Aircraft accidents--New York (State)--Clarence]]>
“4 The Families” included eulogies from relatives and friends and the latest details on the crash investigation.

Colgan Air Flight 3407 was on its way from Newark, New Jersey to the Buffalo Niagara International Airport. Colgan Air was a regional company servicing Continental Airlines.

Shortly before the crash, the crew had reported a buildup of ice on the aircraft's wings and windshield. The Bombardier Q400 two-engine turbo-prop failed to recover from a stall and crashed into a house on Long Street in Clarence Center. Three people were in the house. A mother and her daughter were able to escape. The father did not survive. The accident occurred at 10:17 pm, about five miles from the Buffalo airport.

An investigation by the National Transportation Safety Board would later attribute the crash to pilot error. Instead of pointing the nose of the plane downward and applying full power, the proper reaction to an aerodynamic stall, Captain Marvin Renslow pulled back on the control column pointing the nose upward causing the plane to pitch and roll. It quickly lost altitude and crashed.

Among those killed in the crash were Allison Des Forges, a human rights investigator and an expert on the Rwandan genocide, Beverly Eckert, named co-chair of the 9/11 Family Steering Committee after her husband was killed in the September 11 attacks, Susan Wehle, the first American female Jewish Renewal cantor, and jazz musicians Gerry Niewood and Coleman Mellett, who were en route to a concert with Chuck Mangione and the Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra.]]> WIVB-TV]]> Murphy, Kurt (Graphic Artist)]]> Jacquie Walker, Jacquie (Anchor)]]> Postles, Don (Anchor)]]> Holmes, Melissa (Reporter) ]]> Richert, George (Reporter)]]> Newberg, Rich (Reporter)]]> Vaughters, Al (Reporter)]]> Schultz, Lorey (Reporter)]]> Arena, Joe (Reporter)]]> McClintick, Michele ]]> Hairston, Mylous (Reporter)]]> Cruze, Tricia (Reporter)]]> Moretti, Luke (Reporter)]]> eng]]> African Americans--New York (State)--Buffalo--History]]> African Americans--New York (State)--Buffalo--Social conditions]]> African Americans--New York (State)--Buffalo--Economic conditions]]> African American churches]]> Originally aired on WIVB-TV.]]> Newberg, Rich (Producer, Writer, Host)]]> Vetter, Tom (Producer, Photographer, Editor)]]> Hairston, Mylous (Producer, Co-host)]]> Ersing, Rich (Producer, Photographer, Editor)]]> Musial, Chris (Executive Producer)]]> Dawkins, Don (Photographer)]]> Schrodt, Roy (Post-production Editor)]]> Mombrea, John (Post-production Editor)]]> Battilana, Tony (Director)]]> Clemons, Michael (Technical Director)]]> Brown, Dave (Technical Crew)]]> Ayers, Don (Technical Crew)]]> Lawrence, John (Technical Crew)]]> Sanders, Greg (Technical Crew)]]> Newberg, Rich (Researcher)]]> Hairston, Mylous (Researcher)]]> Vetter, Tom (Researcher)]]> Ersing Rich (Researcher)]]> Musial, Chris (Researcher)]]> eng]]> Mentally ill--New York (State)]]> Mental health services--New York (State)]]> Originally aired on WIVB-TV.]]> Newberg, Rich (Producer, Writer, Host)]]> Vetter, Tom (Producer, Photographer, Editor)]]> Musial, Chris (Executive Producer)]]> Murphy, Kurt (Graphic Arts Director)]]> Vanhorn, Mike (Graphic Artist)]]> Mombrea, Mike Jr. (Creative Consultant, Contributing Photographer)]]> Schrodt, Roy (Non-linear Editor)]]> Kaufman, Ken (Composer of original score)]]> Mombrea, John (Contributing Photographer)]]> Csortan, Peter (Contributing Photographer)]]> Hutchinson, Dave (Contributing Photographer)]]> McIntyre, Don (Contributing Photographer)]]> eng]]> Shea's Buffalo Theatre]]> Shea, Michael.]]> Originally aired on WIVB-TV.]]> Newberg, Rich (Producer, Writer, Host)]]> Mombrea Jr., Mike (Producer, Photographer, Editor)]]> Musial, Chris (Executive Producer)]]> Ersing, Rich (Contributing Photographer)]]> Dee, Joe (Contributing Photographer)]]> Swan, Ray (Contributing Photographer)]]> Beauchamp, Steve (Contributing Photographer)]]> Murphy, Kurt (Graphic Arts Director)]]> Vinciguerra, Jerry (Graphic Artist)]]> Bray, John (Announcer)]]> Mombrea, John (Post-production Editor)]]> Diavastes, Jim (Post-production Editor)]]> Schrodt, Roy (Post-production Editor)]]> Newberg, Rich (Researcher)]]> Mombrea, Mike Jr. (Researcher)]]> Musial, Chris (Researcher)]]> Kocher, Michael (Researcher)]]> eng]]> Love Canal Chemical Waste Landfill (Niagara Falls, N.Y.)]]> Chemical plants -- Waste disposal -- Environmental aspects -- New York (State) -- Niagara Falls]]>
The cries of families ravaged by chemical exposure in their own homes had initially been ignored by lawmakers who were in a position to offer meaningful support. The grassroots struggle of these homeowners and their ultimate victory in winning federal support offers powerful lessons to a nation still troubled by environmental injustice.

Mr. Newberg tracked down the former Niagara Gazette rookie reporter who broke the story in 1978. In a rare interview, Michael Brown recalls his "journalistic obsession" after going door-to-door in the Love Canal neighborhood and establishing a pattern of still births and cancer.

Lois Gibbs, the stay-at-home mom who rose to national prominence in her fight to be heard, tells Mr. Newberg that local broadcast journalists played a major role in getting the word out. “When people are right and people peacefully demonstrate and speak truth to power,” she said, “that’s how democracy works, and then we got what we needed.”

The story ends with President Joe Biden bemoaning the fact that the right of every American to breathe clean air and drink clean water has yet to be fulfilled.

“A Toxic Nightmare: The Awakening” received a New York Emmy Award in the category of Science/Environment. It also won a national Telly Award. In addition, Rich Newberg and co-producer Tom Vetter took first place “Enterprise Reporting” honors from the Journalists Association of New York.

The piece appeared as a featured segment of the Buffalo primetime special, “The Buffalo Story: History Happens Here,” which won a New York Emmy Award for “Public Service.”

Originally aired on WIVB-TV and WNLO-TV / Buffalo, New York.]]> Newberg, Rich (Producer, Writer, Host)]]> Vetter, Tom (Producer, Editor)]]>
]]> Walker, Jacquie (Co-producer)]]> Murphy, Kurt (Co-producer)]]> Love Canal: Neighborhood of Fear [The Story of Love Canal Pt. 2] ]]> Turning Anger Into Action [The Story of Love Canal Pt.3]]]> What Have We Learned? [The Story of Love Canal Pt. 4]]]> An Interview with Michael Brown]]> An Interview with Lois Gibbs [Her battle and victory on behalf of Love Canal homeowners]]]> eng]]> Agent Orange]]> Herbicides--War use]]> Agent Orange--Health aspects--Vietnam]]> Vietnam War, 1961-1975--Veterans]]>
WIVB-TV senior correspondent Rich Newberg reports on progress made by Agent Orange victims who have sought medical help and disability compensation from the Veterans Administration. He features the stories of two Vietnam Veterans from Western New York who suffered the consequences of Agent Orange exposure.]]> Newberg, Rich]]> Hill, Ahmir]]> eng]]> ]]> Chemical plants -- Waste disposal -- Environmental aspects -- New York (State) -- Niagara Falls]]> Love Canal Chemical Waste Landfill (Niagara Falls, N.Y.)]]>
She says that her son, who had been “perfectly healthy,” suddenly got “sicker and sicker and sicker.” He developed epilepsy. Lois began reading articles by Michael Brown in the Niagara Gazette, questioning whether a disproportionate number of health issues in the community could be attributed to toxic chemical exposure.

Mrs. Gibbs, who said it was “terrifying,” began her search for answers by going to the Niagara Falls school board, City Hall, and the offices of state senators and other representatives. She says no one offered to help. She says Mayor Michael O’Laughlin told her Michael Brown was a “troublemaker,” and that she should “go home and take care of my child.”

In her interview with Rich Newberg, Lois Gibbs reflects on the strategies employed to finally get the president of the United States to come to Niagara Falls and sign legislation benefitting Love Canal families wishing to move out of the neighborhood. It also created a Superfund to assist other communities across the country dealing with the hazards of toxic chemical exposure.

Portions of the Lois Gibbs interview appear in the 2021 documentary, “The Buffalo Story: History Happens Here.” It is part of the Rich Newberg Reports Collection. The Love Canal segment entitled “A Toxic Nightmare: The Awakening,” won a New York Emmy award in 2022 in the category of Science/Environment.]]> Newberg, Rich (Interviewer)]]> Gibbs, Lois (Interviewee)]]> Vetter, Tom (Producer)]]> Terranova, Michael (Editor)]]> A Toxic Nightmare: The Awakening [The Story of Love Canal Pt. 1]

]]> eng]]> Chemical plants -- Waste disposal -- Environmental aspects -- New York (State) -- Niagara Falls
]]> Love Canal Chemical Waste Landfill (Niagara Falls, N.Y.)]]>
Mr. Brown had begun covering toxic waste dumpsites in Niagara County. That became his journalistic focus. He managed to stir up a lot of controversy in the process.

While covering a public hearing, a woman in her early 20s from the Love Canal neighborhood broke down in tears when describing her concerns about potential health issues associated with chemicals believed to be leaking into her and her neighbors’ homes.

The city of Niagara Falls had initiated an assessment of the issue and considered covering the old dumpsite with clay. In 1977, Mr. Brown talked with a city engineer who felt the situation was very serious and could effect future generations if not properly addressed.

A period of silence by the city followed. Brown decided to follow up but said he got no answers from the County Health Department. He had become the Niagara Falls City Hall reporter for the Gazette. His journalistic intuition prompted him to go door-to-door, talking with Love Canal families. His goal was to determine whether the presence of toxic chemicals may have been having an effect on their health.

Rich Newberg’s interview with Michael Brown takes us back to that initial period of discovery and what followed next. At the time of the interview, more than four decades had passed since the Love Canal disaster became a “journalistic obsession” for Mr. Brown.

Viewers will learn of the obstacles he faced and how his reporting for the Niagara Gazette led to the rise of Lois Gibbs, leader of the Love Canal Homeowners Association, whose tireless efforts not only ended in victory for her neighbors, but served as the beginning of the environmental justice movement for people exposed to toxic chemicals in their communities.

Portions of the Brown and Gibbs interviews appear in the 2021 documentary, “The Buffalo Story: History Happens Here.” The segment entitled “A Toxic Nightmare: The Awakening,” won a New York Emmy award in 2022 in the category of Science/Environment.]]> Newberg, Rich (Interviewer)]]> Brown, Michael (Interviewee)]]> Vetter, Tom (Producer)]]> Terranova, Michael (Editor)]]> A Toxic Nightmare: The Awakening [The Story of Love Canal Pt. 1]

Love Canal: Neighborhood of Fear [The Story of Love Canal Pt. 2]

Turning Anger Into Action [The Story of Love Canal Pt.3]

What Have We Learned? [The Story of Love Canal Pt. 4]

An Interview with Lois Gibbs [Her Battle and Victory on Behalf of Love Canal Homeowners]

]]> eng]]> Tutu, Desmond]]> Eve, Arthur O.]]> Apartheid -- South Africa]]> Racism -- United States]]> African Americans -- New York (State) -- Buffalo]]> African Americans -- Civil rights]]>
Apartheid, which means “apartness” in the language of Afrikaans, was the name given to the official separation of the race. The practice was enforced by a government dedicated to principals of white supremacy. The National Party came to power in 1948.

The National Party, through legislation in 1950, classified South Africans according to race. Based on racial classification, the government decided where people could live and work, what type of schooling they could receive, what facilities would be open to them, who they could associate with, and whether or not they could vote.

Archbishop Tutu called the practice “evil.” His 1989 visit to Buffalo came at a time when an anti-apartheid faction within the National Party was beginning to make significant changes.

Tutu, who won the Nobel Peace Prize, told Buffalo audiences they could help in the fight against apartheid, even if it was just by saying a prayer. He compared the policy of apartheid to Nazism. He preached non-violence in the tradition of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.

WIVB-TV anchor Jacquie Walker interviewed Archbishop Tutu for a special program that documented his appearances in Western New York and his thoughts on civil rights. He said he believed he would see an end to apartheid in his lifetime.

In a report by WIVB’s Rich Newberg, African American inner-city residents living on Buffalo’s East Side shared thoughts about their own struggles for equality and the consequences of systemic racism. Violent crime was affecting their quality of life. There were also demonstrations against police brutality.

Deputy Assembly Speaker Arthur O. Eve told Mr. Newberg that conditions had worsened since the urban race riots of the late 1960s. He said there were more homeless people of color, that the Buffalo infant mortality rate among Blacks and Latinos was the highest in the nation, and drugs and Aids were wreaking havoc in the inner-city.

