Dec 16
2013
The Center for Public Integrity references a yet-to-be-published federal study that found 50 cases of bladder cancer at the Goodyear plant in Niagara Falls through 2007. A chemical called ortho-toluidine is believed to be the trigger, but Goodyear didn’t reduce employees’ exposure for over a decade, and by that time it was too late.
Dec 9
2013
The governors of eight Northeast states, including New York, want the federal government to force Midwest-Rust Belt states to prevent coal plant soot and smog from wafting across borders. The solutions are costly air pollution control technology or closing the coal plants for good.
Dec 2
2013
Two Erie County towns–Tonawanda and Amherst–rank in the top 10 of courts in the state that collect the most fines. A data and map project from the The Post-Standard.
Nov 25
2013
Wealthy interests are driving the state’s education reform efforts, usurping veteran Education Department staffers. “It is unsettling to watch the dismantling of public education by inexperienced employees hired from a special fund,” one principal told the Albany Times Union.
Nov 22
2013
Jim Heaney interviews Alain Kaloyeros, who put together the clean energy project announced Thursday, and Howard Zemsky, co-chairman of the Western New York Regional Economic Development Council. Some underreported details emerged from the 20-minute interview, which was conducted Thursday afternoon at WGRZ.
Nov 21
2013
Investigative Post teamed with WGRZ to provide insight into Thursday’s announcement by Gov. Andrew Cuomo that the state is investing $225 million to build and equip facilities that will house two fledging clean energy firms. Dan Telvock provided background on the two companies, both based in California. They have small work forces and are still searching for profitability, but are nevertheless regarded as innovation leaders in their industries. The deal with the state obligates the firms to invest $1.5 billion and operate in Buffalo for at least 10 years. Jim Heaney interviewed Alain Kaloyeros, the chief architect of the deal, and[...]
Nov 14
2013
Ontario is a year away from removing coal-fired power from its grid. But the smog isn’t going away. That’s because half of Ontario’s smog comes from the United States, namely Michigan, where half of its electricity comes from coal-fired power plants. In comparison, about 3 percent of New York’s electricity comes from coal.
Nov 12
2013
New York’s electricity bills are 60 percent higher than the national average. And those bills could be on the rise by as much as 13 percent. A report from the Rochester Democrat and Chronicle.