Categories for Investigations

Oct 1

2014

Schumer calls for end to Buffalo’s dust bowl

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Federal, state and local authorities are intensifying their efforts to force an embattled construction and demolition debris plant in South Buffalo to clean up its operation. Senator Chuck Schumer visited the Seneca Babcock neighborhood Wednesday  to urge the Environmental Protection Agency to send a message to Battaglia Demolition that “we will not stand by and allow this company to pollute our community without any consequences whatsoever.” The business, owned by Peter Battaglia, has been the target of neighborhood complaints about the dust, truck traffic spewing diesel fumes and health problems for a decade. Schumer called on the EPA to require[...]

Posted 11 years ago

Aug 7

2014

DEC’s dustup with Battaglia Demolition

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The decade-long conflict between Peabody Street residents and an adjacent construction and demolition recycling facility continues despite recent enforcement actions by state environmental regulators. The Department of Environmental Conservation on May 1 cited Battaglia Demolition, owned by Peter Battaglia, with five notice of violations. Two of the alleged violations deal with failing to control dust that the DEC say drifts off the property from his concrete crusher as well as from the 80 to 200 trucks that rumble down Peabody Street most days of the week to get to and from his facility, located a mile southeast of downtown in[...]

Posted 11 years ago

Jul 30

2014

Cheektowaga pledges action on Scajaquada

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There is progress to report on Scajaquada Creek. The creek has been badly polluted by the dumping of more than 500 million gallons a year of sewage and untreated stormwater runoff by Buffalo and Cheektowaga. As a result, the Scajaquada is plagued by high bacteria levels , botulism that kills birds and sludge up to five feet deep in parts of the creek bed. Town of Cheektowaga officials, who to this point have dodged questions since our initial report two weeks ago, acknowledged to Dan Telvock of Investigative Post that the dumping is a serious problem that they need to address.[...]

Posted 11 years ago

Jul 24

2014

Disgust and outrage along Scajaquada Creek

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Two state senators are demanding the Department of Environmental Conservation take aggressive action to address sewer overflows that have contaminated Scajaquada Creek. Senators Mark Grisanti and Tim Kennedy, whose districts include the creek, called for action Monday after witnessing a repulsive scene that included trash filled creek water, three dead ducks, and a fourth paralyzed and gasping for air in a pool of garbage and sewage. Grisanti and Kennedy, sickened by what they saw in the creek near Delaware Park’s Hoyt Lake, said they will make it a priority to clean up Scajaquada Creek and advocate for more money to[...]

Posted 11 years ago

Jul 17

2014

The Scajaquada is a crippled creek

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Gross doesn’t even begin to describe the water in Scajaquada Creek. Municipalities dump more than a half billion gallons of sewage mixed with untreated stormwater into the creek annually. That putrid cocktail has fouled the creek’s water in a variety of ways. Sludge composed of decaying human feces and other contaminants is up to five feet deep in places along the creek bottom. Fecal bacteria is present at levels up to 20 times higher than what’s considered safe for recreational use. Avian botulism, which has paralyzed and eventually killed hundreds, if not thousands of birds over the years, lurks in[...]

Posted 11 years ago

Jul 14

2014

Huge price tag for fixing Buffalo’s buildings

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By Jim Heaney and Pamela Cyran The bill is about to become due for City Hall’s chronic failure to maintain and update many of the 240 buildings and 2,180 acres of parks it owns. Consultants two years ago gave Mayor Byron Brown’s administration a preliminary estimate of $607 million to bring those buildings and parks up to snuff over the coming decade, and said that $253 million of that work ought to get done right away. The bill for leaky roofs alone stretched into eight figures. Administration officials have kept the estimates under wraps, insisting they are too high. They[...]

Posted 11 years ago

Jul 10

2014

Buffalo’s costly neglect of public buildings

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A draft report shows city owned buildings and parkland require up to $607 million in repairs and updates over the next decade, Jim Heaney and Pamela Cyran of Investigative Post report for WGRZ. City Hall alone would cost up to $180 million to bring up to snuff, the draft report said. Costly work is required for community centers, libraries, museums and other cultural centers, and park, police and fire facilities. City officials said they have not released the two-year-old report, obtained from sources by Investigative Post, because they believe the cost estimates are high. They are scheduled to meet Friday[...]

Posted 11 years ago

Jun 13

2014

EPA fines Buffalo for mishandling waste

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The City of Buffalo will pay a $21,094 fine and spend $79,000 on nine community recycling events as punishment for numerous violations of federal hazardous waste laws under an agreement announced Thursday with the Environmental Protection Agency. City officials also agreed to improve its management of hazardous waste and spent lamps- a commitment the city failed to honor three years ago. The EPA conducted two investigations in 2008 and 2011 that found various violations of hazardous waste laws that put city employees and neighborhood residents at risk of potential mercury poisoning and chemical explosions. The settlement comes two days after Investigative[...]

Posted 11 years ago
Investigative Post