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.

Jan 29

2013

Lack of ice in Great Lakes threatens economy, ecology

There is less ice cover on the Great Lakes, which poses numerous economic and ecological problems, scientists say. The map above is a snapshot of the Great Lakes for January 17, showing very little ice cover so far. Normally, Lake Erie would be iced over by the second week of February. For example, watch this ice coverage video that shows each winter day, frame by frame, in 2007. George Leshkevich, a physical scientist with the NOAA Great Lakes Environmental Research Laboratory, said that while there is variability in the data, trends show there is less ice coverage on the Great Lakes over the past 40[...]

Posted 12 years ago

Jan 11

2013

Is climate change ‘rampaging our planet?’

I find it ironic that after writing about Buffalo shattering its annual average temperature in 2012 that we may experience a weekend with 60 degree temperatures. In January? Really? Jay Burney, who founded the Learning Sustainability Campaign, believes too many people are in denial about climate change. His Dec. 2 opinion piece in The Buffalo News contends that rising temperatures and its impacts have reached an emergency level in Western New York. One of the first meetings I attended when I moved here was the Western New York Environmental Alliance’s quarterly meeting at the Marcy Casino in Delaware Park. The WNYEA is a[...]

Posted 12 years ago

Jan 10

2013

Buffalo shatters temperature record

Some weather experts believe the record-breaking heat in 2012 is a warning that the frequency of extreme weather will increase in Western New York and the nation. The average temperature in the United States for 2012 was 55.3 degrees, which is 3.2 degrees above the 20th Century average, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s State of the Climate report. The new record national average temperature is 1 degree hotter than the previous one, set in 1998. The temperature climbed even more in Buffalo. In 1998, Buffalo recorded its highest average temperature at 50.9 degrees. This record was shattered in 2012 by[...]

Posted 12 years ago

Jan 3

2013

Is hydrofracking safe with DEC?

A year-old state report leaked to the New York Times and Gannett’s Albany bureau says that hydraulic gas drilling can be done safely if the state Department of Environmental Conservation stays on top of the regulations. Never has there been an environmental issue in New York that has garnered so much emotion and attention than hydrofracking. A record-breaking 80,000 comments were sent to the DEC when it released its first review of the controversial process of extracting natural gas deep underground with sand, massive amounts of water and chemicals. Gov. Andrew Cuomo has long delayed a decision on hydrofracking in the state,[...]

Posted 12 years ago

Dec 28

2012

EPA differs with Peace Bridge on air quality

The authority that operates the Peace Bridge and a trio of state agencies maintain that fumes from traffic crossing the bridge have little impact on the health of residents who live nearby. The Environmental Protection Agency disagreed Friday, and backed up those concerns with a grant to the Clean Air Coalition of Western New York to monitor air quality around the bridge and educate and mobilize neighborhood residents. The $25,000 Environmental Justice Small Grants Program award announced Friday will be used by the Clean Air Coalition to partner with West Side residents to train them in mobile air sampling and educate[...]

Posted 12 years ago

Dec 27

2012

Ups and downs of Lisa Jackson’s tenure

Lisa Jackson’s announcement today that she is retiring as head of the Environmental Protection Agency guarantees she won’t be revisiting her plan to limit smog in 2013 after President Obama shoved it to the side more than a year ago. For Jackson, her tenure has had its ups and downs. Jackson was successful in creating the first national standards for mercury and other toxic emissions from power plants and increasing the fuel efficiency standards for cars and light trucks to 54.5 miles per gallon by 2025. She told the New York Times that the most important decision in her four years is the endangerment finding that marked carbon[...]

Posted 12 years ago

Dec 27

2012

Seiche caused low water levels

People took to Facebook and Twitter Wednesday wondering why water levels for Lake Erie and its tributaries were abnormally low. I thought I was going to have to make calls today to meteorologists and other weather experts to explain what happened, but our partners at WGRZ did it for us. Channel 2 WGRZ discovered that a seiche is the culprit. A seiche starts with a storm surge or high sustained winds from one direction that push the water up at the opposite — which in this case would be in Toledo, OH, — and cause the other side to drop like it[...]

Posted 12 years ago