The campaign to end apartheid achieved success in 1994 with the formation of a democratic government in South Africa. The white minority’s rule through fear and intimidation had finally ended. ]]> Walker, Jacquie (Anchor, Reporter)]]> Newberg, Rich (Reporter)]]> Sawabini, Wadi (Reporter)]]>
Buffalo & Erie County Public Library (publisher of digital)]]> Murphy, Kurt (Graphic Arts Director)]]> eng]]> Operation Desert Shield, 1990-1991]]> Iraq-Kuwait Crisis, 1990-1991]]> United States--Armed Forces]]> Originally aired on WIVB-TV.]]> Newberg, Rich (Producer, Writer, Host)]]> Mombrea, Mike, Jr. (Producer, Photographer, Editor)]]> Nolf, Neil (Public Affairs Officer -- Niagara Falls Air Reserve Station)]]> eng]]> Pan-American Exposition (1901 : Buffalo, N.Y.)]]> African Americans--New York (State)--Buffalo--History]]> Abolitionists--New York (State)--Buffalo--History]]> Underground Railroad--New York (State)--Buffalo--History]]> Fugitive slaves--New York (State)--Buffalo--History]]> African Americans--Civil rights--New York (State)--Buffalo--History]]> New York (State), Western--African Americans--History]]> Originally aired on WIVB-TV.]]> Newberg, Rich (Producer, Writer, Host)]]> Vetter, Tom (Producer, Photographer, Editor)]]> Dawkins, Don (Producer, Photographer, Editor)]]> Musial, Chris (Executive Producer)]]> Hairston, Mylous (Reporter)]]> Murphy, Kurt (Graphic Arts Director)]]> Mombrea, Mike Jr. (Contributing Photographer)]]> Root, Kim (Contributing Photographer)]]> Dee, Joe (Contributing Photographer)]]> Greene, Terry (Contributing Photographer)]]> Mombrea, John (Post production Non-linear Editor)]]> Battilana, Tony (Director)]]> Clemons, Michael (Technical Director)]]> Benzel, Gary (Audio Engineer)]]> Griswold, Jason (Tape Operator)]]> Brown, Dave (Font Operator)]]> Serio, Sam (Master Control Operator)]]> Sanders, Greg (Master Control Operator)]]> Dawkins, Don (Researcher)]]> Newberg, Rich (Researcher)]]> Vetter, Tom (Researcher)]]> Hairston, Mylous (Researcher)]]> Musial, Chris (Researcher)]]> Buscaglia, Jennifer (Researcher)]]> eng]]> Matt, Richard]]> Sweat, David]]> Clinton Prison (Dannemora, N.Y.)]]>
On June 16, during the search, prison employee Joyce Mitchell confessed to providing Matt and Sweat with hacksaw blades, chisels, and other tools used for the escape.

WIVB-TV Senior Correspondent Rich Newberg presents a video profile of Matt and Sweat, followed by a WIVB-TV television special, "Breakout."

(Background)
Richard Matt, from Tonawanda, New York, had been serving a sentence of 25 years to life for beating, torturing, and ultimately killing his former boss, William Rickerson. After breaking his neck, Matt dismembered Rickerson's body, discarding the remains in the Niagara River.

Matt and an accomplice had kidnapped Rickerson from his North Tonawanda home with the intent to rob him. Matt then fled to Mexico, where he stabbed a man to death after trying to rob him. Matt was arrested and convicted of the stabbing death in Mexico. He was then extradited to the U.S. to stand trial for the murder of William Dickerson.

David Sweat, raised in Binghamton area of New York, shot a Broome County sheriff's deputy multiple times before running him over with a car. He and an accomplice had been spotted by Deputy Kevin Tarsia in a parking lot while in possession of stolen firearms. After Sweat ran over Deputy Tarsia, the accomplice, Jeffrey Nabinger Jr., shot the severely wounded deputy in the face, killing him. Sweat was serving a sentence of life without parole.

Matt was hunted down in Malone, New York on June 26, 2015 and killed during a confrontation with a U.S border patrol agent and a former Army Ranger. Two days later, Sweat was spotted near Constable, New York by a New York State Trooper who wanted to question him. After Sweat took off running across a hay field, Trooper Jay Cook shot him in the shoulder and arm. Sweat survived.]]> Newberg, Rich]]> eng]]> Television journalists]]> Television broadcasting of news]]>
While the first Buffalo viewers of television in 1948 may have thought the images miraculously appeared on their small screens at home, it took a coordinated effort of technicians, directors, set designers, audio and film engineers, station support personnel, and many others who worked behind the scenes, to put programs on the air.

While their expertise, for the most part, was technical in nature, some possessed incredible artistic talents worthy of the public spotlight. In this series of reports by WIVB-TV'ss Rich Newberg and Jacquie Walker, these broadcasting pioneers are recognized for their contributions to the Buffalo television industry.

Order of Presentation: WIVB-TV Behind the Scenes
John Novelli / Technical Director, Artist
Ted Patton / TV and Stage Set Designer
Frank Wald / Technician
Hal Case / Technician
Ann Deckop / Executive Assistant
Alfred Kirchhofer / First President & General Manager
Bill McKibben / Station Manager under Kirchhofer]]> Newberg, Rich]]> Mombrea, Mike Jr. (Photographer, editor)]]> Hill, Ahmir (Title Graphic Artist)]]> Walker, Jacquie (Reporter)]]> Buffalo Broadcasters Association]]> eng]]> Cuomo, Mario M., 1932-2015.]]> Governors--New York (State)]]>
In 2015, following Cuomo’s death at age 82, WIVB-TV Senior Correspondent Rich Newberg talked with Masiello and the governor’s former spokesman in Buffalo, Tim Clark, about Cuomo’s unique ability to connect with people, even if they did not agree with him politically. ]]> Newberg, Rich (Writer, Reporter)]]> Mombrea, Mike Jr. (Editor)]]> Murphy, Kurt (Graphic Arts Director)]]> eng]]> Colored Musicians Club (Buffalo, N.Y.)]]> Jazz--New York (State)--Buffalo--History and criticism]]> African Americans--New York (State)--Buffalo]]> Tinney, Al.]]> African Americans--New York (State)--Buffalo--Social conditions]]> Originally aired on WIVB-TV.]]> Newberg, Rich (Producer, Writer, Host)]]> Vetter, Tom (Producer, Photographer, Editor)]]> Dawkins, Don (Producer, Photographer, Editor)]]> Hairston, Mylous (Producer, Reporter)]]> Musial, Chris (Executive Producer)]]> Mombrea, Mike Jr. (Photographer, Editor)]]> Mombrea, John (Post-production Editor)]]> Baxter, Tim (Post-production Editor)]]> Dady, Kelly (Director)]]> Clemons, Michael (Tape Operator)]]> Benzel, Gary (Tape Operator)]]> Young, Matt (Audio Engineer)]]> Dawkins, Don (Researcher)]]> Newberg, Rich (Researcher)]]> Vetter, Tom (Researcher)]]> Hairston, Mylous (Researcher)]]> Musial, Chris (Researcher)]]> eng]]> Television broadcasting of news]]> Television broadcasting of news--New York (State)]]> Television broadcasting of news--United States--History.]]> When WIVB-TV (formerly WBEN-TV) celebrated its 50th anniversary with a TV special on May 14, 1998, the use of archival news film and videotape gave viewers a window into Buffalo'ss storied history. Rich Newberg, who co-produced and co-hosted the program, wrote an article for the National Television Academy, documenting the significance of the station's successful efforts to broadcast footage dating back to the birth of television in Buffalo in 1948. Buffalo is a unique television market in that the news film and videotape archives from all three major stations have been saved. WIVB-TV (Channel 4-CBS), as well as WKBW-TV (Channel 7-ABC) and WGRZ-TV (Channel 2 - NBC), have given the Buffalo Broadcasters Association (BBA) permission to digitize their archival TV news collections and bring Western New York's moving image history back to life.

Mr. Newberg, a founding member of the BBA and Hall of Fame inductee, has put together a comprehensive visual history of this extraordinary effort in Buffalo to preserve and utilize a most valuable educational resource. He served as chair of the BBA's Archive Task Force that began the process of digitizing Buffalo's TV news archives in 2011. The historical retrospective begins with excerpts from the Channel 4 documentary, "First In Western New York: 50 Golden Years on Channel 4." The featured segments are narrated by WIVB-TV former anchors Don Postles and Rich Newberg.
(Runs: 8:30)

LAUNCHING OF THE ARCHIVE PROJECT
On March 29, 2019 the Buffalo Broadcasters Association (BBA) officially launched The Archive Project. The BBA had established written agreements with WIVB-TV (Nexstar/CBS) and WKBW-TV (Scripps/ABC) to digitize their news film and early videotape archives. WGRZ-TV (Tegna/NBC) came onboard in 2024. The moving image archive is to be used for educational use only.

Through BBA fundraisers, donations, and grants from the Western New York Library Resources Council, digitized news reports and clips dating back as early as the mid-1960s began being posted on the New York Heritage website. Postings will also appear on the BBA's own website, which is currently being revamped to provide space for the archival material.

These reports that aired on WIVB-TV and WKBW-TV show viewers the scope of the project and why the initiative is a valued resource for Western New York and the nation.
(Runs: 5:30)

ACTOR ED ASNER ENDORSES THE BBA'S ARCHIVE PROJECT
On September 29, 2019, Actor Ed Asner, who played television news director Lou Grant on The Mary Tyler Moore Show, endorsed the BBA's Archive Project in a public service announcement. The endorsement was recorded during the time Mr. Asner was in Western New York for his performance of a one man show.

Asner endorsement: "Hello. I'm Ed Asner. You may remember me as television's no-nonsense news director, Lou Grant. If you think about it, journalists provide us with our first draft of history. Right here in Buffalo, more than 50 years of TV news coverage is being brought back to life! Local stations are working with the Buffalo Broadcasters Association to bring back the stories that helped define the Niagara Frontier. It's called The Archive Project, and I support it with all my heart! So should you."
(Runs: 60 seconds)

THE MEMORY KEEPERS
Rescuing Buffalo's Moving Image History
This update on The Archive Project was presented at the Buffalo Broadcasters Hall of Fame induction ceremony on November 4, 2021. The piece was modified in 2024 to include WGRZ-TV, which also entered into contract with the BBA for the digitization of its film and videotape archive. The progress report is written and hosted by Rich Newberg and edited by Tom Vetter. The feature lays out the challenges in preserving and utilizing Buffalo's archival TV news film and videotape.
(Runs: 7:20)

THE ARCHIVE PROJECT
Buffalo Broadcasters Association
How It All Began
(5 PARTS: 2006, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011)
The cornerstone project of the Buffalo Broadcasters Association (BBA) is to digitize Buffalo television archival news film and videotape from the mid-1960s to the early 1990s. The news film had been rescued on many occasions by Buffalo broadcasting pioneers whose vision was to someday create a moving image archive of Buffalo's rich and colorful history as told through the lens of broadcast journalists.

The storage of news film from all three Buffalo network affiliates began in the 1960s. Boxes were initially kept at Buffalo Historical Society. Channel 7 eventually took back its film, while Channels 4 and 2 chose not to physically reclaim their footage.

This series of features, written and produced by Rich Newberg, documents the progress and objectives of The Archive Project. The five video reports were presented during most of the BBA's Hall of Fame ceremonies between 2006 and 2011.
(Runs: 22:36)]]> Newberg, Rich]]> Buffalo Broadcasters Association]]> Mombrea Jr., Mike]]> Vetter, Tom]]> Terrenova, Michael]]> eng]]> Buffalo (N.Y.)--Emigration and immigration]]> Immigrants--New York (State)--Buffalo--History]]> Ellis Island Immigration Station (N.Y. and N.J.) -- History.]]> Originally aired on WIVB-TV.]]> Newberg, Rich (Producer, Writer, Reporter)]]> Mombrea, Mike Sr. (Photographer, Editor)]]> eng]]> Capozzi, Anthony]]> Sanchez, Altemio C.]]> Judicial error--United States--Cases]]> Originally aired on WIVB-TV.]]> Newberg, Rich (Producer, Writer, Host)]]> Moretti, Luke (Producer, Writer, Host)]]> Schlaerth, Joseph (Executive Producer)]]> Mombrea, Mike Jr. (Photographer, Editor)]]> Murphy, Kurt (Graphic Arts Director)]]> Vinciguerra, Jerry (Graphic Artist)]]> Root, Kim (Contributing Photographer)]]> Hutchinson, David (Contributing Photographer)]]> Carroll, John (Contributing Photographer)]]> Paszkowsky Danylo (Contributing Photographer)]]> Summerville, Dan (Contributing Photographer)]]> eng]]> McCray, Riccardo.]]> Murderer--New York (State)--Buffalo.]]> Murder investigation--New York (State)--Buffalo]]> One of the most horrific crimes in Buffalo history unfolded in the early morning hours of August 14, 2010. A gunman shot four people to death, execution style, and wounded four others. It happened at the City Grill restaurant on Buffalo’s Main Street.

The shootings followed an argument inside the restaurant. One of the victims who were shot to death had been celebrating his first wedding anniversary.

The gunman escaped, and during the days that followed, many Buffalo inner city residents lived in fear that there would be more bloodshed. Although there were more than a hundred patrons in the restaurant at the time of the shootings, authorities said they were having a hard time locating people willing to cooperate.

Buffalo police had arrested a suspect less than 12 hours after the shootings, but he turned out to be the wrong man.

Eleven days later, as authorities were closing in on another man who had emerged as the main “person of interest,” 23-year-old Riccardo McCray decided he would rather surrender peacefully than risk a showdown with Buffalo Police.

On August 25, 2010, community activists Darnell Jackson and Bishop Perry Davis brought McCray to WIVB-TV studios in North Buffalo. Jackson had contacted the station’s senior correspondent, Rich Newberg, the night before, indicating McCray was seeking a safe haven to surrender.

Newberg had a long history of reporting on the struggles of inner city residents, and had provided nightly updates following the City Grill shootings.

While McCray waited for his attorney to arrive, Newberg interviewed the suspect, who volunteered the fact that he had been at the City Grill at the time of the shootings, but denied being the shooter.

McCray was then peacefully taken into Buffalo Police custody and charged with first and second-degree murder and possession of a weapon.

At McCray’s trial, Newberg was called as a witness for the prosecution. His entire interview of McCray was played for the jury in a packed courtroom.

