68 Search Results for

Oct 6

2015

State rejects Cheektowaga’s sewer plan, again

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For the second time in five years, the state Department of Environmental Conservation has rejected Cheektowaga’s plan to reduce sewer overflows into Scajaquada Creek and other local waterways. The DEC says the town’s latest plan does not adequately address a core problem, the diversion of runoff into the sewage system from downspouts and sump pumps. One town council member, however, maintains that some of the blame lies with the DEC for taking three months to respond to the proposed plan. As the two sides square off, Scajaquada Creek remains the real victim. Investigative Post this year has documented a dozen dead[...]

Posted 9 years ago

Sep 28

2015

Park planned on a polluted creek

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Buffalo Niagara Riverkeeper and the Niagara River Land Trust are taking on a risky project. The $850,000 plan announced Monday is to demolish a decrepit former car repair shop on a brownfield to construct a half-acre public park with a paddle boat launch for one of the state’s most polluted creeks, the Scajaquada. On one hand, the project at 1660 Niagara Street in Black Rock could accelerate more investment into the badly polluted creek. On the other hand, without more cleanup, the project will leave exposed one of the creek’s most polluted sections, that even during the press event reeked[...]

Posted 9 years ago

Aug 27

2015

A call for action on sewer overflows

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The federal Environmental Protection Agency gave Buffalo 20 years to curb its sewer overflows into Scajaquada Creek and other waterways flowing through the city. That’s not fast enough, said Erie County Legislator Patrick Burke, whose district includes Cazenovia Creek, which, like the Scajaquada, he says is badly polluted by sewer overflows. The lack of urgency among local, state and federal authorities has him frustrated. Therefore, he’s invited the responsible parties to a public meeting next month in an attempt to bring transparency to a problem that’s tainted local waterways for a century. “We’ve kicked the can down the road on[...]

Posted 10 years ago

Jan 3

2015

Taking stock of 2014

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Investigative Post is wrapping up a busy – and productive – year. Dan Telvock, Charlotte Keith and I produced some 90 original pieces of content in 2014, including investigations, follow-up stories, analyzes and blog posts. Many had impact, none more than Dan’s blockbuster story on the shameful condition of Scajaquada Creek and its stomach churning, heart-wrenching follow. We continued to grow our audience during 2014, thanks to our partnerships with WGRZ, Artvoice and City & State. We’re still reviewing our analytics, but it looks like our stories reached a collective audience of 7 million readers and viewers. That’s up from 6[...]

Posted 10 years ago

May 27

2014

Buffalo’s recycling program still struggles

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Buffalo is trying to burnish its green credentials with big public investments to clean up its waterways and attract clean energy companies. Recycling is an easier lift, but the city’s anemic program is plagued by fits and starts. City Hall took the major step of distributing green recycling totes to residents in late 2011. Last year, Mayor Byron Brown hired a full-time recycling coordinator. But City Hall is otherwise batting 0 for 4 when it comes to building a successful program. As a result, the city’s curbside recycling rate has leveled off and remains less than half the national average.[...]

Posted 11 years ago

Apr 14

2014

‘Big victory’ for Buffalo water quality

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The Buffalo Sewer Authority will spend $380 million on upgrades to its century-old sewer system over the next 20 years that will drastically reduce the amount of raw sewage and untreated stormwater flowing into the Niagara River and its tributaries. The authority agreed to the improvements under pressure from the Environmental Protection Agency, which determined in 2004 that the city was violating the Clean Water Act. “This is a big victory,” said Judith Enck, EPA’s administrator for Region 2 that includes New York. “We think this formal agreement will make a big difference in terms of improving water quality in[...]

Posted 11 years ago

Oct 22

2013

State’s sewage right to know act is failing

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New York State Assemblyman Sean Ryan (D) is urging the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation to enforce the sewage right to know act. Ryan made the announcement on Friday in Buffalo. The law went into effect and calls for the public to know how much sewage is being discharged into local waterways. Despite that, Investigative Post in June found many of the reports are incomplete. “No one swims in their toilet,” said Assemblymember Ryan. “We don’t want to swim in waterways that are contaminated.” Since the law went into effect in May, there have been 252 sewer discharges[...]

Posted 11 years ago

Jun 11

2013

Ugly month for sewer overflows in Erie County

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For the first time, the numbers are flowing in on sewer overflows across the state and it isn’t pretty. In Erie County, almost 7 million gallons of untreated sewage were discharged into local waterways in May. This information wasn’t publicly available on the Internet until the Sewage Pollution Right to Know Law went into effect last month. Based on what’s reported so far, the biggest repositories of raw sewage were Ellicott Creek (2 million gallons),  Scajaquada Creek (1 million) and the Niagara River (679,000). Heavy rain or snow melt is often the cause of these overflows. The ground water seeps through cracks in the sewer[...]

Posted 12 years ago