"RAVENA, NY -- Nearly one person in 10 tested for toxic mercury had elevated blood levels enough to warrant a visit to their doctor, according to a study of people who live around the Lafarge cement plant by the Harvard University School of Public Health."

"New Jersey adopted the nation's toughest restrictions on fertilizer Wednesday as part of a package of bills signed into law by Gov. Chris Christie to protect the fragile Barnegat Bay from further pollution."

"Gov. Andrew Cuomo is receiving plaudits from environmental groups for nominating Joseph Martens as the new commissioner of New York State’s Department of Environmental Conservation."

New York regulators are working on a new plan that may limit more tightly the use of the pesticide aldicarb -- which has shown up in the shallow aquifer on which Long Island is especially dependent for drinking water.

A nuclear waste disaster in New York is leading to a new understanding of how to deal with nuclear waste.
 

"General Electric announced on Thursday that it had agreed to continue the cleanup of the Hudson River under new, tighter federal requirements, including a limit on how much contamination could be sealed on the riverbed rather than removed."
 

Optimists think General Electric and the EPA may agree in January on the final phase of Superfund cleanup of PCBs that polluted the Hudson River.

"Many of Western Pennsylvania's 16 coal-fired power plants have been charged repeatedly for violations of their air or water pollution permits and paid relatively small penalties, according to a Pittsburgh Post-Gazette review of federal and state environmental agency data."

"New Jersey lawmakers, as part of a plan to control the flow of pollutants into the state’s waterways, today passed what’s being described as the nation’s toughest restrictions on fertilizer."

"Gov. David A. Paterson of New York on Saturday vetoed legislation intended to curtail natural gas development using the technique called hydraulic fracturing until a closer review of its effects can be undertaken."

"Regulators charged with protecting the watershed for New York City and the Philadelphia region today backed off from their toughest restrictions on Marcellus Shale drilling, but still proposed measures stricter than existing rules in nearby areas."

"The New York State Assembly voted 93 to 43 Monday night to place a temporary moratorium on a controversial type of natural gas exploration that combines hydraulic fracturing with horizontal drilling."

"New York gets a D-plus grade for its regulation of industries that affect air and water quality, job growth and other essentials, according to a report by an independent think tank."

"Exxon Mobil Corp. agreed to pay $25 million to settle a lawsuit over a decades-old oil spill and related environmental contamination in Brooklyn, New York, state Attorney General Andrew M. Cuomo said."

New York state is strewn with abandoned wells -- the relics of drilling booms before the current gas bonanza. Their owners are long gone, but they have left a legacy of pollution, sticking taxpayers with the cleanup costs.