McCray was found guilty of first-degree murder, attempted murder and criminal possession of a weapon. He is serving a life sentence without the possibility of parole.
]]>
CITY GRILL MASSACRE RETROSPECTIVE
1. WIVB-TV Anchor/Reporter Dave Greber’s retrospective dating back almost ten years includes footage from the City Grill massacre that had never been made public before. Greber interviews former WIVB-TV Senior Correspondent Rich Newberg who reflects on the day Riccardo McCray was brought to him to surrender. McCray was later convicted of murder, attempted murder, and criminal possession of a weapon.
February 17, 2020
(Runs: 6:18)

SURRENDER OF RICCARDO MCCRAY
2. Shortly after handling the surrender of Riccardo McCray, the primary suspect in the City Grill shootings, WIVB-TV Senior Correspondent Rich Newberg gave a first hand account of how it all unfolded. It was posted on the WIVB-TV website. Newberg would later testify at McCray’s trial. He was a witness for the prosecution. His entire interview of McCray was played for the jury.
August 2010
(Runs: 4:05)

FIRST TELEVISED REPORTS OF MCCRAY’S SURRENDER
WIVB-TV / News 4 Buffalo
August 25, 2010
(Runs: 13:44)
3. Reports begin with “Breaking News” cut-in to programming followed by Rich Newberg’s first reports on McCray’s surrender, McCray being charged with the City Grill shootings, community reaction, and potential use of Newberg’s interview with McCray as evidence by prosecutors.

MCCRAY ARRAIGNMENT
WIVB-TV / News 4 Buffalo
August 26, 2010
(Runs: 2:05)
4. Riccardo McCray is arraigned on charges including murder attempted murder, and weapons possession.

EXPERTS REVIEW MCCRAY SURRENDER AND
INTERVIEW
September 3, 2010
(Runs: 3:00)
5. WIVB-TV Legal Analyst Terry Connors and former New York State Attorney General Dennis Vacco review the video showing the McCray surrender and interview. They believe the interview by Rich Newberg could be used in court.

RICH NEWBERG TESTIFIES AT MCCRAY TRIAL
(March 25, 2011)
(Runs: 2:32)
6. WIVB-TV Investigative Reporter Luke Moretti reports on Rich Newberg’s testimony in court as a witness for the prosecution. Newberg said his role was to obtain information from McCray who chose to answer all the questions that were raised and denied being the shooter.

REPORT ON JURY DELIBERATIONS
(March 31, 2011)
(Runs: 3:22)
7. WIVB-TV reporter Laurie Schultz says jurors wanted to review the testimony of the getaway car driver. She then shows excerpts of closing arguments by the prosecution and defense. Her report includes surveillance video of the shootings used as evidence in McCray’s trial.

MCCRAY FOUND GUILTY (3/31/2011)
(Report Aired: April 1, 2011)
(Runs: 2:23)
8. After seven hours of deliberations, the jury finds Riccardo McCray guilty of three counts of first degree murder and several counts of attempted murder in the first degree. Prosecutors believe the surveillance video was powerful evidence in the trial.
McCray never took the stand and there were no witnesses who testified in his behalf.

MCCRAY SENTENCING
(June 2, 2011)
(Runs: 2:59)
9. Riccardo McCray receives the maximum sentence of life without parole. WIVB-TV reporter George Richert shows courtroom video of victims’ family members emotionally telling the judge the impact of McCray’s actions on their lives and the lives of their loved ones. McCray killed and wounded his victims by firing 10 shots within 17 seconds.
McCray stood up during sentencing and once again declared that he wasn’t the shooter. Upon passing sentence, Erie County Judge Sheila Di’Tullio told McCray, “You’re a thug and you’re a murderer and you’re a person with no remorse and no conscience. Quite simply, Riccardo McCray, you take a life and you get life.”

[42:05 —Total running time for segments 1 though 9]

COVERAGE OF CITY GRILL MASSACRE
RICH NEWBERG REPORTS
(August - September 2010)
(Runs: 1:09:16)
10. Comprehensive series of reports beginning with the morning of the shootings at the City Grill in downtown Buffalo and ending with the surrender of Riccardo McCray to Senior Correspondent Rich Newberg at WIVB-TV studios.
[1:09:16 — Total running time for these reports]

[1:51:34 — Total running time for 1 through 10]]]> Newberg, Rich (Writer, Reporter)]]> Mombrea, Mike Jr. (Photographer, editor)]]> Woodson, Paul (Photographer)]]> Ersing, Rich (Photographer)]]> 2010-08-25 (McCray surrenders)
2011-03-31 (Found Guilty)
2011-06-02 (Sentenced to life without parole)]]> Murphy, Kurt (Graphic Artist)]]> eng]]> Carpenter's Hand]]> Developmentally disabled--New York (State)--Buffalo]]> Originally aired on WIVB-TV.]]> Newberg, Rich (Producer, Writer, Host)]]> Vetter, Tom (Producer, Photographer, Editor)]]> Musial, Chris (Executive Producer)]]> Baxter, Tim (On-line Editor)]]> Mombrea, John (On-line Editor)]]> Murphy, Kurt (Graphic Arts Director)]]> Kaufman, Ken (Composer of original score)]]> Newberg, Rich (Lyricist and Composer of lullaby _Let Me Cradle Your Dreams_)]]> Sunday, Bonnie (Lyricist)]]> Moriarty, Kathy (Musical Performer)]]> Giovenco, Joseph (Field Assistant -- Ukraine)]]> Buscaglia, Jennifer (Research Assistant)]]> Dadey, Kelly (Director)]]> Foster, Joseph D. (Tape Operator)]]> eng]]> Radioactive waste disposal in the ground -- New York (State) -- West Valley]]> Radioactive waste sites -- New York (State) -- West Valley]]> Reactor fuel reprocessing -- New York (State) -- West Valley]]>
Initial projections for the cleanup of radioactive waste pegged costs at $235 million dollars. The project, it was thought, would take seventeen years to complete. By 2018 the amount spent totaled $2.3 billion dollars. The full cleanup price tag could be in the range of $10 billion dollars, according to earlier estimates by the U.S. Department of Energy.

In 2020, forty years after the site was declared a National Demonstration Project, efforts were still underway to dismantle and remove the remaining contaminated buildings still standing on the site. Other efforts were focused on either dismantling and removing radioactive waste material from burial and storage areas or making them more secure. Environmental watchdog groups continue to raise serious questions about public safety and health.

WIVB-TV, the CBS affiliate in Buffalo, closely covered the West Valley story and presented many reports that focused on the grassroots efforts that helped shape the massive cleanup project. The movement grew in intensity as New York State and the federal government considered proposals to accept more nuclear waste at the site.

This overview is the first of five groups of television news reports, videos, and films documenting the political, economic, and social processes that led to a forty-year cleanup effort that is still in progress. The multi-billion-dollar undertaking continues to serve as a national demonstration project.

The reports and summaries that follow are compiled by WIVB-TV senior correspondent (ret.) Rich Newberg. He played a major role in covering initial events as they unfolded in the early 1980s.

Overview Summary: (1979 - 2020)

1. The Nuclear Waste Challenge
CBS report by Robert Schackne lays out the challenge: 1979
“Some 600,000 gallons of lethally radioactive liquid waste that must be disposed of by a technology that has never been developed.”

2. Migrating Radioactive Waste
WIVB-TV report by Rich Newberg: 1982
Sand “lenses” in trenches containing low level nuclear waste provide paths for migration of contaminated rain water. Sierra Club issues a warning that the “flaky” bedrock is not a suitable barrier.

3. Lessons Learned the Hard Way
Reports by WIS-TV, Columbia South Carolina: 1983
Problems at West Valley lead to a rethinking of plans to activate a similar privately-owed nuclear reprocessing plant in Barnwell, South Carolina.

4. Who Would Accept Radioactive Waste?
CBS report by Bill Curtis: 1982
The small Texas Town of Tulia considers accepting radioactive waste from sites such as West Valley. Tulia sits on top of one of the biggest salt beds in the country. Salt beds are one of three geological formations deemed suitable by the federal government to store radioactive waste.

5. West Valley Chosen for a National Demonstration Project (1980)
WIVB-TV Report by Allen Costantini: 1982
Ten years after Nuclear Fuel Services stopped operations at West Valley, control of the site is turned over to the state and federal governments and the Westinghouse Corporation. Westinghouse is the primary contractor hired to clean up the site at West Valley. The 600,000 gallons of high-level liquid waste is to be solidified into a glasslike substance and then moved to a secure storage outside of the region.

6. Entering the First Radioactive Cell for Testing
WIVB-TV Report by Rich Newberg: 1983
Rich Newberg and photographer Jay Lauder cover the first tests conducted by Westinghouse experts inside a radioactive cell where uranium was extracted from spent fuel rods. The tests would help establish the best techniques for preparing the facility for the task of solidifying the high-level liquid radioactive waste.

7. Storing the High Level Radioactive Waste
Video by CHBWV West Valley Decommissioning Team: 2015
The West Valley Demonstration project becomes the first site in U.S. history to place high level radioactive waste into long term outdoor storage. This video traces the history of the nation’s first and only commercial nuclear fuel reprocessing plant and the enormous task of cleaning up the waste it generated during its six year run, from 1966 to 1972. (see West Valley File 5 of 5 in this collection for present and future safety concerns.)

Background
West Valley is located In the Cattaraugus County Town of Ashford. It is here where Nuclear Fuel Services once served as the nation’s only commercial plant that reprocessed spent nuclear fuel rods used to produce atomic energy. The rods contained plutonium and uranium which could be recovered for reuse. The first rods were delivered to the plant in 1966, but when federal regulations toughened, the costs were deemed too much to bare. The plant closed in 1972.

The entire site initially became the responsibility of the state of New York. In 1961 the state had bought and leased 3,300 acres of West Valley land for atomic industrial use. The plant was first owned by a subsidiary of the W.R. Grace Company, which later sold the operation to Getty Oil.

The Cleanup Challenge
Hundreds of thousands of gallons of high-level radioactive liquid waste needed to be removed from underground steel storage tanks located on an eight-acre burial ground site. Another fifteen acres of burial land is also of major concern because it served as one of the nation’s six commercial burial grounds for radioactive waste. The material was buried in unlined soil trenches and included at least fourteen pounds of plutonium. Yet another burial site contained waste from the reprocessing operations at West Valley, including damaged irradiated fuel. This waste was buried in fifty-foot-deep holes.

Environmental activists, scientists from the Roswell Park Comprehensive Cancer Center, and professors from the University at Buffalo pointed out that the trenches were geologically unstable, and that ground water could be contaminated and migrate from the site. In addition, the area is situated on a fault line and is potentially susceptible to earthquakes.

A group called The Coalition on West Valley Nuclear Wastes was formed in 1974. Some of its members specialized in technical aspects of radioactive waste disposal and health effects of radiation. The Coalition began putting pressure on the state and federal governments to have the West Valley site stabilized and cleaned up. It also fought against proposals to have additional nuclear waste material brought to the site for burial, incineration, other waste processing, or disposal.

The Coalition played a major role in the creation of the West Valley Demonstration Project Act which was signed into law by President Jimmy Carter in 1980. It gave the U.S. Department of Energy the responsibility to solidify the high-level waste. It also granted the D.O.E. the authority to address the issues involved in decontaminating and decommissioning the facilities. West Valley is believed to be the only radioactive waste site in the country with its own act of Congress.

In 1982, the federal government took control of two hundred acres at the West Valley site, including the underground high level radioactive waste tanks, the high level waste burial grounds, and the contaminated buildings where nuclear fuel rods had been reprocessed.

In 1985 Congress required states to assume responsibility for the storage and management of what it termed “low level” radioactive waste generated within their borders. Watchdog groups say much of this waste is “high level” and dangerous. At West Valley, New York State maintains control over the fifteen acres of “low level” burial grounds mentioned above. This area had closed in 1975 after radioactive water had filtered through an inadequate landfill cap and found its way into surrounding streams that eventually drain into Lake Erie.

The greatest challenge to the federal government was finding a company that was capable of turning the liquid high level waste into a solid and more stable material for storage. Between 1996 and 2002, Westinghouse removed most of the high level liquid waste from the underground tanks and converted it into glass logs. It used a process known as vitrification. 275 intensely radioactive logs were formed and initially stored deep in the bowels of the reprocessing building, which helped provide shielding from the radioactivity.

In 2011, the U.S. Department of Energy selected the company that goes by the name CH2M HILL BWXT West Valley, LLC as its contractor. Its tasks were to secure the storage of the high-level waste and to demolish the closed radioactive buildings and the underground piping.

In order to secure the storage of what came out of the underground tanks, 275 stainless steel canisters containing the vitrified waste were placed in steel-lined giant concrete storage casks, each weighing 87 1/2 tons.

A 16,000 square foot reinforced concrete storage pad now holds 56 casks for what is termed “long term passive storage.” The casks are certified to hold the high-level waste for fifty years. Since there is no designated national repository for high level nuclear waste, the material must remain on the grounds of the West Valley site, at least for now.

A coalition of radioactive waste experts and concerned citizens prevented more waste from coming into West Valley and has been providing oversight of cleanup efforts since the late 1970s. As final decisions for the site are expected to be made by 2022 or 2023, critical issues of health and safety continue to be raised by these citizen watchdogs. (See File 5 of 5 in this collection for detailed concerns involving air and water contamination.)

In May 2020, the U.S. Department of Energy said its Office of Environmental Management “is continuing to make safe and steady progress with decommissioning activities at the West Valley Demonstration Project.

