Dan Telvock

Dan Telvock is Investigate Post's environmental reporter. A native of the Finger Lakes region, he was an award-winning newspaper reporter in Virginia for 13 years, including stints at The Free Lance-Star in Fredericksburg and The Winchester Star, before joining Investigative Post. He founded and operated The Landry Hat, a blog that covered the Dallas Cowboys, from 2005 to 2008, while also working as a reporter.

Aug 27

2015

A call for action on sewer overflows

The federal Environmental Protection Agency gave Buffalo 20 years to curb its sewer overflows into Scajaquada Creek and other waterways flowing through the city. That’s not fast enough, said Erie County Legislator Patrick Burke, whose district includes Cazenovia Creek, which, like the Scajaquada, he says is badly polluted by sewer overflows. The lack of urgency among local, state and federal authorities has him frustrated. Therefore, he’s invited the responsible parties to a public meeting next month in an attempt to bring transparency to a problem that’s tainted local waterways for a century. “We’ve kicked the can down the road on[...]

Posted 9 years ago

Aug 25

2015

NRG closing Huntley coal plant in Tonawanda

NRG Energy plans to retire its Huntley coal plant in Tonawanda by March. NRG informed its 79 employees at the River Road facility on Tuesday morning. “The market conditions don’t make the plant economically viable,” said NRG spokesman David Gaier. “We don’t see any scenario under which things will improve to allow the plant to remain in service.” At the same time, NRG’s $140 million project to convert and repower its coal plant in Dunkirk is in jeopardy. The conversion plan, approved last year, would allow the Dunkirk facility to burn both coal and natural gas. Now, that plant could be mothballed by January. On[...]

Posted 9 years ago

Aug 17

2015

Buffalo steps up recycling efforts

Buffalo officials have finally launched what they are calling an “extensive public awareness campaign” in an effort to boost its anemic recycling rate. This campaign, announced Monday, comes almost three years after Investigative Post reported how the city had failed to spend more than $400,000 earmarked for recycling education and promotion. City officials said the goal is to exceed the national recycling rate of 34 percent by 2018. They have a long way to go. Buffalo will need to more than double its rate in three years to reach that goal. In 2012, the city introduced the green tote program, which allows residents to[...]

Posted 9 years ago

Aug 6

2015

Outer Harbor plans shrouded in secrecy

The Erie Canal Harbor Development Corporation is again the subject of transparency complaints over its planning effort for the Outer Harbor. Board member Sam Hoyt had said the state would unveil a revised development plan at two public meetings in April. The development corporation controls some 200 acres of lakefront at the Outer Harbor. But those public meetings never happened. Instead, Investigative Post has learned that state officials have held at least two secret brainstorming sessions. Some who attended had been critical of the state’s first Outer Harbor plan released last fall. That plan included up to 2,100 housing units, stores and restaurants. But Assemblyman Sean Ryan, U.S. Rep. Brian[...]

Posted 9 years ago

Jul 16

2015

Water woes at Gallagher Beach

Gallagher Beach has a serious bacteria problem. The bacteria counts at the unofficial beach on Buffalo’s Outer Harbor – which local, state and federal officials want to open for public swimming – exceeded safe levels more than two-thirds of the time in tests conducted last summer. The test results are included in a 181-page study Investigative Post recently obtained through a Freedom of Information Law request. The state has not officially released the report to the public. “The results are that this is not a safe place to swim,” said John Finster, a retired public health engineer who used[...]

Posted 9 years ago

Jul 6

2015

Limited progress on lead poisoning

In the second of a two-part series, Investigative Post reports on limited progress being made by local government officials to address lead poisoning in low-income neighborhoods on the city’s East and West Side. The Erie County Health Department has concentrated its inspections for lead paint to houses in at-risk neighborhoods where children live. Meanwhile, Mayor Byron Brown said he’s willing to have City Hall consider teaming with the county to deal with the problem. A similar effort by officials in Rochester and Monroe County has proved successful. Investigative Post reported Thursday that nearly 500 children in three ZIP codes comprising[...]

Posted 9 years ago

Jul 2

2015

Update: Buffalo’s lead poisoning problem

March Moon fled Burma for a better quality of life in Buffalo. Instead, she’s got a sick kid suffering from lead poisoning. Her five-year-old son has kidney problems. He struggles to eat and sleep. His stunted growth makes him the smallest pupil in preschool. He’s been hospitalized numerous times with stays of up to eight days. “The Erie County Department of Health came to my house and they said that my son has lead poisoning,” Moon said. “I had never heard of that before. What is that?” Moon and her ailing son are not alone. Thirty-seven years after lead was[...]

Posted 9 years ago

Jun 25

2015

Recycling coming to Buffalo’s waterfront

In San Francisco, residents can recycle food waste. In fact, it’s mandated. In Seattle, residents can recycle cigarette butts. But in Buffalo, we can’t even get recycling bins downtown. Despite this, there is something good to report. Baby steps, folks. Canalside visitors will soon notice bins for recycling cans and bottles at the popular waterfront destination. Wednesday morning, the Coca-Cola Bottling Co. in the Town of Tonawanda provided the city with 50 recycling containers. This is a step in the right direction in the city’s effort to boost its dismal recycling rate, which is less than half the national average. But what[...]

Posted 9 years ago