Feb 11
2013
The practice of hydraulic fracturing for natural gas may not take place here in Western New York, but is the waste from it potentially headed this way? A report by the Niagara Gazette.
Feb 8
2013
Buffalo Sabres owner Terry Pegula, who made his fortune hydrofracking, has used his status as a sports mogul at least once to lobby state lawmakers to embrace drilling for natural gas. Jon Campbell of the Gannett News Service’s capital bureau in Albany is reporting that Pegula invited lawmakers to his hockey arena 15 months ago and pitched them on the merits of hydrofracking. In late November 2011, nine months after he took control of the National Hockey League club, Pegula gathered Buffalo-area officials and state lawmakers in a boardroom at then-HSBC Arena. There, he and members of his East Resources team[...]
Feb 7
2013
The Obama administration called for a 17 percent reduction in greenhouse gas emissions by 2020. But the chance of hitting that mark is not looking good. Now, he might target existing coal-fired power plants to reduce CO2 emissions. A report by the Wall Street Journal.
Feb 5
2013
You know this: Buffalo-area commuters are stuck in traffic a lot less than their counterparts in many other large cities. What you probably don’t know: Buffalonians are sitting in traffic a lot longer than they used to. The 2012 Urban Mobility Report issued by the Texas A&M Transportation Institute considered traffic congestion in the nation’s 101 largest metropolitan areas. The report includes slews of tables from which we gleaned a few highlights, Buffalo-area motorists spent an average of 33 hours in traffic due to congestion, ranking the region No. 45. The average in comparable large metro areas is 37 hours.[...]
Feb 5
2013
Monday morning’s joint state legislative meeting on the environmental conservation budget turned into a question and answer session with state Department of Conservation Commissioner Joe Martens on hydrofracking. The Albany Times-Union has a good report of the meeting. One topic that caught my attention was during Assemblywoman Barbara Lifton’s peppering of Martens on the controversial natural gas drilling process. The Ithaca Democrat said 400 families in Washington County, Pa., have had water delivered to them because of contamination. She wasn’t happy about Pennsylvania’s Act 13, either. She called it “corruption,” and asked Martens what he thought about Act 13, specifically the[...]
Feb 4
2013
As state health department finishes its review of hydrofracking impacts, state residents still not sure if the controversial drilling should be allowed here, Capital Tonight reports. Jobs vs. environmental impacts creates the divide.
Jan 29
2013
Residents of Tonawanda already knew the air they breathe has high levels of cancer-causing benzene. Now some believe the soil they garden in and that their children play on might be contaminated, too. Jackie James Creedon, a leader of the Tonawanda Community Fund, said members took soil samples from five yards, two at a playground and one from Beaver Island State Park last November after they had discovered a black gooey substance and soot on their vehicles and gardens. The tests were taken from soil at residences on Kaufman, James and Sawyers avenues—all of which are in the middle of[...]
Jan 18
2013
There is less ice cover on the Great Lakes, which poses numerous economic and ecological problems, scientists say. The map above is a snapshot of the Great Lakes for January 17, showing very little ice cover so far. Normally, Lake Erie would be iced over by the second week of February. For example, watch this ice coverage video that shows each winter day, frame by frame, in 2007. George Leshkevich, a physical scientist with the NOAA Great Lakes Environmental Research Laboratory, said that while there is variability in the data, trends show there is less ice coverage on the Great Lakes over the past 40[...]