With regard to ongoing concerns by citizen watchdog groups, the DOE statement reads, “The goal of the extensive demolition activity air and radiation monitoring program is to detect any change in radiological conditions, so that work can be slowed, modified, or even stopped to protect employees, general public and the environment. The work is carefully planned and carried out such that all contamination is controlled within the boundaries of the demolition area. (See File 5 of 5 in this collection for the full statement by the U.S. Department of Energy.)]]> Newberg, Rich (Reporter)]]> (publisher of digital)]]> Murphy, Kurt (WIVB-TV Graphic Arts Director) ]]> Vetter, Tom (Editor)]]> Schackne, Robert (CBS News Correspondent)]]> Roberts, John (WIS-TV Columbia, South Carolina)]]> Curtis, Bill (CBS News Morning Anchor)]]> Costantini, Allen (WIVB-TV Reporter)]]> Newberg, Rich (WIVB-TV Reporter)]]> Lauder, Jay (WIVB-TV Photographer)]]> D’Arrigo, Diane (Nuclear Information and Resource Service)]]> Resnikoff, Marvin (Nuclear Physicist) ]]> Hameister, Joanne (The Coalition on West Valley Nuclear Wastes) ]]> Vaughan, Ray (The Coalition on West Valley Nuclear Wastes)]]> Shepp, Amanda (Coordinator of Special Collections & Archives, SUNY Fredonia) ]]> Pillittere, Joe (Communications Manager for West Valley contractor)]]> Bower, Brian (DOE Director for West Valley Demonstration Project)]]> Bembia, Paul (NYSERDA Director at West Valley)]]> eng]]> Radioactive waste disposal in the ground -- New York (State) -- West Valley]]> Radioactive waste sites -- New York (State)]]> Reactor fuel reprocessing -- New York (State) -- West Valley]]> 1. This video file begins with a film entitled “The Story of Nuclear Fuel Reprocessing.” It was produced by Nuclear Fuel Services and describes the operation of the plant at West Valley. It describes the benefits of “unlocking the power of the atom” which “promises almost unlimited energy sources.” The plant’s mission is to reclaim the uranium and plutonium inside spent nuclear fuel rods used by atomic power plants, researchers, and test reactors throughout the United States. The material is shipped to West Valley in “ruggedly built trucks and special railroad cars.” The plant is capable of the processing of up to one ton a day of spent fuel elements.
(Runs: 11 minutes)

2. Reporter John Beard’s story of a recommendation by the New York State Department of Energy that the plant reopen as a storage facility for more spent nuclear fuel. Beard’s report includes a warning by environmentalists who say that “West Valley is a time bomb threatening to leak radioactive liquid into the soil and eventually into the waterways of Western New York.” Some local residents are in favor of the reopening, saying it would be beneficial for tax purposes and jobs.

Dr. Marvin Resnikoff, a nuclear physicist and staff scientist to the Radioactive Waste Campaign, emerges as a major voice of opposition.
Those against reopening the facility as a repository call for a ban against spent fuel moving through Cattaraugus County. Congressman Stanley Lundine (D-Jamestown) says it there is “a remote possibility that the site could reopen as a federal nuclear waste storage facility. Lundine points out there is limited storage space and “seismic or environmental problems.” Researchers have determined that West Valley sits in a seismic fault zone.
(Runs: 3:05)

3. Reporter Rich Newberg’s story on more safety questions raised by area environmentalists. A former lab supervisor at Nuclear Fuel Services (NFS) says there had been problems with the crane that moved the radioactive rods in the pool of water that stored them. David Pyles says there were problems stopping the crane, causing rods to “slam” into other canisters. A spokesman for NFS says he knew of no crane problems while the plant was in operation.

Another concern is raised about the potential for a leak in a portion of a containing wall, as described in a study commissioned by the Federal Energy Commission. The report says this could occur if there were a seismic occurrence in the area. NFS terms that a “minor” defect. Environmental scientist Ray Vaughan says it’s “absurd to talk about bringing in more fuel.”
(Runs: 2:07)

4. Reporter Rich Newberg’s story showing a petition by area residents calling for a ban on any further nuclear waste to West Valley, as well as the removal of all present nuclear waste stored at the site.

Dairy farmer Emil Zimmerman, who owns 7 cows and 175 acres of land in West Valley, expresses his concerns. He can see the site from his farm.
(Runs: 1:55)

5. Reporter Rich Newberg’s story showing deer heading toward the low level nuclear burial site.
They are then seen eating grass twenty feet above radioactive waste. The New York State Department of Conservation (DEC) says its samples of deer in the area shows the animals safe for human consumption.

However, in the early 1970s when the plant was active, state environmental officials became concerned when high levels of radioactive strontium 90 and cesium 137 were found in deer and fish. Even then, the levels were deemed not to pose an imminent danger to humans.

Since the plant’s closing, leaks were detected in the low level burial ground area.

Dr. Marvin Resnikoff, a nuclear physicist and staff scientist to the Radioactive Waste Campaign, says the grass where the deer were grazing is contaminated.

Newberg reports that contaminated water will soon be drained from the site and placed in a holding pond, but that there are no plans to fence off the pond from area animals.
(Runs: 1:47)

6. Rich Newberg’s report on concerned citizens meeting to map out a strategy to fight a proposal to reopen the nuclear waste storage facility at West Valley. 82 communities in 10 states have banned the transportation of nuclear waste within their borders. The citizens against the proposal express concerns that a major accident involving a vehicle transporting nuclear waste, or an accident at the plant, could threatened the entire region. They say the environmental risks would outweigh the economic gains if the plant facility were to reopen as a storage site.
(Runs: 1:32)

7. Rich Newberg’s story on concerns by the Buffalo nuclear medical and research communities about a lack of storage space for low level nuclear waste. They support the reopening of the West Valley burial site for this type of waste. Only South Carolina and the state of Washington are accepting radioactive waste from Buffalo and other hospitals and research labs around the country.

Dr. Monte Blau, PhD., the chairmen of the University at Buffalo Department of Nuclear Medicine (1976 - 1983) believes low level nuclear waste should be stored in the regions where they are generated.

The use of radioactive isotopes injected into patients are able to help identify tumors in the body. Radioactive tracers have been powerful tools in fundamental studies of the nature of cancer.
With South Carolina and Washington having second thoughts about accepting waste from other states, there is a growing concern that the practice of nuclear medicine might be forced to come to a halt.
(Runs: 1:57)

8. Rich Newberg’s story on the Department of Energy assuring New York Governor Hugh Carey that the federal government will manage and pay for cleanup efforts at West Valley. However, in order for that to happen, Congress must pass a bill that environmentalists warn could lead to a reopening of the site as a nuclear storage facility.
(Runs: 1:19)

9. Rich Newberg’s story on environmentalists warning that the West Valley low level nuclear burial site has serious issues that should rule it out as a repository for future nuclear waste. They say plutonium is buried there, even though that practice was prohibited in 1977.

They also point to leaks in the burial ground in 1975. Water, they say infiltrated the ditches where radioactive waste is stored. They say strontium 90 and plutonium should be unearthed and put in bins above ground.

Another issue brought to light focuses on sand “lenses” discovered in a clay burial ground area.
Radioactive tritium was said to have migrated from the sides of trenches in 1977.

Activists say there is inadequate monitoring of the soil composition.

Those who favor reopening the burial grounds say it is becoming more difficult to dispose of waste from nuclear medicine.
(Runs: 2:23)

10. Rich Newberg’s story on the federal General Accounting Office (GAO) proposal for full funding of the West Valley cleanup in exchange for a reopening of the site for more nuclear waste.
Judith McConnell of the Sierra Club Radioactive Waste Campaign says, “that’s like sweeping up a pile of dirt and then turning around and dumping another one on the floor.”

Governor Hugh Carey’s office says the GAO proposal carries little weight.
(Runs: 1:58)

11. Rich Newberg’s story on New York Governor Hugh Cary’s signing of a bill that sets up a five member siting board for future burial of radioactive waste.

While he assures the public there will be no future burial of high level radioactive waste at the West Valley site, he leaves the door open for future nuclear medical waste disposal at the low level radioactive burial grounds.

Carol Mongerson of the Coalition on West Valley Nuclear Wastes reacts by saying, “that will never be acceptable to the people of the area.”
(Runs: 1:47)

12. WIVB-TV’s Washington D.C reporter Bob Patrick’s story on New York Governor Hugh Carey’s support of a bill sponsored by Congressman Stanley Lundine (D-Jamestown). The bill would separate the federal government’s willingness to clean up the high level nuclear waste at West Valley from the insistence by some federal energy officials that the site remain open for the disposal of more radioactive waste.
(Runs: 1:33)

13. Rich Newberg’s report on Cattaraugus County lawmakers hearing from area residents opposed to reopening West Valley for the storage of nuclear waste.

Dairy farmer Emil Zimmerman testifies that conditions exist where contaminated water could leak from radioactive trenches where waste is buried. He cites one such case.

There is a speaker in favor of burying solid, low level nuclear waste at the site. He is Kenneth Dufrane, a former worker at Nuclear Fuel Services who now represents Chem-Nuclear Systems, a company interested in the site. He says the radioactive leaks are “very minor…and did not cause any kind of a problem to anyone at any time.”

Twelve thousand petitions are signed by citizens against future burial at the site.
(Runs: 2:00)

14. Aerial and ground video of West Valley site
(Runs: 3:29)]]> (publisher of digital)
]]> Murphy, Kurt (Graphic Arts Director)]]> Newberg, Rich (WIVB-TV Reporter)]]> Beard, John (Reporter)]]> Petrick, Bob (Reporter)]]> D’Arrigo, Diane (Nuclear Information and Resource Service)]]> Resnikoff, Marvin (Nuclear Physicist) ]]> Ameister, Joanne (The Coalition on West Valley Nuclear Wastes) ]]> Vaughan, Ray (The Coalition on West Valley Nuclear Wastes)]]> Shepp, Amanda (Coordinator of Special Collections & Archives, SUNY Fredonia) ]]> eng]]> Radioactive waste disposal in the ground -- New York (State) -- West Valley]]> Radioactive waste sites -- New York (State) -- West Valley]]> Reactor fuel reprocessing -- New York (State) -- West Valley]]> 1. WIVB-TV reporter Bob Petrick’s interview with Rep. Stan Lundine of Jamestown. The lawmaker says three important committees in the House of Representatives have approved some sort of West Valley project.

Now one bill has to be crafted that will be passed by the House and then the Senate.
(Runs: 2:01)

2. Shots of artwork and tee shirts representing the cause of environmentalists who are opposed to reopening West Valley for more nuclear waste. One graphic by those who are against nuclear power and weapons states, “JOIN US…FOR THE SAKE OF THE CHILDREN." A tee shirt worn by an environmental activist reads, “DON’T DUMP ON US” “MAKE THE POLLUTERS PAY.” Another tee shirt put out by the Sierra Club Radioactive Waste Campaign reads, “YOU CAN’T RUN FROM RADIOACTIVE WASTES!”

The visuals are followed by reporter Sandy White’s interview with Judith McDonnell, a volunteer who works in the Sierra Club’s Radioactive Waste Campaign. She says thirty people are going to Washington D.C. to lobby against the McCormick bill, which calls for the siting of four high level nuclear waste repositories by the end of 1984. West Valley and the Finger Lakes region are under consideration. The bill calls for funding to come from the federal government and not the nuclear industry.

In fighting against the bill, McDonnell says there are no provisions for local community input on where the repositories are placed. She claims it is a federal “preemption of state’s rights.” She adds the West Valley site has a history of leakage and sits on “an earthquake fault…” She says the site should “be cleaned up and closed and that nothing else should be dumped there at all.” McDonnell says two weeks earlier, nineteen people went to the nation’s capital and lobbied more than seventy congressmen. The new lobbying effort seeks to reach at least one hundred twenty congressional offices. She says, “We feel that the government should take more time, there should be more study put into the siting of a high level repository, and we also feel that the state should have something to say about where this is going to be put and how it’s going to be done.”
(video then shows volunteers leaving for Washington)
(Runs: 2:08)

3. Reporter Marie Rice’s story on a radioactive spill at West Valley. Rain water had to be pumped out from a radioactive waste trench. A coupling that connected a plastic hose carrying the water from the trench to a nearby lagoon broke. About a thousand gallons of the liquid spilled onto the clay soil. New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) officials termed it a minor accident.

John Spagnole, the Regional Director of the DEC says the quantity was small and the contaminated concentrations were “miniscule.” He calls it “lightly dirty water or dusty water…”

Dr. Marvin Resnikoff, a nuclear physicist and staff scientist to the Radioactive Waste Campaign says “a large amount of radioactive material” has entered the Cattaraugus Creek watershed since 1975. He says the most recent spill is “not one isolated event…”

The Sierra Club wants to know what has previously made its way into Edman Brook, Buttermilk Creek and Cattaraugus Creek, whose water eventually flows into Lake Erie. Water samples have been sent to Albany for analysis.
(Runs: 1:52)

4. Rich Newberg’s story on the price we pay for advanced nuclear medical technology. While nuclear medicine provides the means to help fight cancerous tumors and scan the innermost parts of the brain and other organs, the radioactive waste it generates requires special storage sites that most states don’t want to host.

New York State Energy Commissioner James Larocca announces that the low level burial ground at West Valley “has had too many problems and is too closely identified with the rest of the facility to really be a viable option for us at this time.”
(Runs: 1:43)

5. Rich Newberg’s second story on the news conference featuring New York State Energy Commissioner James Larocca. The commissioner declares that the state will no longer consider West Valley as a site for the burial of low level nuclear waste. The decision poses a problem for Buffalo area hospitals with departments of nuclear medicine.

Larocca also addresses the massive cleanup effort soon to take shape at West Valley, where 600,000 gallons of high level radioactive waste sits in underground steel storage tanks. He says cleanup work at West Valley will meet all state and national environmental policies and will involve the federal Nuclear Regulatory Commission. 90% of the project, which at this time is projected to be $285 million dollars, will come from the federal government. 10% of the funding will come from the state. The federal Department of Energy is slated to take possession of the property no later than October 1, 1981. The project could last as long as 17 years according to first estimates.
The high level radioactive waste would be solidified into a glass like substance and ultimately removed from the site to a federal repository for permanent disposal.

