Brookhaven Town is suing the state Department of Environmental Conservation, claiming that a state law enacted last year blocks the agency from requiring the town to clean up toxic plumes stemming from the town’s mammoth landfill and a town-owned airport in Shirley.

The town of Brookhaven and the DEC have been monitoring the plume for years.

The Blueprint:

• The Long Island Lobby Coalition requested over $1 billion in funding from Albany to address regional needs.

• The coalition includes small business owners, civic leaders, labor, environmental groups, and transportation advocates.

• Funding requests include support for chambers of commerce, wastewater, solar power, affordable housing, and transportation improvements.

• The coalition met with bipartisan state senators, assembly members, and Governor Hochul’s policy team.

Off the coast of Long Island, a new chapter in the region’s energy future is already spinning.

The South Fork Wind project — the first utility-scale offshore wind farm serving New York — is now delivering electricity to the East End, demonstrating that offshore wind is no longer theoretical. It’s operating infrastructure.

WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump’s strikes on Iran and ensuing oil price increases are reigniting a debate over the wisdom of ramping up domestic oil drilling while deemphasizing renewable energy sources. 

Clean energy advocates say the conflict in Iran — which has increased oil prices by 40% globally since the United States and Israel launched a joint strike on Feb. 28, according to industry monitor GasBuddy — underscores the need to reduce the country’s reliance on oil and gas by investing in renewable energy sources. But Trump and Department of Energy officials maintain that the strikes on Iran will be short-lived and energy prices will quickly stabilize.

In a virtual presentation on March 6, environmental scientists and advocates broke down how long-lasting per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances have infiltrated Long Island produce. Citizens Campaign for the Environment Executive Director Adrienne Esposito along with other experts arranged a study focusing on how these “forever chemicals” impact Long Island farmland.

Demonstrators in Brookhaven Town are calling for environmental solutions and a meeting with officials over the landfill's future.

“Forever chemicals” known as PFAS — cancer-causing pollutants already found in Long Island groundwater — have been detected in vegetables purchased from farm stands across the North and South forks, according to a new study by Stony Brook University.

The Citizens Campaign for the Environment Lunch & Learn

The Citizens Campaign for the Environment (CCE) hosted a webinar last Thursday, March 5, to discuss the impacts of toxic PFAS chemicals in New York, where scholars discussed their findings regarding the detection of per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) on locally grown produce on Long Island.

The online panel follows a collaborative study between Stony Brook University, Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility (PEER) and Citizens Campaign for the Environment, according to the CCE website. The discussion featured PEER director of Science Policy Dr. Kyla Bennett, CCE executive director Adrienne Esposito, Stony Brook University professor Dr. Lokesh Padhye and research consultant Dr. Seven Lasee.

Brookhaven is asking state regulators to approve a five-year extension of the town's landfill operating permit as the town moves to complete the oft-delayed shutdown of the lucrative but troubled dump.

Town officials and the state Department of Environmental Conservation, the latter which is weighing the town's request for a new permit that would expire in 2031, say the landfill is expected to close when it runs out of room for deposits of trash, primarily ash from Long Island incinerators operated by New Jersey-based Reworld.

For generations, the waters surrounding Long Island have defined its identity — from the wide-open waterfronts of the South Shore to the shellfish beds of the North Shore. But beneath the surface, a quieter transformation is underway.

A new study shows toxic forever chemicals known as PFAS may be entering the food chain on Long Island through contaminated soil, water and air.

PFAS have leached into our food from packaging and cookware. Now the risk may also be reaching our crops themselves. 

In 2025, Stony Brook University, PEER and Citizens Campaign for the Environment tested local produce from eight Long Island farms, including organic and conventional farms that use pesticides. They tested 23 vegetables including lettuce, carrots, and beets.

NEW YORK (PIX11) — New data suggests PFAS, commonly called “forever chemicals,” were found in locally grown vegetables on Long Island, according to a group of experts.

Cancer-causing "forever chemicals" from pesticides, fertilizer and common household products were in samples of beets, carrots and other vegetables purchased at Long Island farms, according to a new Stony Brook University study.

U.S. Rep. Tom Suozzi stood along the waterfront in Glen Cove on Tuesday, Feb. 17, warning that Long Islanders cannot afford to ignore what he described as a sweeping rollback of federal climate protections.
“Climate change is real,” Suozzi repeated several times during the news conference, held just days after President Donald Trump and the Environmental Protection Agency rescinded the 2009 “endangerment finding,” a policy that concluded greenhouse gases endanger public health and welfare.

Nearly 3,000 drinking water fountains, ice machines, classroom sinks and other fixtures in Long Island schools exceeded the state's standard for lead, a Newsday review of school testing reports found — more than twice as many as reported in a state database.

