Attorney General Andrew M. Cuomo today announced that New York and eleven other states are suing the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) over new regulations denying the public access to information about toxic chemicals in their communities.

The EPA will allow thousands of companies to avoid disclosing information to the public about the toxic chemicals they use, store, and
release into the environment by rolling back chemical reporting requirements. The suit seeks to overturn the weakened reporting requirements and provide the public with the access they had in the past.

“The EPA’s new regulations rob New Yorkers – and people across the country – of their right to know about toxic dangers in their own
backyards,” said Attorney General Cuomo. “Along with eleven other states throughout the nation, we will restore the public’s right to information about chemical hazards, despite the Bush administration’s best attempts to hide it.”

The changes to the reporting requirements affect the EPA’s Toxics Release Inventory (TRI) program. The TRI is the only comprehensive, publicly-available database of toxic chemical use, storage, and release in the United States. Under the TRI, companies are required to provide the EPA and the states in which the company’s facilities are located with information critical to public health and safety, and the environment. This information includes the types and amounts of toxic chemicals stored at the company’s facilities and the quantities they release into the environment.

Construction of the oft-discussed new passenger terminal at Niagara Falls International Airport has cleared a crucial milestone.

The Niagara Frontier Transportation Authority’s board of commissioners Monday unanimously approved awarding the construction contract to the Walter S. Johnson Building Co. Inc., of Niagara Falls. Johnson was the lowest of three bidders, coming with a price of $26.7 million or $1.3 million than the NFTA had originally budgeted for the construction of the 69,430-square-foot terminal.

Work is expected to start in the spring, with the new terminal slated to welcome its first passengers in the summer of 2009.

Bisons left-hander Juan Lara was seriously injured leaving a Winter League game in the Dominican Saturday night and may need to be transported to the United States to undergo surgery.

Lara was stopped at an intersection traveling home from his teams game in San Pedro de Macoris when a motorcycle collided with his vehicle, killing the two people on the bike. Further details about the extent Lara’s injuries are not yet available.

Lara went 4-3 with a 3.88 ERA and 50 K’s in 58 innings of work out of Buffalo’s bullpen last season.

Let’s all hope he comes out of this okay and makes a full recovery.

Inspired by Pundit’s post about Bruce Andriatch’s column.
I kid because I love.You know you’re an urban hipster when…

• You think Buffalo has an awesome music scene and cite the Goo Goo Dolls being mildly famous in the late 90’s as evidence of it.
• Fidel Castro hats seem like a good idea.
• You think the glare people give you when you’re constantly pulling out your iPhone is one of jealousy.
• You think of being a regular at the old Pink as a life goal.
• You fail to see the shocking similarities between the quality of the products being sold at the Elmwood Art Festival and Walden Avenue Super Flea.
• You’re completely oppose to chain restaurants and refuse to eat at them on principle. Thankfully, Starbucks is just a coffee shop and it doesn’t count.
• You pretend you don’t eat at Pano’s.
• You pretend you do shop at the Lexington Co-Op.
• Two words. Emo glasses.
• You read Artvoice for something other than News of the Weird.
• You think a fishing store will destroy the city but have no problem shipping the Bills to Canada.
• You think JP Losman should be the Bills starting quarterback. Not because you think he’s better suited for the job (you don’t actually watch football), but because you like his haircut and he lives in your neighborhood.
• You remind everyone how great it is you drive a Hybrid just in case one of them wants to give you that medal you feel you’ve earned for it.
• You won’t shut up about how great the city is but you don’t have the balls to send your kid to the public schools
• You refuse to drink anything but wine and microbrews at a bar and turn your nose up and anyone who doesn’t but you’ll still drink Pabst Blue Ribbon to be ironic.

Check after the Jump for more and feel free to add your own in the comments

 Every once in a while, I poke my head in over at BRO to see what’s going on.

Today, I stopped by to check out what their take was on the Outer Harbor project. I had just finished recording a podcast with Rep. Higgins on the issue and went over there to see what “the other half” thought about the issue. I was completely unsurprised to see someone immediately invoke the idea of what “the community wants“.

Higgins should do the right thing for the community, and tell the DOT to hold up the process, give the community the opportunity to bring in one of America’s great boulevard designers (there are at least two prominent boulevard designers in California*), limit the time for a new design to be decided on by the community and the DOT in a joint effort, and I believe the community can get what it wants - an attractive boulevard