At his news conference, Larocca states, “The agreement precludes the use of West Valley for any other purpose but the solidification removal of these wastes during the conduct of this project.”
(Runs: 1:37)

6. Rich Newberg’s interview with Monte Blau, PhD, chair of the Department of Nuclear Medicine at the University at Buffalo (1976 - 1983). He warns that nuclear medicine and research in Buffalo might be in jeopardy if there is not a place to store its radioactive waste. He says West Valley is a “reasonable place” to put radioactive medical waste. He says nuclear medicine and research are threatened with a shut-down “within three or four months” should there be no place to deposit the radioactive waste generated by these institutions. This includes cancer research, diagnosis, and treatment. He says, “Almost every patient that comes into a hospital in the state of New York receives one radio-isotope diagnostic procedure or another.”

In response, Dr. Marvin Resnikoff, a nuclear physicist and staff scientist to the Radioactive Waste Campaign, says the nuclear burial ground at West Valley is not in good condition. He says, “It has leaked radioactive materials…” He says over 3 million gallons of water has been pumped out of the trenches that hold low level radioactive waste. He says radioactive tritium is released into Cattaraugus Creek “and into the water intakes, in effect, for the Southtowns and from Buffalo.”

Environmentalists have suggested that the radioactive waste be put in above-ground bunkers or buildings rather than in the ground.
(Runs: 2:19)

7. Rich Newberg’s interview with Dr. J. Steinbeck, Chief of Nuclear Medicine at the V.A. Hospital in Buffalo. He demonstrates the use of a gamma camera on a cardiac patient. It is a procedure that relies on nuclear medicine. A radio tracer is injected into the patient, allowing the heart to be photographed during dilation and contraction. This allows a study of the heart while avoiding surgical procedures. Catheterization into the heart through an artery is not necessary. Nuclear medicine enables doctors to diagnose the presence of cancer at a much earlier stage.
(Runs: 2:33)

8. Rich Newberg’s story on a proposal by federal energy officials to reduce a $35 Million dollar cash credit to New York State to $12 Million for the cleanup of 600,000 thousand gallons of nuclear waste buried at West Valley. Jamestown Congressman Stanley Lundine, along with congressman Jack Kemp and U.S. Senators Daniel Patrick Moynihan and Alfonse D’Amato are telling U.S. Energy Secretary James Edwards that the proposal goes against an earlier commitment he made to New York. New York State Energy Commissioner James Larocca called the reduction proposal “…another double-cross in what now seems to be a series of double-crosses.” In October 1980, President Jimmy Carter had come to Western New York to sign the federal agreement with New York to clean up West Valley.
(Runs: 1:56)

9. Rich Newberg’s second story on a proposal by federal energy officials to reduce the cash credit to New York State for the cleanup of the West Valley nuclear waste storage site. Congressman Stanley Lundine calls the situation at West Valley, “A real and present danger.” He urges the Reagan administration not to charge New York State $23 Million dollars more for the cleanup project.
(Runs: 1:25)

10. Rich Newberg’s overview of high and low level nuclear waste storage issues at West Valley. Photos include receptacles containing radioactive waste that are placed in trenches on the West Valley property. Mina Hamilton, executive director of the Sierra Club’s Radioactive Waste Campaign, says eight pounds of plutonium are buried here. Another photo includes a trench where sand lenses could be providing underground migration paths for some of the radioactive waste. Hamilton says the flaky composition of the bedrock and the sand lenses pose a major threat of migration of radioactive material. There was also a filter blowout in the stacks in 1968, two years after the plant began reprocessing spent nuclear fuel rods.

The Sierra Club says there has been a noted increase in small amounts of radiation around the nuclear storage site. It is questionable whether the amount of radiation poses an immediate health threat to the area. State officials say they will review any new evidence gathered by the Sierra Club.
(Runs: 1:46)

11. Bill Curtis, reporting for CBS News presents the story of the small Texas town of Tulia, which is considering accepting radioactive waste from sites such as West Valley. Tulia is located on top of one of the biggest salt beds in the country. A site in Tulia is one of several being considered by the U.S. Department of Energy. Salt beds, and the volcanic rock formations of basalt and tuff are believed to be suitable for the storage of nuclear waste. Besides Tulia, the federal government is examining sites in Louisiana, Mississippi, Utah, Nevada, and Washington State. In Tulia, those in favor of accepting radioactive waste say it would create jobs. Those against say there are very real dangers attached to putting this kind of waste in an agricultural area.
(Runs: 5:24)

12. Rich Newberg’s story on federal officials addressing local residents, about five days before the U.S. government takes possession of the portion of the West Valley site that contains the reprocessing building and the burial ground licensed by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission. The state continues to possess of most of the 3,300 acre site.

Energy Department representative James Turi assures an audience of concerned citizens that, “We want to be good neighbors and we want to work with you.”

The high level radioactive waste cleanup project will take an estimated 16 years to complete. The federal government and Westinghouse Electric Corporation will attempt to turn 600,000 gallons of radioactive liquid waste into a glass like substance which would possibly be shipped off to a federal repository still to be designated.

Citizens Committee Chairman Peter Skinner calls for “…careful planning and public involvement from start to finish.” Westinghouse representative Ray Maison promises to keep the community “fully informed of what we’re doing and what we plan to do every step of the way.”
(Runs: 2:33)

13. Exterior video of the West Valley facility and property.
(Runs: 2:05)]]> (publisher of digital)]]> Murphy, Kurt (Graphic Arts Director)]]> Newberg, Rich (WIVB-TV Reporter)]]> Rice, Marie (WIVB-TV Reporter)]]> Petrick, Bob (Reporter)]]> Curtis, Bill (CBS News Reporter)]]> D’Arrigo, Diane (Nuclear Information and Resource Service)]]> Resnikoff, Marvin (Nuclear Physicist) ]]> Hameister, Joanne (The Coalition on West Valley Nuclear Wastes) ]]> Shepp, Amanda (Coordinator of Special Collections & Archives, SUNY Fredonia) ]]> eng]]> Radioactive waste disposal in the ground -- New York (State) -- West Valley]]> Radioactive waste sites -- New York (State) -- West Valley]]> Reactor fuel reprocessing -- New York (State) -- West Valley]]> 1. Rich Newberg’s story documenting top U.S. energy officials assuring West Valley residents that the massive cleanup effort will be safely conducted with citizen input. The federal government takes possession of the high level nuclear waste burial grounds and the facilities there in about five days.
A citizens panel led by Peter Skinner is aware of “the technological difficulties of the project, the public sensitivity of the facility, and the hazards of the undertaking…” Westinghouse representative Ray Maison promises to keep the community “fully informed of what we’re doing and what we plan to do every step of the way.”

However, dairy farmer Emil Zimmerman questions what would happen if the milk from his cows is contaminated with strontium 90. He is concerned about the livelihood of the people in the area. He wants to also know about liability should there be an accident. He says this issue should be considered as a priority as cleanup plans progress.

There is also concern about the Reagan administration’s plans to possibly dissolve the U.S. Department of Energy. The department’s representative,Sheldon Meyers, says if there is “dismantlement,” he believes that “the various functions in the department which are mandated by law or are necessary to do, will be either distributed to other agencies or a new independent agency will be set up.”
(Runs: 3:33)

2. Reporter Rich Newberg questions Jim Duckworth, who ran the Nuclear Fuel Services plant for Getty Oil. Getty purchased the reprocessing facility from W.R. Grace Company in 1969. The first shipments of spent nuclear fuel rods at arrived in 1965, with reprocessing beginning 1966.

A steel storage tank containing 600,000 gallons of high level liquid radioactive must be emptied and converted into a solidified, glass like substance for permanent storage.

During an informational briefing featuring a scale model of the tank, Duckworth explains how the original safety system for high level radioactive waste was compromised. He confirms that the catch basin that sits under the steel tank has a hole in it.

Newberg asks: “Is there a crack in the pan?”

Answer: “There is a hole in the pan between the pan and the vault.”

He says there is no radioactivity outside the tank. The ‘saucer’ is supposed to be a catch basin for the tank, should there be a spill. Duckworth says “Since that system was compromised, we have put in more sensitive systems that have been approved by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission…”

At the beginning of the briefing, the model is shown to be on a scale of 3/8th“ to a foot. The actual tank measures 70 feet in diameter and is 27 feet high. It sits in a “partial tank” (catch basin) about 5 feet high. It is a “cup and saucer” design. The cup and saucer are sitting in a one-foot thick concrete vault.

The entire vault is underground sitting on four feet of gravel which is covered with 8 feet of dirt. Outside the vault, water is injected so that the entire area is saturated with liquid. If the vault should crack, Duckworth says the water would leak in. He explains that liquid level detectors are installed inside the vault and inside the pan (saucer).

Duckworth says there is a 24 inch pipe that extends from the center of the tank up above grade. He says there is an empty spare tank beside the tank containing the waste. If a leak were detected, he says the contents would be pumped into the spare tank.

Duckworth points out that this was the design technology in 1963. The criteria for the tank’s construction was given to the original reprocessing company by the Atomic Energy Commission.

The tank is described as “mild steel,” which has a high resistance to breakage. Duckworth says the waste put in the tank is neutralized with “caustic” (he says it is the same chemical as oven cleaner). Caustic will not dissolve mild steel. The tank was to be replaced every 50 years. Duckworth says a test on a piece of pipe from the tank was made in 1977 or ’78 on how much corrosion had taken place. He says it was determined that the tank could last another 400 years if the corrosion rate stayed the same. The maximum temperature of the tank was 240 degrees Fahrenheit. It is now held at 185 degrees F. He says the corrosion rate has been reduced by a factor of two.

The principle radioactive isotopes in the tank are strontium 90 and cesium 137. They have half-lives of about 30 years. Duckworth notes the scale model is not entirely accurate regarding the piping at the base.

Video then includes exterior shots of where the tank is stored underground as well as shots of the buildings on the site.
(Runs: 12:55)

3. Rich Newberg’s overview report on terms of the cleanup agreement at West Valley. New York State Energy Commissioner James LaRocca says the agreement “marks a new era for the federal government in assuming its responsibilities for dealing with this very very difficult problem of nuclear waste disposal.”

90 percent of the projected $285 million dollar cost for the project will be paid by the federal government. 10 percent will be the state’s responsibility. The site is slated to be turned over to the federal government no later than October 1, 1981. The cleanup effort is projected to take 17 years. The high level liquid waste is to be turned into a glass like substance and ultimately removed to a yet unnamed federal repository for permanent storage.

Commissioner LaRocca says “the agreement precludes the use of West Valley for any other purpose but the solidification removal of these wastes during the conduct of this project.”
(Runs: 1:25) (November, 1980)

[Note: Since the original projections, the cost to clean up nuclear waste at West Valley is estimated in 2020 to be between $5 billion and $10 billion dollars. The hopes of developing a lucrative nuclear fuel reprocessing plant were dashed when the operation shut down in 1972, six years after it began. The State of New York had originally provided a loan of $32 million in 1963 to build the plant. During the course of its operation it brought in $22 million in sales.]

4. The clean-up agreement at West Valley calls for Getty Oil’s Nuclear Fuel Services company to transfer ownership of the high level radioactive site to the federal government.
(Runs: 0:37)

5. Allen Costantini’s story on the transfer of the West Valley site to the federal government. U.S. Senator Daniel Patrick Moynihan (D-New York) says the high level waste cleanup effort will serve as a demonstration project for the nation. While the 600,000 gallons of high level radioactive waste will be solidified and removed from the site, there is still a question about the future placement of the highly radioactive spent nuclear fuel rods contained in canisters submerged in a pool of water. New York State Energy Commissioner James LaRocca says that issue will be addressed when a national spent fuel program is put in place.
(Runs: 2:13)

6. Rich Newberg’s story on the U.S. Senate’s vote to consider West Valleys as one of three future sites for the storage of spent nuclear fuel rods. There are 162 metric tons of those rods from nuclear power plants stored at West Valley. The bill would allow trucks to deliver radioactive waste to West Valley or the other sites under consideration in South Carolina and Illinois. U.S. Senator Alfonse D’Amato (R-New York) is concerned that there would be “incidents” as atomic waste is carried over the nation’s roadways. The Senate bill does not allow radioactive waste to be stored on the property of the nuclear power plants that generated the waste.
(Runs: 1:53)

7. Emil Jablonski’s story on a public relations effort by Westinghouse to educate citizens about the project to clean up and remove high level radioactive waste from the West Valley site. Ray Maison of Westinghouse gives assurances that the 600,000 thousands of high level liquid waste that will be turned into a glass like substance will not be permanently stored at the site. “No chance at all,” he says. “This is not considered a suitable site for a federal repository.” The public learns that old fuel reprocessing equipment will be decontaminated and removed, so machinery to solidify radioactive waste can be moved in.
(Runs: 2:15)

8. The final federal report on long-term management of liquid high-level radioactive wastes stored at West Valley recommends that the waste be shipped to a federal repository for permanent storage. The federal government, however, still does not have a permanent disposal sight designated.
(Runs: 0:45)

9. The future of the West Valley site is again in question when the House Energy Committee fails to stop the U.S. Department of Energy from creating radioactive waste storage sites away from nuclear power plants.

Representative Stanley Lundine (D-Jamestown) is concerned that the Senate will view West Valley as “the most convenient dumping ground.” Representative Jack Kemp (R-Hamburg) says that he and Lundine will work to “remove any possibility of West Valley being used either temporarily or permanently as a storage ground for nuclear waste.”
(Runs: 1:14)

10. WIS-TV (Columbia, South Carolina) interview with U.S. Energy Secretary James Edwards, who serves in the Reagan administration. The interview is conducted as a facility in Barnwell, South Carolina is considering opening a privately owned nuclear reprocessing plant. It would be similar to what was once the West Valley operation.
Edwards says the plant at West Valley had operated successfully for four or five years and then closed down in order to upgrade the operation. He explains that the Nuclear Regulatory Commission changed the rules “in the middle of the stream on them, and they started adding more requirements and more regulations…”
As a result he says the company said it couldn’t afford what was being required and went out of business. Edwards adds that defense work had been done at West Valley which justifies taxpayers covering cleanup costs.

