"The current $44 million cleanup of the Buffalo River soon will allow residents to use the waterway in ways most have long thought impossible"

"Since last fall, a crew dredging a six-mile stretch of the Buffalo River has removed enough sludge laden with PCBs, lead, mercury and other pollutants to fill 50 Olympic-sized swimming pools.

The Cadillac they pulled from the river? Call it a bonus.

So were the Ford Ranger, the Chevrolet S-10 pickup truck and the shopping carts and bowling balls.

“We found someone’s dumping ground,” said Mary Beth Giancarlo, an environmental scientist for the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.

Actually, the Buffalo River was everyone’s – industries’ and individuals’ – dumping ground for most of the last century."

T.J. Pignataro reports for the Buffalo News August 20, 2014.

http://www.buffalonews.com/city-region/environment/buffalos-other-waterf... [2]