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.

Nov 5

2012

Recycling lessons from San Francisco

San Francisco isn’t just a world champion in major league baseball. The City by the Bay’s recycling program is also world class. San Francisco has tripled its recycling rate since 1996 to about 78 percent. It’s one of the highest recycling rates in the nation and light years ahead of Buffalo’s, which fluctuates in the 12 to 16 percent range. How did San Francisco do it? Officials constantly educate the public and businesses, offer almost two dozen different recycling programs that are customized for each neighborhood district, and enforce the mandates in a way that could result in someone’s trash[...]

Posted 12 years ago

Nov 2

2012

City schools fail at recycling

Buffalo’s public school system’s recycling efforts are even less ambitious than those of the city. Most schools aren’t even recycling bottles and cans, and the ones that do are only recycling paper and cardboard on a regular basis. “Most schools are not recycling,” said Andy Goldstein, the city’s former recycling coordinator said last month on WUFO-AM. “There are a few schools that have space issues and don’t have room for it, but it can be done.” Susan Eager, the district’s director of plant operations, said there have been varying degrees of recycling success over the years. Consistency has been a problem,[...]

Posted 12 years ago

Nov 2

2012

Hyundai, Kia lose a few miles per gallon

The EPA has discovered that Hyundai and Kia inflated the miles per gallon on many of the 2012 and 2013 models, prompting the car maker to modify the numbers. The cars with the inflated MPG numbers — more than 11 models — will get new window stickers that show the corrected estimates. Most vehicles will see reductions of one and two MPGs. The biggest offender is the Kia Soul with six highway MPGs above what the EPA found in its tests. “Consumers rely on the window sticker to help make informed choices about the cars they buy,’ said Gina McCarthy,[...]

Posted 12 years ago

Nov 1

2012

Recycling: City Hall’s bin is less than half full

Editor’s note: This is a three-part series. Today’s story examines the city’s recycling program. Friday’s report, which will also be the subject of coverage on WGRZ, looks at recycling efforts in the city’s public schools. On Monday, we look at the wildly success recycling program in San Francisco. City Hall’s halfhearted efforts to increase its anemic recycling rate is plagued by a failure to enforce laws, educate the public or act on a host of recommendations, Investigative Post has found. The result: Buffalo’s recycling rate is less than half the national average, costing Buffalo taxpayers more than $1 million in[...]

Posted 12 years ago

Oct 31

2012

Sandy and the global warming connection

Usually a hurricane loses intensity as it moves north over colder water — unless it’s the “Frankenstorm.” Sandy’s getting a lot of media attention for its size and intensity, but not so much attention is being made to its connection to global warming. “This is a beyond-strange situation. It’s unprecedented and bizarre,” wrote The Weather Channel’s hurricane specialist Bryan Norcross on his Facebook page. The fact of the matter is that the Atlantic Ocean isn’t as cold as it used to be. The water is 5 degrees higher than average and that translates into stronger storms farther north. Warmer water[...]

Posted 12 years ago

Oct 30

2012

Global warming not a hot topic at debates

Maybe you can blame it on the moderators, but for the first time since 1988 neither of the presidential candidates said a word about global warming and neither did their vice-presidential counterparts during the debates. Even Sarah Palin acknowledged global warming in her 2008 debate with VP Joe Biden. In his debate with Obama in 2008, Sen. McCain said, “We may hand our children and grandchildren a damaged planet.” Obama said in that same debate that, “This is one of the biggest challenges of our times and it is absolutely critical that we understand that this is not just a[...]

Posted 12 years ago

Oct 26

2012

The 800 pound gorilla: ultrafine particles

Al Carlacci, the regional air pollutant control engineer for the state Department of Environmental Conservation, said he doesn’t need a meter or an air quality monitor to tell him that there’s some dirty air in the West Side near the Peace Bridge, where studies have shown high levels of asthma. “The more cars you have the more ultrafine particles you have,” he said during a presentation Wednesday night at the Niagara Street Library hosted by the Clean Air Coalition of Western New York. “The problem is what’s enough? “Any health person would tell you, and I am the same way, if[...]

Posted 12 years ago

Oct 23

2012

Anti-frackers continue pressure on Cuomo

A new ad airing today in the Binghamton and Elmira markets has people from Pennsylvania talking about the damages they have witnessed from hydrofracking and it urges Governor Cuomo not to approve the natural gas drilling procedure. Those markets are the focus because Cuomo has mentioned a pilot program for hydrofracking in five southern tier counties. The ad from New Yorkers Against Fracking leads with a frame of Gov. Cuomo and a voiceover saying that the governor is considering opening New York State to fracking — a decision the governor has certainly been very slow to make and one New Yorkers[...]

Posted 12 years ago