He said “these weapons helped keep us safe and free.” He calls sites like West Valley “little places that are thorns in our sides and thorns into the future development of nuclear energy…” He says he has “put a lot of emphasis in cleaning those up.” He goes on to say that the country will learn from West Valley because of methods that will be employed to clean up the high level radioactive waste there.
(Runs: 3:03)

[Note: Dr. Marvin Resnikoff, a nuclear physicist and staff scientist to the Radioactive Waste Campaign, which fought proposals to reopen West Valley for more nuclear waste, has said upgrades to the plant in 1972 would have cost about $600 million dollars. “In the Sierra Club’s extensive petition to intervene in the Nuclear Regulatory Commission’s proceeding to expand the plant,” says Resnikoff, “we argued that the plant could not withstand a potential earthquake.” The new conditions that were going to be imposed on the plant required safeguards, should an earthquake occur. West Valley sits on a geological fault line.
The cost to upgrade was prohibitive and Getty Oil never re-opened the nation’s only commercial nuclear fuel reprocessing plant.]

11. WIS-TV (Columbia, South Carolina) reporter John Roberts series on lesson learned from the problems at the West Valley nuclear storage site. (This same piece appears in the Crisis at West Valley 1 : Overview report.)

Atomic power plants and the Department of Energy want to open an already built reprocessing plant for spent nuclear fuel rods in Barnwell, South Carolina. The $350 million dollar plant was built in 1976 (about six years before these reports aired). Uranium and plutonium would be extracted from the fuel rods used in nuclear reactors, and then used again.

Critics of opening the plant point to problems at West Valley as a good reason not to allow the plant to open.

Reporter Roberts points out that the West Valley plant closed in 1972 after operating for six years. He says the reprocessing plant had suffered $42 million dollars in losses. The costs of removing 600,000 gallons of highly radioactive liquid and sludge will cost a lot more, reports Roberts. He also shows the 163 metric tons of radioactive fuel assemblies stored at the bottom of cooling tanks at West Valley. The tanks hold 615 canisters filled with spent fuel rods. Utility companies that had sent the rods refuse to take them back. The water in the tank must be recirculated, cooled and purified in order to prevent the rods from heating the tank to 185 degrees.

Using footage provided by WIVB-TV and gathered by reporter Rich Newberg and photographer Jay Lauder, reporter Roberts shows the start of cleanup and testing operations at West Valley. The contaminated cell where uranium was once removed is entered by radiation experts in protective gear. Roberts reports that their task is to determine the level of radioactivity lodged in the cement walls and piping. The same cell might be used to during cleanup operations when the high level radioactive liquid waste is converted into a solid glass like substance. Engineers are now predicting the cleanup at West Valley could go as high as one billion dollars.

In the series, West Valley dairy farmer Emil Zimmerman speaks at a meeting about concerns that milk from his and other farmers’ cows could become contaminated with strontium 90.

As South Carolina is learning about the problems at West Valley, the federal government is seeking out companies that might be interested in opening the plant at Barnwell. U.S. Energy Secretary James Edwards says the country needs plutonium for research programs. He adds that plutonium is also needed to “fire our breeder reactor.” Edwards is negotiating with a dozen companies saying the U.S. would buy the plutonium produced at Barnwell. He says reprocessing spent nuclear fuel rods could become “a viable commercial venture.” Critics say such operations would become a financial and technical failure.

Reporter Roberts also points out potential risks to workers maintaining operations in a plant dealing with high levels of radioactive waste. He notes that the West Valley plant once “chopped up” nuclear fuel rods, dissolved them in acid, and then separated uranium and plutonium from other radioactive elements. He further notes that the work was done behind thick concrete walls and leaded glass because exposure to gamma and beta rays can cause cancer and genetic damage. (This same piece appears in the Crisis at West Valley 1 : Overview report.)

12. Exterior and interior video of West Valley nuclear storage site. Some off-camera narration as reporters are given a tour. Depth of pool holding spent nuclear fuel rods is 44 feet. Caution sign reads CONTAMINATED ZONE 4 HIGH RADIATION AREA   AIRBORNE RADIOACTIVITY AREA. Line of robotic arm controls in front of glass enclosed cells. Sign: SAFETY GLASSES REQUIRED IN THIS AREA CAUTION RADIOACTIVE MATERIALS. Control room. Panel of controls. Closeup shot of buttons to sound evacuation alarm. Fenced exterior shots of property. More exterior shots including NFS blue building.
(Runs: 2:48)

13. Rich Newberg’s report with photographer Jay Lauder documenting the first tests conducted by Westinghouse experts inside a radioactive cell where uranium was extracted from spent fuel rods. The tests are to help establish the best techniques for preparing the facility for the task of solidifying the high level liquid radioactive waste sitting in an underground storage tank at West Valley. (This same piece appears in the Crisis at West Valley 1 : Overview report.)

[Note: The U.S. demonstration project that formally got underway in 1981 is still in progress in the year 2020. The cleanup project could end up costing taxpayers $5 billion to $10 billion dollars.]]]> Murphy, Kurt (Graphic Arts Director)]]> Newberg, Rich (WIVB-TV Reporter)]]> Lauder, Jay (WIVB-TV News Photographer)]]> Costantini, Allen (WIVB-TV Reporter)]]> Jablonski, Emil (WIVB-T Reporter)]]> Roberts, John (WIS-TV Reporter)]]> D’Arrigo, Diane (Nuclear Information and Resource Service)]]> Resnikoff, Marvin (Nuclear Physicist) ]]> Hameister, Joanne (The Coalition on West Valley Nuclear Wastes) ]]> Vaughan, Ray (The Coalition on West Valley Nuclear Wastes) ]]> Shepp, Amanda (Coordinator of Special Collections & Archives, SUNY Fredonia) ]]> eng]]> Radioactive waste disposal in the ground -- New York (State) -- West Valley]]> Radioactive waste sites -- New York (State) -- West Valley]]> Reactor fuel reprocessing -- New York (State) -- West Valley]]>
Since the mid-1970s citizen watchdog groups including experts in the field of nuclear waste have expressed concern about the health, safety and environmental issues involved in the storage and management of nuclear waste at West Valley as well as the subsequent efforts to clean up the site.

In 2020, decisions still must be made on how much nuclear waste can be left in trenches, holes, tanks and the below-ground portion of the building that once reprocessed spent nuclear fuel rods.

Watchdog groups continue to express concerns that the site itself is on rapidly eroding plateaus surrounded by creeks that drain through the Seneca Nation of Indians into Lake Erie. They warn that there is a potential for this erosion to reach the underground nuclear waste and release long-lasting dangerous radioactive materials into the Great Lakes.

VIDEOS

1. Huge steel lined concrete casks provide on-site storage of high level radioactive glass logs converted from liquid waste at West Valley.
56 casks holding the high level waste are stored above ground on the property of the West Valley Demonstration Project site. They sit on a reinforced concrete slab until they can be shipped out to a national nuclear waste repository yet to be named. The casks each hold five canisters containing the glass logs which will remain highly radioactive for thousands of years. Each cask weights close to 90 tons. The high level waste needed to be removed from the plant at West Valley so building demolition could take place.
[“HLW Progress Video” produced by DOE contractor CH2M HILL BWXT WEST VALLEY, LLC. ; 7/7/2016 ; Runs: 1:58]

2. Transporting highly radioactive building material from West Valley to Texas.
When U.S. Department of Energy Took over West Valley site it had to solidify 600,000 gallons of high level radioactive waste. The process, called vitrification, turned the liquid into glass like rods. While the solidified high level waste is still stored on-site at West Valley, the equipment used for the vitrification process then had to be safely packaged and disposed of off site. Each of three vessels containing highly radioactive dismantled parts from the “Melter” were loaded onto special trailers with 130 tires. They were then transported from West Valley, through neighborhoods, to the rail yard in Blasdell, New York. The giant containers were then taken by rail to waste control specialists at a site in Andrews, Texas.
[“Melter Shipment “ Video” produced by DOE contractor CH2M HILL BWXT WEST VALLEY, LLC. ; 12/14/2016 ; Runs: 3:57]

3. Resident records radioactive waste from West Valley rolling through his neighborhood.
A citizen reacts to a huge vessel containing dismantled parts from the “Melter” being transported through his neighborhood. He provides a short narrative along with what he captures on video.
[Posted on YouTube by “Robert” ; October 26, 2016 ; Runs: 1:36]

4. Second radioactive waste transport video posted on YouTube by “Robert”.
A week after recording the first transport of radioactive waste through his neighborhood, “Robert” posts a second video showing how the special trailer carrying its radioactive load, negotiates the crossing over railroad tracks.
[November 2, 2016 ; Runs: 2:33]

5. Demolition of radioactive buildings begin at West Valley.
Demolishing the building where high level liquid radioactive waste was turned into a glass like substance - This radiological demolition requires continuous monitoring and specialized equipment. Continuous air monitors provide a real time read out for the protection of personnel on-site as well as the public and the environment. Citizen watchdog groups have strongly recommended that real time off-site monitoring of the air take place when demolition of the Main Processing Building is carried out. (See Requests by Citizen Watchdog Groups below.)
[“VIT DEMO V4” produced by DOE contractor CH2M HILL BWXT, WEST VALLEY, LLC. ; 12/19/2017 ; Runs: 4:28]

6. The decisions that will impact generations to come.
This presentation produced by Diane D’Arrigo summarizes concerns by citizen watchdog groups and environmental experts who have been tracking developments at the West Valley nuclear waste site since the mid-1970s. Using original photographs and graphics, she presents the history of radioactive wastes at the site and concerns about the present and future storage of this hazardous material. Ms. D’Arrigo is a native of Western New York who now serves as the Radioactive Waste Project Director of the Nuclear Information and Resource Service (NIRS). She has been with NIRS since 1986 and has a degree in chemistry and environmental studies as well as work experience in analytical chemistry and biological research.
[NARRATED SLIDE PRESENTATION produced by Diane D’Arrigo, Radioactive Waste Project Director/Nuclear Information and Resource Service (NIRS) ; 5/18/2020 ; Runs: 20:25]

Request by Citizen Watchdog Groups

In 2006 the West Valley Action Network was created, comprised of local, state, regional, and international organizations. This network is pushing for a full cleanup of the West Valley nuclear waste site as soon as possible. It is providing public oversight for demolition, cleanup, and storage operations.

The state and federal governments have commissioned a $4.3 million-dollar assessment study to determine the best way to proceed for the final cleanup phase. The study could take two to three more years to complete (2022-2023).

As final plans are made, the Action Network is insisting on full disclosure of all information and assumptions used by the Department of Energy and the New York Energy Research and Development Authority to make decisions. The Network has also requested that a searchable electronic library be created to facilitate independent review of details.

The next big physical challenge as of 2020 is the demolition of the main building where the reprocessing of spent nuclear fuel rods took place from 1966 to 1972. The Action Network has called for the U.S. Department of Energy to provide the region with comprehensive real-time monitoring and reporting of the air — before, during, and after the demolition of the highly contaminated Main Plant Processing Building.

One of the Action Network organizations, The Nuclear Information and Resource Service (NIRS), has issued warnings about the potential spread of radioactivity in the air and water downstream and downwind of the West Valley site. NIRS is an activist organization that supports renewable energy and opposes nuclear power.

Diane D’Arrigo, a Western New York native who serves as the Radioactive Waste Director for NIRS, says the Main Plant Building may be “the most intensely radioactive building in the nuclear power and weapons fuel chain…” She points out that the D.O.E. and the New York State Energy Research and Development Authority, the state agency responsible for the fifteen-acre burial site, “refuse to monitor offsite in real time…” She says, “The general population and local government officials are entitled to know if radioactivity has contaminated the air as the massive cleanup effort continues.”

D’Arrigo warns that “some of the radioactivity from the West Valley site will stay radioactive for hundreds, thousands, millions of years--so the contamination is irreversible. Some long-lasting radioactivity from West Valley operations between 1966 and 1972 has been detected throughout Western New York on land and in water as far as Lake Ontario.”

During the time the plant was active, there was a spill in the basement. Strontium 90, among many radioactive isotopes, made their way from the basement into the ground water. A radioactive plume is now a quarter of a mile long. The Department of Energy has used Zeolite, a special kind of clay, to absorb the radioactive material. This “interceptor wall” is 900 feet long and 20 feet deep. However, Joanne Hameister, a research analyst who has spent forty years representing the public’s interest at West Valley, notes that water has a way of rerouting itself. She believes removing the source of the leaking Strontium and the contaminated soil would be a better solution, although very costly.

“If the plume keeps on moving,” she says, “it can hit a bunch of creeks. That plateau is loaded with creeks. They all lead into Buttermilk Creek, which drains into Cattaraugus Creek, which drains into Lake Erie. That is right around the corner from Sturgeon Point, where Erie County gets its water. Strontium 90 takes three hundred years to decay to levels that are more difficult to detect.

Right now, there are no plans to remove the earth or massive network of pipes under the Main Processing Building when demolition is carried out. Hameister says she is also concerned about the workers who will take part in the project. “That place is hot. There has to be a lot of worker protection.” She also wants assurances there will be some kind of protective covering over the building while it is being dismantled. “They’ll be chopping up walls,” she says. “They have to monitor the excursion from the site during that process. You just don’t want that stuff flying around.”

In addition, there is concern that soil erosion resulting from floods in 2009 is making its way closer to the trenches where radioactive waste is buried. Future flooding, say members of the West Valley Action Network, could potentially threaten releases of radioactive elements into brooks and creeks that eventually feed into Lake Erie.

The Department of Energy installed an “armor wall” in 2019 to slow down the erosion. Hameister says the wall was installed without public input, which she says was a violation of the legal agreement between the Coalition on West Valley Nuclear Wastes and the Department of Energy. She questions whether there might be other issues to which the public isn’t aware.

