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times during the news conference, held just days after President Donald Trump and the Environmental Protection Agency rescinded the 2009 “endangerment finding,” a policy that concluded greenhouse gases endanger public health and welfare.
NYS environmental groups upset at federal climate policy reversal
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.
Conservation groups split over Hochul’s plan to roll back parts of environmental law
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.
DEC grants town extension for landfill report
Larger issue, supe says, is what comes after the closure
On Jan. 8, the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation, DEC, extended the deadline for completion of the Corrective Measures Assessment period and Report submission to ensure a complete assessment and adequate public engagement for the Town of Brookhaven’s landfill closure.
According to the DEC, the town must host a public meeting and conclude their assessment by April 15, 2026, and submit the Corrective Measures Assessment Report by May 1, 2026, a three-month extension from previous requirements.
Newsday - NYS Budget: What's included for transportation, environment, economic development
1st day without Clean Pass increases traffic to Long Island
EPA policy shift plan will have detrimental consequences for climate and public health, LI advocates say
The Trump administration's plan to rescind a rule used to enforce limits on greenhouse gas emissions from motor vehicles will jeopardize health and safety on Long Island while undermining billions of dollars New York has spent electrifying the transportation sector, local environmental advocates and scientific experts say.
The EPA’s Repeal of Core Greenhouse Gas Rules
“Trump’s EPA to repeal core of greenhouse gas rules,” was the Reuters headline this week as Lee Zeldin, chosen by Donald Trump to be administrator of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, announced what Reuters said “will rescind the long-standing finding that greenhouse gas emissions endanger human health, as well as tailpipe emission standards for vehicles, removing the legal foundation of greenhouse gas regulations across industries.”
EPA to repeal all greenhouse gas vehicle emissions standards, rescind scientific finding that planet-warming gases endanger public health
DEC declares majority of Lawrence Aviation site ‘requires no further clean-up’
Lawrence Aviation site cleanup is complete, officials say
MTA granted another extension for Lawrence Aviation Industries site purchase
The MTA has requested and received another extension to complete its $10 purchase of a 40-acre Port Jefferson Station property for a future LIRR train station, Suffolk County officials said Tuesday.
The Metropolitan Transportation Authority had faced a June 30 deadline to close on the deal after two previous deadlines had passed in June and December last year.
Rail yard at Lawrence Aviation Industries at a halt, officials urge action
While the Lawrence Aviation Industries site in Port Jefferson Station is clean and cleared from the superfund registry, the atmosphere around the prospective rail yard is murkier than ever.
The MTA has yet to secure the 40 acres allocated to the rail yard, which would be crucial to electrifying the Port Jefferson line. As the June 30 deadline approaches, local officials and environmental leaders met at the site on June 2 to urge the MTA to sign and for Governor Kathy Hochul to apply further pressure. Brookhaven bought 40 acres to preserve as open space and the county bought the other 40 acres to use as a solar farm.
Environmentalists, others prod MTA to beat deadline, buy part of former Lawrence Aviation property
WHALE SIGHTINGS ARE UP
The ‘elephant in the room’ at Palumbo’s annual environmental roundtable: future of federal funds
Representatives of two dozen organizations gathered Thursday for an annual environmental roundtable meeting hosted by State Senator Anthony Palumbo to discuss regional environmental issues, concerns and needs. The event went off as it does every year: a cordial, free-wheeling, pass-the-mic conversation.
If the ongoing federal staffing cuts and budget-slashing being undertaken by the Trump administration worried the environmental advocates and government officials in the room, their concerns were mostly left unspoken —even though most of the programs addressing local environmental issues substantially rely on federal funding.
Betting on Long Island with the Las Vegas Sands
The real estate roulette wheel is spinning – and it’s at least possible that the ball will settle on a multi-billion-dollar Long Island resort and casino.
The Las Vegas Sands is seeking to build a $6 billion integrated resort and casino in Uniondale if it is awarded one of three downstate gaming licenses from the state. It is the only bid on Long Island.
Dingell Introduces Legislation to Reauthorize Great Lakes Restoration Initiative
Today, Congresswoman Debbie Dingell (MI-06) and her colleagues on the bipartisan Great Lakes Task Force introduced the Great Lakes Restoration Initiative (GLRI) Act of 2025. This bipartisan bill will reauthorize the Great Lakes Restoration Initiative, which is set to expire at the end of FY 2026, for another five years through FY 2031. The bill increases the FY 2026 authorization level from $475 million to $500 million starting in FY 2027.
Casino bid at Nassau Coliseum renews concern for its next-door neighbors: Two dozen species of birds
Tucked among the malls, parkways and office buildings of central Nassau County is 100 acres of natural habitat for birds, insects and threatened plant species resembling a prairie in the Midwest.
The rare, county-owned grasslands sit adjacent to another county-owned site: The 72-acre asphalt property of the Nassau Veterans Memorial Coliseum where Las Vegas Sands has proposed a $6 billion casino-resort.