Districts said these noncompliant fixtures, tested over the past three years, were immediately shut off, replaced or marked for hand-washing only, following state law. But the results, according to public health experts, show that thousands of schoolchildren could have been exposed to water with harmful lead levels for years. 

New York State Senator Pete Harckham and Assemblymember Chris Burdick today announced a new state initiative to help homeowners test for and remove perfluoroalkyl and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) from private wells through New York’s PFAS Removal Treatment Rebate Program.

WASHINGTON — As a four-term congressman, Republican Lee Zeldin played a key role in the yearslong bipartisan push to save Plum Island,  off Long Island’s North Fork, from potential commercial development. He helped secure funding for clean water projects in his Suffolk district. And he spoke out against a 2018 proposal to permit offshore drilling in the Atlantic Ocean.

The Calverton Restoration Advisory Board has announced plans to host its own public meeting where the Suffolk County Health Department can present its independent testing data of private wells at the former Grumman site to the residents, after the U.S. Navy declined to have county officials present its findings. 

New York climate advocates are disturbed by the Trump administration’s decision to revoke a key legal finding stating that climate change impacts public health.

The 2009 Endangerment Finding has served as the basis for national efforts to reduce greenhouse-gas emissions and build more clean energy. The administration claims revoking the finding will lower transportation and energy costs.

Patchogue Village is getting closer to collecting your organic food scraps for compost purposes.

They will be picked up at specific locations in the village, then sent to an anaerobic digester in Yaphank.

“This will be the first program of its kind,” said Patchogue’s Business Improvement District Director David Kennedy. “The digester takes the food scraps and converts them into energy,” said Kennedy. “Right now, it would be a pilot program.”

Suozzi Calls Out Administration’s Disastrous Rollback of Bedrock Environmental Policy, Stands with Conservationists in calling for the reinstatement of 2009 ‘Endangerment Finding’

Glen Cove, NY— Today, Congressman Tom Suozzi (D-Long Island, Queens) held a press conference to call out the Administration’s revocation of the ‘Endangerment Finding’ that greenhouse gases endanger public health and welfare—a move widely seen as a major setback to U.S. efforts to combat the climate crisis.

WASHINGTON — Environmentalists raised alarms Thursday after the Environmental Protection Agency — led by Long Island native Lee Zeldin — repealed an Obama-era legal finding that has been used for 17 years to regulate and reduce greenhouse gas emissions.   

Without the provision, known as the endangerment finding, environmental advocates contend Long Island’s 2.2 million gas-powered vehicles — the state’s largest source of greenhouse gases — could be contributing more carbon to the atmosphere. Some energy industry groups and conservative policy groups, however, celebrated Zeldin's announcement. 

Improved wastewater infrastructure and healthy shellfish populations are the keys to improving the water quality of Stony Brook Harbor. On Tuesday, Feb. 3, environmental activists and scientists gathered at the Stony Brook Yacht Club for a water quality forum, specifically focusing on Stony Brook Harbor. 

Endowed Chair of Coastal Ecology and Conservation and Distinguished Professor at Stony Brook University’s School of Marine and Atmospheric Sciences Christopher J. Gobler spent the last two years monitoring water quality and shellfish populations in locations throughout the Stony Brook Harbor watershed. “We wanted to understand, what is controlling the growth of algae in Stony Brook Harbor?” he said.

New York Gov. Kathy Hochul’s proposal to fast-track certain housing projects by peeling back some environmental regulations is dividing some of the state’s most prominent climate advocacy groups.

The State Environmental Quality Review Act, or SEQRA, is intended to make sure projects don’t harm sensitive lands and waters, but developers have long criticized the process, saying it slows down construction times and drives up costs. Hochul said she’s trying to bring down housing costs amid New York state’s ongoing housing affordability crisis.

Experts explain what lies beneath the surface, and detail the threats to our crucial aquifers

Long Island’s drinking water supply is solely dependent on aquifers. Sarah Meyland, a retired professor at the New York Institute of Technology, spoke about the impacts of chronic water depletion on the region’s water supply. 

Advocates and elected officials discuss potential impacts of streamlining environmental review process

A roundtable discussion hosted by State Sen. Anthony Palumbo focused on proposed changes to New York's State Environmental Quality Review Act (SEQRA), which are part of Gov. Kathy Hochul's efforts to boost housing affordability. Environmental advocates and elected officials expressed concerns that the changes could weaken environmental protections without guaranteeing more affordable housing.

Glen Cove will spend nearly $800,000 to repair a water treatment system that can remove "forever chemicals," city officials said. 

The Glen Cove City Council recently approved a $776,000 payment for repairs to filters at a facility on Seaman Road.