Response by U.S. Department of Energy (5/8/2020) Brian Bower/West Valley Demonstration Project Director, DOE

The U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE) Office of Environmental Management is continuing to make safe and steady progress with decommissioning activities at the West Valley Demonstration Project (WVDP). After successfully completing the solidification of 600,000 gallons of high-level radioactive waste (HLW) liquid into a highly durable glass material in 2006, the focus of the Project shifted to removing the old, highly contaminated reprocessing facilities and the facilities used in the solidification of the HLW. In 2018, DOE safely completed the demolition of the Vitrification Facility, a 50-foot tall, 10,000 square foot nuclear facility where the HLW was converted into glass. The demolition of the Vitrification Facility represented the largest and most complex demolition of a radioactively contaminated facility at the WVDP to date. Prior to that, the Department demolished the site’s 01-14 Building, a former building that treated processed off-gases from the Vitrification Facility and a number of support facilities.

DOE is now preparing to embark on the demolition of the Main Plant Process Building (MPPB), the central facility used in the commercial spent nuclear fuel reprocessing operation. This facility is the largest and most contaminated building on the site. In preparing the MPPB for demolition, the Department of Energy removed a number of contaminated support facilities surrounding the MPPB, and completed extensive deactivation work inside the highly reinforced building before beginning the carefully planned, controlled and monitored demolition activity. The agency has also demolished over 40 additional site facilities and upgraded the site’s infrastructure to support the work, including the water supply, gas supply and distribution, electric service, and IT systems.

Radiological, industrial, and environmental safety are foremost considerations in planning and executing demolition of the MPPB. The work planning process for the demolition of the MPPB brought to bear the extensive experience of the site’s workforce, industry best practices and lessons learned from the demolition of the Vitrification Facility and similar facilities across the country. Throughout the demolition work, onsite activities will be monitored and controlled in real-time to ensure worker, public and environmental safety.

The Environmental Monitoring Program at the West Valley Demonstration Project has been part of the ongoing cleanup efforts since the beginning of the Project in 1982. The monitoring program includes sampling to evaluate the surface water, groundwater and air. Along with demolition air and radiation monitoring, on-site and off-site air, surface water, drinking water, sediment, soil, venison (deer), fish, milk, and food crop samples will be collected before, during, and after demolition.

The goal of the extensive demolition activity air and radiation monitoring program is to detect any change in radiological conditions, so that work can be slowed, modified, or even stopped to protect employees, general public and the environment. The work is carefully planned and carried out such that all contamination is controlled within the boundaries of the demolition area.

As DOE begins another important phase of the WVDP’s work at West Valley, we welcome all interested members of the public to attend our Quarterly Public Meetings and Citizen Task Force meetings to ask questions and hear about progress on this very important work. Site background information and all environmental information can also be found on the WVDP website at http://www.wv.doe.gov.]]> Murphy, Kurt (WIVB-TV Graphic Arts Director) ]]> Vetter, Tom (Editor)]]> Newberg, Rich (WIVB-TV Reporter)]]> D’Arrigo, Diane (Nuclear Information and Resource Service)]]> Resnikoff, Marvin (Nuclear Physicist) ]]> Hameister, Joanne (The Coalition on West Valley Nuclear Wastes) ]]> Vaughan, Ray (The Coalition on West Valley Nuclear Wastes)]]> Shepp, Amanda (Coordinator of Special Collections & Archives, SUNY Fredonia) ]]> Pillittere, Joe (Communications Manager for West Valley contractor)]]> Bower, Brian (DOE Director for West Valley Demonstration Project)]]> Bembia, Paul (NYSERDA Director at West Valley)]]> eng]]> Dwyer, Cynthia.]]> Iran Hostage Crisis, 1979-1981.]]>
Mrs. Dwyer, a freelance writer and book editor, had obtained an Erie County Sheriff’s press card and had a long history of taking up causes of the underdog. Despite warnings that travel to Iran could be dangerous, she made the journey, only to be arrested on May 5th, 1980 and charged with being a spy for the CIA.

She may have been set up for arrest by possible agents of the revolutionary government who had spoken to her of a plan to free five American hostages separated from the larger group. There had earlier been an aborted U.S. rescue attempt that ended with a helicopter crash and the loss of eight American service personnel.

Inside the notorious Evin Prison in Tehran, Mrs. Dwyer said she was subjected to about 50 hours of interrogation. She was quoted as saying she “heard executions of many Iranians accused of treason.” She later said she had lived in “constant fear of death” during her nine months of incarceration.

On February 4, 1980, two weeks after the 52 hostages were released, Cynthia Dwyer was tried and convicted of espionage. She had been denied a lawyer and called the proceedings a “kangaroo trial…complete nonsense.” However, five days later, thanks, in part, to intervention by the Swiss government, Mrs. Dwyer was released by the Ayatollah Khomeini and expelled from Iran.

She arrived at Kennedy Airport in New York on February 11, 1981 and was immediately reunited with her family. Her husband, John Dwyer, Chairman of the English Department at Buffalo State College, had kept Cynthia’s story in the headlines. WIVB-TV news reporter Rich Newberg had established a trusted relationship with the family and provided Buffalo, CNN, and CBS Newsfeed with updates during Mrs. Dwyer’s ten-month odyssey.]]> Newberg, Rich (Writer, Reporter)]]> Mombrea, Mike Jr. (Photographer, editor)]]> Murphy, Kurt (Graphic Artist)]]> Yearke, Don (Photographer)]]> eng]]> Daredevils--Niagara Falls (N.Y. and Ont.)]]>
Munday was 48 years old when he first conquered the Falls on October 5, 1985. His second journey over the Horseshoe Falls and into the international record books took place on September 27, 1993.

Between these two incredible feats, Munday decided to challenge the treacherous currents of the Great Gorge Rapids which feed into dangerous spinning waters of the notorious Whirlpool.

In a less sophisticated 600 pound barrel made of high pressure steel pipe, Munday and his assistants eluded Niagara Parks Police and lowered the barrel into the swift currents of the rapids. His five minute harrowing journey on October 11, 1987 brought him to the Whirlpool.

The world got a little more insight into the motivations and fears of this thrill seeker during a series of reports by WIVB-TV's Rich Newberg. The most amazing revelation was Dave Munday's confession that he is terrified of the water and can't swim.]]> Newberg, Rich]]> eng]]> September 11 Terrorist Attacks, 2001.]]> Originally aired on WIVB-TV.]]> Newberg, Rich (Producer, Writer, Host)]]> Vetter, Tom (Producer, Photographer, Editor)]]> Musial, Chris (Producer)]]> Schlaerth, Joseph (Executive Producer)]]> Lent, Pamm (Contributing Producer)]]> Schlaerth, Joe (Contributing Producer)]]> Flynn, Lisa (Contributing Reporter)]]> Richert, George (Contributing Reporter)]]> Beauchamp, Steve (Photographer, Editor)]]> Ersing, Rich (Photographer, Editor)]]> Baker, Boe (Contributing Photographer)]]> Root, Kim (Contributing Photographer)]]> Murphy, Kurt (Graphic Arts Director)]]> Vinciguerra, Jerry (Graphic Artist)]]> Baxter, Tim (Imix Editor)]]> Mombrea, John (Imix Editor)]]> Battilana, Tony (Director)]]> Dadey, Kelly (Director)]]> Clemons, Michael (Technical Director)]]> Masse, Dave (Videotape Operator)]]> Benzel, Gary (Audio Engineer)]]> Brown, Dave (Chyron Graphics)]]> Serio, Sam (Master Control Operator)
]]> eng]]> Communism--China--History]]> China--Economic conditions]]> China--Social conditions]]> China--Social life and customs]]> Originally aired on WIVB-TV.]]> Newberg, Rich (Producer, Writer, Host)]]> Mombrea, Mike, Jr. (Producer, Photographer, Editor)]]> eng]]> Jasen, Carol]]> Walker, Jacquie]]> Postals, Don]]> Miller, Van]]> Paul, Don]]> WIVB-TV (Television station : Buffalo, N.Y.)--History]]> Television stations--New York (State)--Buffalo.]]> Originally aired on WIVB-TV.]]> Newberg, Rich (Producer, News Anchor, Host)]]> Baker, Vic (Producer)]]> Musial, Chris (Producer)]]> Schlaerth, Joseph (Producer)]]> Jasen, Carol (News Anchor, Co-host)]]> Walker, Jacquie (News Anchor)]]> Postles, Don (News Anchor)]]> Miller, Van (Sports Director)]]> Paul, Don (Chief Meteorologist)]]> Baxter, Tim (Photographer-editor)]]> Mombrea, John (Photographer-editor)]]> Schrodt, Roy (Photographer-editor)]]> Root, Kim (Photographer-editor)]]> Summerville, Dan (Photographer-editor)]]> Vetter, Tom (Photographer-editor)]]> Swan, Ray (Photographer)]]> Goldschlag, Dave (Photographer)]]> Beauchamp, Steve (Photographer)]]> Gabalski, Ron (Photographer)]]> Murphy, Kurt (Graphic Arts Director)]]> Mike Van Horn (Graphic Artist)]]> Kaufman, Ken (Music Composer)]]> Wolter, Carrol (Researcher)]]> McCall, Kawanza (Researcher)]]> Tamutus, Andrew (Researcher)]]> eng]]> Poland, Solidarity Movement, Buffalo Polish Americans, Martial Law in Poland, Polish Americans]]> Refugees]]> Refugees--Poland]]> Martial law--Poland]]> Solidarity (Polish labor organization)]]>
Western New York students studying in Poland managed to flee the country and make it safely back to Buffalo. They had many stories to tell about the abuses imposed on Polish citizens as well as an economic crisis that put Poland on the brink of bankruptcy.

Buffalo, with its large Polish population, became one of the lead protest cities in the United States. They demanded that the Soviet Union loosen its grasp on Poland and allow the Polish people to choose their own destiny. President Ronald Reagan and Pope John Paul II are often credited with helping to bring down communism in Poland.

"Flight from Poland," a WIVB-TV news special hosted and co-produced by Rich Newberg, gave Buffalo viewers a comprehensive look inside Poland during this period of great turmoil. Newberg got first hand accounts from refugees and students in Buffalo who had witnessed the abuses in their homeland.

In 1985, Newberg would report from Gdansk, the birthplace of Solidarity, as club wielding Zomos (paramilitary units) again arrested Solidarity demonstrators. Newberg and photojournalist Don Yearke met with Solidarity leader Lech Walesa and then with Pope John Paul II in Rome. (See "Hearts and Minds Together" and "Inside a Private Audience with Pope John Paul II.")

In 1999, Newberg would again travel to Poland, this time with photojournalist Mike Mombrea, Jr., to cover Pope John Paul II's triumphant return to his homeland, now free from communist rule. The pope made a special effort to meet with a Buffalo delegation on a street in Torun, Poland. He blessed every member, showing his gratitude toward the city, whose Polish Americans never wavered in their support for a free Poland. Newberg also interviewed Lech Walesa after he had served as president of Poland. (See "The People's Pope.")]]> Newberg, Rich]]> eng]]> September 11 Terrorist Attacks, 2001.]]> Victims of terrorism -- United States.]]> Five months after the terrorist attack on the Twin Towers in Lower Manhattan, Western New Yorkers were still lending support at Ground Zero.

One of the environmental cleanup experts, Steve Sherman, had found a wallet in the debris containing the Buffalo driver’s license of Sheri Leach. She had been on the 78th floor of Tower One when one of the wings of the plane that had penetrated the building made contact with her floor.

Sheri’s survival and her meeting with Steve Sherman is the basis of the first story in this collection of reports by Rich Newberg.

“Western New Yorkers Lend a Hand”
In February 2001, bodies were still being recovered from under the debris at Ground Zero.

Buffalo Salvation Army workers Barbara Janicki and Maj. June Carlson were among those giving help and encouragement to responders still on the scene.

Ron Papa of Buffalo helped assess damages to the Century 21 department store on the site. He recalls barely making his way through the cement dust following the September attack.

