Mary Fontana doesn’t trust the water that comes out of the tap in her upstate New York home. Nor do most of her neighbors in Tupper Lake, an Adirondacks village where she is mayor.

“When I’m putting my kid in the bathtub at the end of the night, when the tub fills up with rust-colored water, it’s really hard to look at that and not think that you’re doing some kind of harm,” said Fontana, who has pushed the state for help cleaning up her village’s water.

Citizens Campaign for the Environment Executive Director Adrienne Esposito discusses concerns related to  per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS).

Environmental groups and state lawmakers are urging Gov. Kathy Hochul to sign legislation that would lower New York’s allowable PFAS levels in drinking water from 10 parts per trillion to 4 parts per trillion.

A bill aimed at strengthening drinking water protections in New York is now awaiting action from Gov. Kathy Hochul.

Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) and local officials are calling on the U.S. Navy to expedite cleanup efforts at a former development site and of  a toxic groundwater plume that is inching toward the Peconic Bay.

Schumer appeared in Calverton Thursday to call on the U.S. Navy to resume testing of the plume at Enterprise Park after the Navy pushed back a deadline 10 years to 2039, to conclude its assessment and come up with a plan to clean up contaminants from the former Grumman weapons plant. 

A Manhattan law firm, with an East End connection, is planning PFAS litigation

“We represent over 2,000 individuals from Nassau and Suffolk counties who have developed four types of cancer — liver, kidney, thyroid and testicular cancers — and also ulcerative colitis, in litigation involving PFAS,” said Jeffrey Guzman, a founding member of a law firm based on Wall Street in Manhattan, Krentsel Guzman Herbert.

The Environmental Protection Agency has named Nicole “Nikki” Tachiki as the new director of the Long Island Sound Partnership, placing a longtime agency scientist and program planner at the helm of a regional effort focused on improving the health of the Long Island Sound and the communities that surround it.

A federal judge struck down New York’s plan to force fossil fuel companies to pay it $75 billion to offset climate change impacts they caused.

An upstate federal judge ruled that a New York law that would have forced major fossil fuel companies to foot the bill for infrastructure upgrades necessary to withstand the impacts of climate change is unconstitutional, saying the state overstepped its authority by passing it. 

A life scientist with the Environmental Protection Agency is the new leader of an interagency program created to improve the health of Long Island Sound.

Nicole Tachiki, named acting director of the EPA's Long Island Sound office in 2025, is now in charge of Long Island Sound Partnership, which began in 1985 as the Long Island Sound Study — an EPA-run effort in collaboration with New York and Connecticut aimed at cleaning up the Sound.

At the head of the Nissequogue River in Head of the River, a home nestled within rolling green pastures that was once a grist mill dating back to the 1700s still stands. But the family that has served as its steward for four generations is seeking to pass it on to preserve it.

As she sat with other family members in the wood shingle-covered home on Mill Dam Road, Molly Micciche said she could tell the exact times when the low and high tide for the Nissequogue River occurred. Micciche, 81, is one of the four children of Herbert G. Luther, who converted the centuries-old mill into a home in the 1950s.

Five years ago, Suffolk County launched a plan to dig up and replace every outmoded, polluting septic tank and cesspool in the county. The ambitious project, one of the largest causes championed by Long Island environmentalists over the past several decades, was expected to take 50 years. 

Gov. Kathy Hochul visited the Montauk Lighthouse over the weekend to sign new protections for whales into law.

Called the Whale Awareness Act, the legislation is centered on education and integrates marine mammal protection into both New York State boater safety courses and the vessel registration process.

Key Points

• Riverhead is working on draft revisions to its battery energy storage code.

• The discussion follows PFAS detections in public water wells near the 2023 East Hampton BESS fire site.

• SCWA says PFPrA was detected in water that migrated from the fire; state officials say the source remains under investigation.

• Rothwell opposes a moratorium but wants runoff containment and removal of utility-scale BESS from Residence A-80 zoning.

• Several Suffolk towns have adopted or extended BESS moratoria while reviewing local rules.

The state of New York has a solid waste problem. At least when it comes to tracking it.

This is according to a new audit from the New York State Comptroller’s Office.

Auditors found the Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) “lacks reliable information on how much material is recycled across the state.” 

The Trump administration is buying back New York offshore wind leases as it moves forward with plans to expand the use of fossil fuels.

