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."

"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."

"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."

"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.

Twenty-seven contaminated sites in New Jersey pose risks equal to or greater than sites placed on the Superfund National Priority List and scheduled for cleanup, yet the EPA has not added these uncontrolled sites to the list, PEER has determined.