“Governor Pataki at Ground Zero”
In his final report in this series, Rich Newberg meets with New York Governor George Pataki at Ground Zero. The Governor was in Manhattan on 9/11 and shares his feelings after New York City firefighters brought him to the scene of mass destruction.]]> Newberg, Rich]]> Murphy, Kurt (Graphic Artist)]]> eng]]> Gangs--New York (State)--Buffalo]]> Teenagers--New York (State)--Buffalo]]> ]]> Originally aired on WIVB-TV.]]> Newberg, Rich (Producer, Writer, Reporter)]]> Mombrea, Mike, Jr. (Producer, Photographer, Editor)]]> eng]]> Solidarity (Polish labor organization)]]> Labor unions--Poland]]> Poland--History]]> Originally aired on WIVB-TV.]]> Newberg, Rich (Producer, Writer, Host)]]> Yearke, Don (Photographer, Editor)]]> Battilana, Tony (Director)]]> Case, Hal (Technical Crew)]]> Clemons, Michael (Technical Crew)]]> Elkan, Mike (Technical Crew)]]> Foster, Joseph D. (Technical Crew)]]> Kocic, Mike (Technical Crew)]]> Rusk, Brian (Trip Organizer)]]> Solecki, Richard (Trip Organizer)]]> eng]]> World War, 1939-1945--Campaigns--France--Normandy]]> World War, 1939-1945--Regimental histories--United States.]]> Newberg, Rich (Producer, Writer, Host)]]> Smith, Doug (Producer, Writer, Host)]]> Murphy, Kurt (Graphic Artist)]]> Originally aired on WIVB-TV.]]> Newberg, Rich (Producer, Writer, Host)]]> Ersing, Rich (Producer, Photographer, Editor)]]> Schlearth, Joseph (Executive Producer)]]> Musial, Chris (Executive Producer)]]> Murphy, Kurt (Graphic Arts Director)]]> Vinciguerra, Jerry (Graphic Artist)]]> Mombrea, Mike Jr. (Consulting and Contributing Photographer)]]> Cornwell, Craig (Contributing Photographer)]]> Summerville, Dan (Contributing Photographer)]]> Woodson, Paul (Contributing Photographer)]]> Ivancic, Paul (Contributing Photographer)]]> Baker, Boe (Contributing Photographer)]]> Paszkowsky, Danylo (Contributing Photographer)]]> Phillips, Shane (Contributing Photographer)]]> Dee, Joe (Contributing Photographer)]]> Carroll, John (Contributing Photographer)]]> Root, Kim (Contributing Photographer)]]> Swenson, Scott (Contributing Photographer)]]> Carroll, John (Contributing Photographer)]]> Vogel, Mike (Historical Consultant)]]> Tielman, Tim (Historical Consultant)]]> Blanchard, Tom Jr. (Historical Consultant)]]> Newberg, Rich (Researcher)]]> Ersing, Rich (Researcher)]]> Schlaerth, Joseph (Researcher)]]> Musial, Chris (Researcher)]]> Yeomans, Doug (Musical Performer for "The Stringmen")]]> Perry, Geoffrey (Musical Performer "The Stringmen")]]> eng]]> John Paul II, Pope, 1920-2005]]> Solidarity]]> Daemen College]]> Buffalo has a large Polish population with close ties to Poland. The pope had visited Western New York when he was Cardinal Karol Wojtyla. The private audience on September 6, 1985 had been granted in advance because of an exchange program between Daemen College in Buffalo and the Catholic University in Lublin, Poland.
The pope had spent twenty-five years at the Catholic University as a professor and chairman of the Faculty of Ethics. It was the only Christian university in the Soviet Bloc. The Buffalo delegation had included a visit to the university in its travels through Poland.
One of the delegation leaders, Brian Rusk, who represented Daemen College president Robert Marshall, commented to the pope that the exchange program would carry on his "words and teachings for peace and brotherhood in the world." The pope openly expressed his gratitude for support the program was receiving.
During their journey through Poland, the delegation had revisited Buffalo's many ties to the Polish people (see "Hearts and Minds Together" in the collection). Another delegation leader, Richard Solecki, had a special security contact within the Solidarity movement. This relationship enabled the delegates to meet with Solidarity leader Lech Walesa minutes before his demonstrators took to the streets of Gdansk.
The entire private audience with Pope John Paul II was photographed by News 4 photographer Don Yearke. It can be viewed following Rich Newberg's WIVB-TV live report from outside the pope's residence. At one point, when Newberg sought comment from the pope on Solidarity's efforts to free Poland from communism, his microphone was snatched out of his hand by a papal aide.
That's when the pope took Newberg by the arm and whispered, "Without Solidarity, there can be no peace!"]]> Newberg, Rich]]> Rusk, Brian]]> Solecki, Richard]]> Rutkowski, Edward]]> Slisz, Richard]]> eng]]> Communism--Cuba--History]]> Cuba--Economic conditions]]> Cuba--Social conditions]]> Originally aired on WIVB-TV.]]> Newberg, Rich (Producer, Writer, Host)]]> Yearke, Don (Photographer, Editor)]]> Musial, Chris (Executive Producer)]]> Baxter, Tim (Post-production Editor)]]> Rusk, Brian (Trip Organizer)]]> Solecki, Richard (Trip Organizer)]]> eng]]>
When their children came of age to be parents, the "natural" approach was applied to many aspects of life, including child birth and breast feeding, and the purchase of toys that promoted creativity and not violence.

In his series, "It's Only Natural," WIVB-TV reporter Rich Newberg, a new father whose wife gave up a teaching career to become a "stay-at-home mom," explores the norms of the 1980's. Dr. Spock is featured in his reports.

In the final segment, Spock defends himself against conservative critics who blame him for being overly permissive in his advice to parents. Some of his detractors advocate spanking as a form of discipline. Spock says was never a "permissivist." He says he was singled out by critics because of his opposition to the Vietnam War.]]> Newberg, Rich]]> eng]]> Rej, Joe]]> Kennedy, John F. (John Fitzgerald), 1917-1963]]> Presidential elections--1960.]]>
During his campaign for president of the United States, Senator John F. Kennedy made a stop in North Tonawanda on September 28, 1960. WBEN-TV recorded his speech, which is now part of the JFK Library in Boston. During his address, Kennedy said, "The Soviet system and our system are on trial. The question will be, which system has the longest staying power," Speaking in North Tonawanda, he said the American people have the "power, the will, the determination and the conviction" to come out ahead.

On October 14, 1962, as US president, Kennedy addressed a crowd of thousands in Buffalo's Niagara Square. It was the day Buffalo's Polish community honors the memory of General Kazimierz Pulaski, a Polish hero of the American Revolution. Kennedy said that Poland, dominated by the Soviet Union at the time, must be strengthened, but that the country "has always remained free in the hearts of the Polish people." He added that the United States must "never recognize Soviet domination of East Europe as permanent."

It was on this day in Buffalo, according to Joe Rej, the president of the General Pulaski Association of Western New York, that Kennedy learned of the presence of Soviet missiles in Cuba. The Soviets had been building nuclear missile sites, capable of striking the United States.

The news broke two days later on October 16, 1962. Kennedy initiated a blockade of Cuba. During the tense thirteen day crisis which put the world at risk of a nuclear war, an agreement was finally reached. The Soviets dismantled their missiles in Cuba. The United States removed its missiles from Turkey.]]> WBEN-TV, JFK Library]]> eng]]> Rigas, John J., 1924-]]> Adelphia Communications Corporation]]> On July 24, 2002, 77 year old John Rigas, the founder and CEO of Adelphia Communications Corporation, was indicted on charges of securities, wire, and bank fraud. Two of his sons, Timothy and Michael were also charged, along with two company executives. Timothy had been Adelphia’s financial officer. Michael served as chief operating officer.

John Rigas, the son of Greek immigrants, had started Adelphia in 1952 with a $300 dollar investment. He grew the company to the nation’s fifth largest cable company.

Following the indictments, John Rigas talked exclusively with WIVB-TV Senior Correspondent Rich Newberg, refuting federal charges of conspiring to defraud investors, looting corporate accounts, and failing to disclose $2.3 billion dollars in company debts.
]]> Newberg, Rich (Writer, Reporter)]]> Mombrea, Mike Jr. (Photographer, editor)]]> Murphy, Kurt (Graphic Artist) ]]> eng]]> Rigas, John J., 1924-]]> Adelphia Communications Corporation.]]> On July 8, 2004, John and Timothy were found guilty of conspiracy, securities and bank fraud. They were convicted of hiding $2.3 billion in debt, while looting Adelphia of $100 million.

Michael avoided prison by pleading guilty to making a false entry in a financial record. Michael Mulcahey, the former director of internal reporting for Adelphia, was acquitted. The government’s main witness, James Brown, Adelphia’s former vice president for finance, had pleaded guilty to fraud in 2002.

Less than a year later, on June 20, 2005, John Rigas, who at age 80 suffered from heart problems and bladder cancer, was sentenced to 15 years in prison. His son Timothy received a 20-year prison sentence. John’s sentence was later reduced to 12 years, and Timothy’s to 17 years, after a federal appeals court threw out part of the government’s case.

John and Timothy began serving their prison terms on August 13, 2007, when their initial appeals were denied. Two weeks earlier, John sat down with WIVB-TV Senior Correspondent Rich Newberg, proclaiming his innocence and desire to clear the family name.

U.S. District Judge Leonard Sand had also ruled that after serving two years, John could regain his freedom if he were diagnosed with less than three months to live. On February 19, 2016, after serving 8 years in federal prison,Rigas, at age 91, was granted a compassionate release. He had been diagnosed with terminal cancer.

]]> Newberg, Rich (Writer, Reporter)]]> Mombrea, Mike Jr. (Photographer, Editor)]]> Murphy, Kurt (Graphic Artist) ]]> eng]]> Curtin, John T., 1921-2017]]> Affirmative action programs]]> Race discrimination]]> U.S. District Court Judge John Thomas Curtin (August 24, 1921 - April 14, 2017) was interviewed by WIVB-TV Senior Correspondent Rich Newberg on April 18, 1995. The subject was affirmative action.

Judge Curtin issued rulings establishing minority hiring quotas in Buffalo’s police and fire departments and within the Buffalo School District. He believed minorities lacked opportunities for jobs and a quality education, resulting in what he once called “a poorly trained underclass” that became reliant on welfare.

Born in Buffalo, Curtin served as U.S. Attorney for the Western District of New York from 1961 to 1967 before being nominated by President Lyndon Johnson for a seat on the United States District Court for the Western District of New York. He had been recommended by New York Senator Robert Kennedy. John Curtin was confirmed by the U.S. Senate on December 14, 1967.

In 1976 Judge Curtin ordered that Buffalo public schools be desegregated. He ruled that minority students in Buffalo had been denied equal protection under the law, and that a segregated school system in Buffalo had been intentionally maintained.

His rulings led to the hiring of more minority teachers and the creation of academically strong magnet schools that would encourage students of all races to accept being bused to these high level schools.

Though Judge Curtin was targeted for criticism and sometimes even death threats by those who felt his rulings were overreaching, he consistently ruled in favor of removing barriers that had been built on “unfairness, bigotry (and) bias” against minorities, women, children, and those with special challenges.

]]> Newberg, Rich (Reporter, Interviewer)]]> Root, Kim (Photographer, Editor)]]> Murphy, Kurt (Graphic Arts Director)]]> eng]]> Smith, Bennet Walker]]> African Americans--New York (State)--Buffalo--History]]> African Americans--Civil rights--New York (State)--Buffalo--History]]> Originally aired on WIVB-TV.]]> Newberg, Rich (Writer, Reporter)]]> Schultz, Laurie (Writer, Reporter)]]> eng]]> McVeigh, Timothy]]> Terrorists--United States--Biography]]> Oklahoma City Federal Building Bombing, Oklahoma City, Okla., 1995.]]> Originally aired on WIVB-TV.]]> Newberg, Rich (Producer, Writer, Host)]]> Vetter, Tom (Producer, Photographer, Editor)]]> Musial, Chris (Executive Producer)]]> Mombrea, Mike Jr. (Contributing Photographer)]]> Carroll, John (Contributing Photographer)]]> Murphy, Kurt (Graphic Arts Director)]]> Van Horn, Mike (Graphic Artist)]]> Baxter, Tim (On-line Editor)]]> Giovenco, Joseph (Director)]]> Clemons, Michael (Technical Director)]]> Benzel, Gary (Audio Engineer)]]> Foster, Joseph D. (Tape Operator)]]> Brown, David (Font Operator)]]> Griswold, Jason (Master Control Operator)]]> eng]]> Holocaust, Jewish (1939-1945)]]> World War, 1939-1945--Concentration camps--Poland.]]> Originally aired on WIVB-TV.]]> Newberg, Rich (Producer, Writer, Host)]]> Mombrea Jr., Mike (Producer, Photographer, Editor)]]> Kaufman, Ken (Composer of original score)]]> Murphy, Kurt (Graphic Arts Director)]]> Newberg, Lori (Field Assistant)]]> Mombrea, John (Imix Editor)]]> Bacon, Yehuda (Artist, Holocaust Survivor)]]> eng]]> Love Canal Chemical Waste Landfill (Niagara Falls, N.Y.)]]> Chemical plants -- Waste disposal -- Environmental aspects -- New York (State) -- Niagara Falls]]>
The half hour presentation, was written, produced and reported by Marie Rice, who co-anchored the special with WIVB anchor John Beard. It featured some of the most emotional testimony from Love Canal family members whose loved ones were sick and dying due to chemical exposure. More than seven hundred families were demanding that they be relocated and that their grievances be properly addressed.

Tests determined that residents had suffered “ominous” rare chromosomal damage. Lois Gibbs, who ultimately led the Love Canal Homeowners Association to victory, later attributed Buffalo news coverage to the successful outcome. The grassroots crusade has been credited with launching the environmental justice movement in the United States.

President Jimmy Carter came to Niagara Falls to sign legislation that met homeowners demands and led to the creation of the Superfund. Formerly known as the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act of 1980, the program is designed to provide emergency responses to sites contaminated by hazardous substances. By one count there are 40,000 federal Superfund sites across the United States.]]> Rice, Marie (Producer, Writer, Host)]]> News 4 Buffalo (WIVB-TV Newsroom)]]> Murphy, Kurt (Graphic Artist)]]> Beard, John (Co-host)]]> Swan, Ray (Editor)]]> A Toxic Nightmare: The Awakening [The Story of Love Canal Pt. 1]

Turning Anger Into Action [The Story of Love Canal Pt.3]

What Have We Learned? [The Story of Love Canal Pt. 4]

An Interview with Michael Brown

An Interview with Lois Gibbs [Her Battle and Victory on Behalf of Love Canal Homeowners]

]]> eng]]> Buffalo (N.Y.)--Biography.]]> Women--New York (State)--Buffalo--Biography.]]>
WIVB-TV’s Rich Newberg covered the O’Brien story for years,
capturing the spirit of John, who honored the wish of his late sister and helped raise funds for a play about her life. “Hit Me Again” was in presented in Buffalo in April 1991.

John died in 1992 at the age of 39. He was the oldest survivor of dystrophic epidermolysis bullosa. Maureen was 27 when she passed away in 1984. She died as her mother was changing here dressings. Both brother and sister appeared much older than their years. At John’s funeral it was said by his brothers that “he made friends out of strangers and family out of friends.”

The series of reports ends with the tribute to Irene. Newberg interviews Michael who recalls Mother Theresa giving Irene her rosary. There is a scene of the brother and sister in the audience during Mother Theresa’s presentation at Niagara University. Speaking of his mother’s spirit, Michael says, “It was genuine humility…” He added, “She just thought that she was fulfilling God’s will and purpose for her life.”
]]> Newberg, Rich (Reporter, Archivist)]]> Grosvenor Room of B&ECPL (repository)]]> eng]]>