The company RWE U.S. Offshore is receiving more than $1 billion to give up its leases to build wind farms off the coasts of New York, California and Louisiana. It is one of several deals the federal government made with renewable energy companies to get them to invest in fossil fuels instead.

COALITION PROPELLING LONG ISLAND TRANSMISSION: A new coalition has formed to support the Propel NY project that’s awaiting a key state approval and running into some last-minute hurdles.

A new New York law aims to protect whales by requiring whale-safe boating education and instructing boaters to keep at least 300 feet away from whales.

A new state law will change what boaters learn before they hit the water, including how to safely respond if they encounter a whale.

As more whales spend time in Long Island waters, a new state law aims to educate boaters about how to avoid collisions with the marine mammals.

State officials plan to boost funding for the Clean Vessel Assistance Program, a grant initiative that helps marinas install and upgrade boat pump-out stations that reduce water pollution.

In response to increased collisions between boats and marine mammals off New York’s coast, state lawmakers want better training for boaters to protect dolphins and whales. We discuss this issue with Adrienne Esposito, executive director of the Citizens Campaign for the Environment.

Plum Island’s future is coming into clearer focus, thanks to Suffolk County Executive Ed Romaine’s announcement Wednesday that the County will seek to acquire the 822-acre island off the tip of Long Island’s North Fork. 

New York attorney general Letitia James sued chemical manufacturers (PDF) 3M, DuPont, Corteva, Chemours, and EIDP in state court on July 9 for their role in contributing to pollution and other alleged harms from the use of per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) in consumer products.

Environmental advocates say PFAS, or per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances, have been used in consumer products for decades and that the lawsuit represents an important step toward reducing public exposure.

A U.S. Navy official made a stunning admission last month, one that residents and Suffolk County officials had already suspected. For over a year the Navy withheld from the public test results that found dangerously high levels of the chemical PFOS in fish and the waters in Swan Pond near the former Naval Weapons Industrial Reserve Plant in Calverton.

As the mercury rises, the Long Island Water Conference is urging residents to conserve water in ways that are good for the environment and your wallet.

With Long Island already classified by the federal government as being in a severe drought , the organization is encouraging residents to save water, both in the short and long term. LIWC represents the major public and private water suppliers that provide drinking water to almost 90% of the island's population.

In a fenced-off area of Bethpage Community Park, a long-delayed cleanup of a former chemical dumping ground trudges along: Construction excavators have dug into the landscape in recent years, and arrays of metal pipes have drilled into the dirt.

The East Hampton Energy Storage Center, which caught fire in 2023, and as a result, according to a recent lawsuit filed by the Suffolk County Water Authority, leaked perfluoropropionic acid, a so-called “forever chemical,” into the groundwater and the water authority’s nearby wells is not unique in the Town of East Hampton.

The Huntington Town Board has approved a six-month moratorium on permits and approvals for the installation of battery storage systems in the town, citing ongoing concerns over fire safety.

Board member Dave Bennardo sponsored the resolution, which passed 5-0 at a board meeting last week.

Last month, Bennardo hosted a meeting with fire chiefs from Greenlawn, Centerport and East Northport, as well as residents and some storage system representatives, to discuss the future of such facilities.

A new round of funding is now open to Long Island property owners willing to trade some lawn for native plants—and the reasons to apply go beyond a reimbursement check.

The Long Island Garden Rewards Program, a partnership among the Long Island Regional Planning Council, the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation, the Long Island Sound Partnership, the Long Island South Shore Estuary Reserve Program, and NEIWPCC, offers reimbursements of up to $500 to property owners who install rain barrels, create rain gardens, or plant native species on their land. Homeowners, businesses, and nonprofits are eligible. Applications are processed on a first-come, first-served basis until funding runs out. Since the program launched in 2023, more than 580 property owners have received reimbursements.

In the wake of pressure from Suffolk County to clean up numerous environmental issues emanating from the former Grumman plant in Calverton, consultants for the U.S. Navy have unveiled a plan to capture a groundwater plume of the emerging contaminants PFAS that is believed to be spreading toward a nearby lake and the Peconic River.

ALBANY — The recently passed state budget includes more money for top environmental issues, like clean water, protecting Long Island’s estuaries, increasing renewable energy sources and weaning the state off fossil fuels.

But the changes to the state’s landmark climate law Gov. Kathy Hochul muscled through cast a pall over other progress environmentalists felt they made.