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.

May 27

2014

Subpar recycling effort in suburbs

Dumpster divers in Niagara Falls find jackpots 5 cents at a time in the form of cans and bottles by the bagful in the garbage. A scruffy man who regularly pulls the bottles and cans out of the trash behind Hyde Park Ice Pavillion said his motivation is simple: “M-O-N-E-Y.” A few minutes of work earned him $12 the April afternoon he spoke to a reporter. That lesson is lost on officials in most of the largest cities and towns in Niagara and Erie counties, where recycling programs are largely an afterthought, an Investigative Post analysis has found. Most of the localities[...]

Posted 10 years ago

May 14

2014

No swimming at Gallagher Beach

The bottom line is there won’t be any swimming this summer at Gallagher Beach off Route 5 in South Buffalo. Instead, state officials announced Monday that testing will continue through the spring and summer. Last fall, Investigative Post reported about potential water contamination at Gallagher Beach, where U.S. Rep. Brian Higgins, Gov. Andrew Cuomo and Mayor Byron Brown had hoped to open for swimming this summer. Three weeks after the story aired, the state agreed to test the water, soil and harbor floor. The testing, which was conducted over just a few days in late October, found a couple of potential concerns.[...]

Posted 10 years ago

May 6

2014

EPA investigating Battaglia Demolition

The federal Environmental Protection Agency confirmed Tuesday that it’s investigating Battaglia Demolition for potential environmental violations. The EPA investigation comes less than a month after Investigative Post reported how residents on Peabody Street and elsewhere in the Seneca Babcock community have complained for a decade about quality of life problems they blame on the construction and demolition debris business owned by Peter Battaglia. Our report also revealed how the business continues to operate without one, and possibly two, state permits. The state Department of Environmental Conservation has cited Battaglia for operating a concrete crusher without an air permit and at[...]

Posted 11 years ago

Apr 22

2014

Texting out WNY environmental problems

Western New York residents now can use their phones to report environmental concerns directly to the people in power. The Western New York Environmental Alliance has partnered with the Community Foundation for Greater Buffalo‘s mobile communications tool Grow 716 to launch the “716 Stands Up for the Environment” text messaging campaign on Earth Day. This is how it works: text the keyword “WNYEA” to 877-877. The mobile tool texts back a few questions and your answers will go by letter to elected officials in May. Although the alliance asks residents to text before May 1, the campaign will extend beyond that. Residents can track results[...]

Posted 11 years ago

Apr 22

2014

A buzz in Buffalo

A secret network of beekeepers in Buffalo has developed. Well, it’s no secret now after this report from Grist. The city doesn’t have laws that prohibit beekeeping at a time when towns, cities and counties across the country are changing rules to be more bee friendly while also protecting neighbors.

Posted 11 years ago

Apr 22

2014

A typical morning on Buffalo’s Peabody Street

How would you like to wake up at 7 a.m. to the sound of an excavator digging through concrete rubble? Welcome to Peabody Street in the Seneca Babcock community, where noise is a common occurrence from Battaglia Demolition’s excavators, truck traffic and concrete crushing. Here’s a short video taken from one resident’s porch: My report a few weeks ago on the decade-long fight between Seneca Babcock residents and Battaglia Demolition and a follow up blog post sparked a lot of conversation on our site and WGRZ’s Facebook page. The complaints about the business include bad air, heavy truck traffic, noise and health problems. The[...]

Posted 11 years ago

Apr 16

2014

Courts side with town in wind farm permit dispute

Allegany Wind LLC wants to build a wind farm with 29 turbines in Cattaraugus County but needed an extension of its special use permit after a bout of legal challenges. The town of Allegany declined the extension, setting off another lawsuit. The courts sided with the town. A report by Great Lakes Echo.

Posted 11 years ago

Apr 16

2014

Courts uphold EPA’s toxic air emissions regs

A federal appeals court upheld President Obama’s EPA toxic air regulations that aim to cut lead, arsenic, mercury and other pollutants from coal- and oil-burning power plant emissions. The rules require out-of-compliance plants to install pollution control technology.

Posted 11 years ago