"A proposed natural gas pipeline that has faced opposition from groups in both New York and New Jersey has won the endorsement of the staff of the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, which has final approval over the $850 million project."

Contaminated fill, a little-noticed and largely unregulated health threat, is keeping some ball fields closed this spring in New Jersey ... and probably is a problem in many other areas.

When some 18 girls in the upstate New York town of Le Roy developed unexplained tics and twitches starting in August 2011, many were quick to suspect that the cause was toxic substances in the environment. There had been a major chemical spill there in 1970. Erin Brockovich, of movie fame, started an investigation (as did EPA). But many of the potential chemical causes were ultimately discounted. Later hypotheses about the cause included sociological, psychological, and infectious factors. Today, many of the victims are doing better.

"NIAGARA FALLS, N.Y. — Niagara Falls has gone on record against treating wastewater from hydraulic fracturing, with elected officials saying they don't want the city that endured the Love Canal toxic waste crisis to be a test case for the technology used in gas drilling operations."

"New Jersey faces serious water quality challenges, including sewage pollution, but upgrading old infrastructure can help address them, according to federal officials. On Tuesday, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency announced its approval of New Jersey’s latest list of streams, lakes, rivers, bays and other waters that are considered impaired or threatened by pollutants."

"TRENTON, New Jersey, February 24, 2012 (ENS) - The New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection is downplaying the environmental impact of a large spill from an oil tank at the Paulsboro Refining Company facility in Gloucester County that started Thursday afternoon."

"Wearing pajamas and holding their breath against the gagging stench of a spill at the chemical plant two doors down, Victor and Theresa Flow fled their Jackson Street home on Jan. 5, 2002, and headed to the fresh air and shelter of a nearby hotel."

"In a blow to the oil and gas industry, a judge has ruled small towns in New York have the authority to ban drilling -- including the controversial method known as fracking -- within their borders."

New York state legislators are considering banning shark fin sales, something several other states have done.

"WASHINGTON, DC -- New Jersey already has 144 Superfund sites, more than any other state, but it could have even more according to U.S. Environmental Protection Agency documents obtained through a lawsuit by Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility, a national alliance of state and federal agency resource professionals.

"Since January, baby bottles, sippy cups and reusable food containers in Maine have been free of the chemical hardening agent Bisphenol-A. Now, environmental health activists want the state to eliminate BPA from infant formula, baby and toddler foods. The move comes after tests conducted by The Alliance for a Clean and Healthy Maine and Mainely Moms and Dads also found BPA in those products."

"PORTSMOUTH, N.H. -- Amid a fog of scientific uncertainty, legal dispute and fierce debate, the New England Fishery Management Council on Wednesday asked the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration to institute an interim and emergency catch limit on inshore or Gulf of Maine cod for the coming year in the range of 6,700 metric tons to 7,500 metric tons.

"National environmental and health groups are beating a path to LeRoy, poking into the Genesee County community's startling cluster of teenage students with troubling neurological symptoms."

"ALBANY — In pushing for state approval of hydrofracking, the natural gas industry has pumped $1.34 million into the coffers of New York politicians and their parties, a new study revealed."

"ALLENTOWN, Pa. -- The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency abruptly changed its mind Saturday about delivering fresh water to residents of a northeastern Pennsylvania village where residential wells were found to be tainted by a natural gas drilling operation."