"In public health circles, New York City is known for its long war on lead poisoning. ... A 2004 housing law targeted 'elimination' of childhood lead poisoning within six years.... Yet inspectors didn’t visit the Brooklyn apartment where Barbara Ellis lived until after her twin daughters tested high for lead three years in a row, she said."

"Besides lead, no contaminant in drinking water has provoked as loud a public outcry in the last two years in the United States as a class of chemicals known as perfluorinated compounds. New Jersey regulators are taking the strongest action to date on the man-made chemicals that are used in scores of household and industrial products."

"This growing Brooklyn neighborhood, flooded during Superstorm Sandy, is now confronting the threat of future storms and sea level rise."

"Senate Democrats from New Hampshire have sent a letter to the regional Environmental Protection Agency office raising questions about its determination that a controversial landfill did not pose an 'unacceptable human health risk.'"

"The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is tapping a New York State lawmaker to lead its regional office based in New York City."

"The $1.7 billion Superfund cleanup of the Hudson River is not protecting the public’s health and the river as initially promised, New York’s environmental commissioner contended Wednesday."