Tag: Environment

Apr 3

2014

Buffalo’s decade-long dust bowl

Published by

The Weaver family and their neighbors on Peabody Street may be the only people in Buffalo who don’t look forward to warm weather. That’s when concrete crushing kicks into full gear at Battaglia Demolition, a construction and demolition processing facility that abuts their homes in the gritty Seneca Babcock neighborhood about a mile southeast of downtown. “I can’t open my windows because of all the dust from the rock crushing,” Jan Weaver wrote to the state Department of Environmental Conservation last fall. Between 80 to 200 diesel trucks a day rumble down Peabody Street loaded with concrete, scrap metal and[...]

Posted 12 years ago

Mar 28

2014

Buffalo’s harsh winter kills thousands of fowl

Published by

Many of us complained about this winter’s freezing cold. But we survived. Unfortunately the same cannot be said for a lot of birds. Thousands of ducks along the shores of Lake Erie and Niagara River died from starvation due to the brutal winter this year, the state Department of Environmental Conservation confirmed today. The widespread ice cover prevented the fowl from eating food in the water. State wildlife experts called the number of deaths “unprecedented.” DEC tests did not reveal any infectious diseases in the waterfowl, the agency said. Eastern Lake Erie and the Niagara River are habitats for 150,000 to[...]

Posted 12 years ago

Mar 26

2014

Air pollution a major killer

Published by

Air pollution killed 7 million worldwide last year, the World Health Organization reports. Put another way: dirty air is associated with one in eight deaths. While the problem is more prevalent in rapidly developing Third World nations, we in WNY deal with the problem, as well. A story from the New York Times.

Posted 12 years ago

Mar 21

2014

Scajaquada Creek: a Buffalo toilet

Published by

Scajaquada Creek meanders through Buffalo’s most-prized park and yet it reeks of sewage and chemicals. This creek is literally a toilet, especially after heavy rainfall. Don’t believe me? Have a look for yourself: I snapped this photograph last summer while riding my bike through Delaware Park near Hoyt Lake. I smelled something putrid and this was the source. The chemical trails made rainbows in the water. Fish, some several feet long, ate the decay and whatever else was in this mess. I came back 30 minutes later and a group of immigrants  had dropped their fishing lines near here. Raw sewage overflows[...]

Posted 12 years ago

Mar 20

2014

Tonawanda Coke sentence

Published by

A federal court judge Wednesday fined Tonawanda Coke $12.5 million and ordered it to underwrite studies that will cost the company up to an additional $12.2 million. The plant’s retired manager was sentenced to a year in prison. Some criticize the punishment as lenient. A report from The Buffalo News.

Posted 12 years ago

Mar 5

2014

Obama’s budget a setback to sewer upgrades

Published by

Projects that keep billions of gallons of raw sewage out of Western New York waterways are at risk if Congress approves a budget that slashes aid for states burdened with antiquated sewer infrastructure. Cities and suburbs with outdated sewer systems require billions of dollars in improvements to combat the pollution from sewer overflows usually caused by heavy rain or snowmelt. In Buffalo, anywhere from 1.7 billion to 4 billion gallons of raw sewage polluted local waterways each of the past three years. In comparison, the bankrupt city of Detroit dumped 7 billion gallons of raw sewage into waterways in 2011. Cleveland[...]

Posted 12 years ago

Mar 4

2014

Tonawanda Coke neighbors voice concerns

Published by

Residents breathing air by Tonawanda Coke were put at risk for years because the company released dangerous amounts of toxic chemicals. Preliminary residential soil tests also turned up contamination. The company and an employee were convicted last year. Residents, some with cancer, want a portion of the fines for comprehensive studies. A story from WGRZ.

Posted 12 years ago

Feb 27

2014

Cuomo’s costly Peace Bridge purchase

Published by

  The property was a mess — contaminated, mired in debt and depreciating in value — but Gov. Andrew Cuomo wanted it bad. As it turns out, as much as $27 million bad. To buy the abandoned Episcopal Church Home, a property considered essential to an expansion of the Peace Bridge plaza, state government under Cuomo’s direction paid a premium and inherited a costly environmental cleanup. The Cuomo administration also orchestrated moves that cost state and federal taxpayers millions more. The final tab hasn’t been tallied, but it could run as high as $27 million, for a property appraisers hired[...]

Posted 12 years ago
Investigative Post