Tag: Environment

Jun 16

2014

High bacteria levels close Bennett Beach

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The start of the swimming season at Bennett Beach is getting off with a bang—a bacterial bang, that is. The beach, which is 22 miles southwest of downtown Buffalo, opened for swimming Saturday. But health department officials closed it Monday for high levels of E. coli bacteria. The announcement of the closing didn’t reach all levels of county government fast enough, however. Erie County Executive Mark Poloncarz sent this Twitter post at 10:58 a.m.:   Two minutes later, the Twitter feed for Erie County Parks made the following announcement: Bennett Beach closed 15 times last season, according to data from the Environmental Protection[...]

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

Jun 10

2014

Another ‘fine mess’ for Buffalo’s City Hall

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Buffalo is facing more than $100,000 in fines because of its mishandling of hazardous materials that put city employees and neighborhood residents at risk of everything from mercury poisoning to chemical explosions. Some of the problems go back decades and were first brought to light in 2008 when inspectors from the Environmental Protection Agency learned city employees and tenants of city-owned buildings had been throwing spent lamps, which can contain small amounts of mercury, into the trash rather than safely disposing of them. Exposure to mercury can damage the central nervous system and cause breathing problems and memory impairment, especially[...]

Posted 11 years ago

Jun 5

2014

Recycling data ‘a mess’

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Comparing recycling rates community to community isn’t an easy task. In fact, data and reporting inconsistencies make it nearly impossible to make accurate comparisons. While localities can be faulted for the inconsistent way they track their recycling programs, the state Department of Environmental Conservation has been willing to accept it. As a result, it’s hard to measure progress and hold cities and towns accountable. “It’s a mess,” said Maggie Clarke, a zero waste consultant and researcher who has done work for the New York State Association for Reduction, Reuse and Recycling, “especially if you are trying to compare one city or[...]

Posted 11 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

May 27

2014

Subpar recycling effort in suburbs

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Dumpster divers in Niagara Falls find jackpots 5 cents at a time in the form of cans and bottles by the bagful in the garbage. A scruffy man who regularly pulls the bottles and cans out of the trash behind Hyde Park Ice Pavillion said his motivation is simple: “M-O-N-E-Y.” A few minutes of work earned him $12 the April afternoon he spoke to a reporter. That lesson is lost on officials in most of the largest cities and towns in Niagara and Erie counties, where recycling programs are largely an afterthought, an Investigative Post analysis has found. Most of the localities[...]

Posted 11 years ago

May 14

2014

No swimming at Gallagher Beach

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The bottom line is there won’t be any swimming this summer at Gallagher Beach off Route 5 in South Buffalo. Instead, state officials announced Monday that testing will continue through the spring and summer. Last fall, Investigative Post reported about potential water contamination at Gallagher Beach, where U.S. Rep. Brian Higgins, Gov. Andrew Cuomo and Mayor Byron Brown had hoped to open for swimming this summer. Three weeks after the story aired, the state agreed to test the water, soil and harbor floor. The testing, which was conducted over just a few days in late October, found a couple of potential concerns.[...]

Posted 11 years ago

May 6

2014

EPA investigating Battaglia Demolition

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The federal Environmental Protection Agency confirmed Tuesday that it’s investigating Battaglia Demolition for potential environmental violations. The EPA investigation comes less than a month after Investigative Post reported how residents on Peabody Street and elsewhere in the Seneca Babcock community have complained for a decade about quality of life problems they blame on the construction and demolition debris business owned by Peter Battaglia. Our report also revealed how the business continues to operate without one, and possibly two, state permits. The state Department of Environmental Conservation has cited Battaglia for operating a concrete crusher without an air permit and at[...]

Posted 11 years ago
Investigative Post