A big die-off of lobsters in Long Island Sound has put local lobstermen on their last legs. Likely causes of the decline include global warming, pesticides, a hurricane, and bacteria.

"The Ten Mile River, once polluted by the many jewelry factories that lined it decades ago, has bounced back, according to environmentalists, and is now home to a variety of wildlife."

Rick Foster reports for the Attleboro Sun Chronicle August 7, 2011. [7]

"A key natural gas pipeline which crosses southern New York state is in danger of rupturing and could pose a safety threat, according to a recent report from regulators."

"Brooklyn's Gowanus Canal, labeled 'one of the most contaminated bodies of water in the nation,' isn't just a filthy Superfund site. To urbanites, it's a little piece of the outdoors."

"A state Superior Court judge has ruled that the Occidental Chemical Corp. is liable for the $1 billion to $4 billion in costs associated with the cleanup of sediments in the lower Passaic River contaminated decades ago by Diamond Alkali/Diamond Shamrock Chemicals Corp., a now defunct Newark pesticide manufacturing plant."

"The rivers that run into New York Harbor will be unfit for recreational activities at least through Sunday because of a catastrophic fire that shut down one of the city’s largest sewage treatment plants, the city’s health department said Thursday."

"The latest draft of guidelines for hydraulic fracturing in New York could open the door to drilling within 1,000 feet of aging underground tunnels that carry water to New York City -- a far cry from the seven-mile buffer once sought by city officials."

"The Supreme Court decided [Monday] not to take up General Electric Co.'s legal campaign over how U.S. EPA exercises its authority to order companies to clean up hazardous waste sites."

"Tornadoes tore through Western and Central Massachusetts yesterday, killing at least four people, injuring an untold number, and reducing schools, churches, and homes to splinters along its destructive path."