In the coming weeks, Erie County officials are poised to allow the future Buffalo Bills’ stadium effectively to skip New York State’s environmental review law. Activists and experts say doing so results in a lack of transparency and little consideration for the environment. 

The deal’s major players — Erie County Executive Mark Poloncarz and the Buffalo Bills organization — would not offer further details. Their silence fits a pattern of stonewalling. Investigative Post has successfully sued Erie County and New York State to obtain public records before, and continues to be met with little communication.

Community groups have called for more transparency from Poloncarz and New York State Gov. Kathy Hochul. Still, the state and county refuse to answer basic questions. 

For the past several weeks, Investigative Post’s J. Dale Shoemaker has been uncovering details of how the proposed stadium may impact the environment. After combing through over a thousand pages of documents, questions were left unanswered.

Shoemaker sat down with Garrett Looker, host of our podcast series, to discuss his reporting. You can watch the interview via our YouTube channel or listen to it as a podcast.

https://www.investigativepost.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/12/Reporters-Notebook_Environmental-Stadium-AUDIO.mp3