"A national environmental protection organization says that state leaders in Massachusetts lacked a permit and adequate monitoring for the weekend’s aerial spraying of pesticides to combat mosquitoes carrying eastern equine encephalitis."

"Perhaps the most unsung patch of heaven in New York City is a tiny sliver of riverfront parkland tucked between a metal-recycling yard and a giant wholesale produce market, on the far side of a six-lane highway and a pair of active freight train tracks. Hunts Point Riverside Park, a 1.4-acre speck in the South Bronx, opened a few years ago on what had been a filthy, weedy street end."

"A new study enters the debate over the safety of hydraulic fracturing: researchers report that naturally occurring paths in the rock bed in northeastern Pennsylvania allowed some contaminants to migrate into shallow drinking aquifers. They found no direct connection between the contamination and shale-gas drilling operations in the region, however."

"AUGUSTA, Maine — The Maine Department of Environmental Protection has published a list of 49 chemicals whose everyday use it deems dangerous to the health of Maine children, but an environmental policy group is urging stronger action."

"NARROWSBURG, N.Y. -- Concerns over the welfare of bald eagles have led an upstate New York community to cancel its longtime July Fourth fireworks display."

"ALBANY -- Before going home for the summer last week, state lawmakers quietly added nine more months of life to a pollution cleanup program that has turned into a billion-dollar cookie jar for affluent developers."

"The State University of New York at Buffalo has rebuffed calls for an investigation of the work of a new institute it founded that is devoted to the study of shale gas drilling, saying it is defending the freedom of faculty members to conduct research."

"Documents obtained by the Environmental Working Group (EWG) show that bureaucrats within the New York Department of Environmental Conservation (NY DEC) granted the oil and gas industry premature access to highly controversial draft regulations for shale gas fracking in the state. New York placed a moratorium on hydraulic fracturing for gas in order to evaluate the science on the risks posed to drinking water, air quality and the health of New York's citizens and the environment."

"MIDDLEPORT, N.Y. -- A massive arsenic cleanup project could affect the entire village of Middleport. The soil in yards, gardens and even a school campus may have to be dug up and carted away.

How big of an area are we talking about? The village is similar in size to about 500 football fields - and that's a lot of dirt. Residents learned what's in store Wednesday night.

"New Jersey legislators approved legislation on Monday banning the treatment or storage of fracking waste in the state."

"A Brooklyn public school building that had leaking light fixtures will be moved to the top of the list of schools with PCB problems, and the city will replace its lighting very soon, city officials said last week."

"One swarm covered the side-view mirror of a Volvo station wagon in a lot by the Hudson River, trapping a family of three inside. Another humming cluster the size of a watermelon bent a tree branch in front of a Chase Bank on the Lower East Side, attracting a crowd of gasping onlookers. And for several hours, thousands of bees carpeted a two-foot-tall red standpipe on the patio of a South Street Seaport restaurant, sending would-be outdoor diners elsewhere."

"Swaths of Cape Cod's salt marshes are slowly disintegrating. For the human observer, the most notable sign of their decline might be the increase in night herons. They crouch like low, dark smudges on the salt marshes at dawn after feeding on the surfeit of Sesarma crabs through the night."

"Federal officials believe they have identified a highly concentrated pocket of cancer-causing chromium underneath an abandoned factory in Garfield [NJ] that may be the root cause of the large-scale contamination potentially threatening the health of thousands of residents."

"Like most members of the Penobscot Nation, Scott Phillips grew up near the Penobscot River and learned to paddle and fish as a young boy. He took to it like a duck to water. He became a competitive racer and eventually opened his own business selling canoes, kayaks and other outdoor gear. Next week, the first of two dams on the river will be removed, altering the way it's used recreationally. The change could also be a boon to Phillip's business."