voting record. The group, a lobbying and advocacy outfit, annually “honors” officials whose positions they deem most harmful.   According to Peter Iwanowicz, executive director of Environmental Advocates NY, Ortt’s “extreme anti-environmental voting record should make him an outcast, not the Senate minority leader.” Ortt, R-North Tonawanda, refused an interview, but his spokesman, Andrew Dugan, told Investigative Post that the minority leader supports “sensible” policy positions.[...]

Posted 2 years ago

Nov 13

2021

Envisioning a thriving WNY

Published by

Editor’s note: A version of this column appeared in Buffalo Spree. My wife recently told me of an acquaintance who was moving to California. My response: Who would want to move to California? The land of forest fires, droughts and water shortages? The same could be said of much of the West and Southwest. It’s not uninhabitable – yet – but give it another generation and you’re likely to see an out-migration. That represents an opportunity for cities around the Great Lakes, including Buffalo and Western New York.  We’ll never run out of water. Massive forest fires? Nah. Ditto for[...]

Posted 2 years ago

Aug 31

2021

No changes in West Valley demo plan

Published by

Activist concerns notwithstanding, federal officials are sticking with their plan to demolish a highly radioactive building at the West Valley Demonstration Project.  Despite the calls from residents, activists and experts, “no major amendments” have been made to the plan, according to a spokesman for the U.S. Department of Energy, Joseph Pillitere.  Officials maintain sufficient safety procedures are in place. Extensive work has been completed to remove seven miles of piping and 50 tons of equipment from inside the five-story, 350,000-square-foot building, Pilitere said. The work reduced the building’s radioactivity by 98 percent. “This allows us to safely and compliantly deconstruct[...]

Posted 2 years ago