Helen Lowman looks at litter a lot. It’s her job. But while walking her dog in Westport, Conn., in March, she noticed an alarming trend. First she passed some dirty wipes on the ground. Then there were gloves. And finally a mask. Four months later, she said the litter of personal protective gear has only gotten worse.
Long Island’s largest mass of carcinogenic groundwater pollution, the Grumman plume is expanding a foot a day from Bethpage toward the Great South Bay, centerpiece of the region’s South Shore estuary system.
The spread of its 24 contaminants, most notably the cancer-causing solvent trichloroethylene, or TCE, contrasts markedly with the shrinking of a similarly toxic groundwater plume from the property of the Brookhaven National Laboratory, 35 miles east.
FARMINGDALE, N.Y. (CBSNewYork) — There’s a warning on Long Island about the water supply.
The Suffolk County Water Authority says residents should stop watering their lawns during the early morning hours.
Open spaces and protected natural sites offer unparalleled opportunities to find solace and restore our sense of balance during these challenging times. The beauty and grace of our natural resources reminds us that some things remain untouched, holding promise and comfort as we navigate into the future.
Yes, Long Island is slowly recovering from the devastating financial impact of the COVID-19 pandemic. But the three-month shutdown of our public and private sectors has left the local economy in disarray. Nassau County’s 2020 projected deficit was recently revised upwards another $100 million to a stunning $384 million. And Suffolk County’s COVID-19 Fiscal Impact Task Force projected a deficit of close to $1.5 billion over the next three years. If you drill down further, Long Island’s towns, villages, and cities are also on fiscally shaky ground.
The much-anticipated but oft-delayed setting of drinking water standards for new contaminants was pushed back again when the Department of Health last week postponed another meeting of the Public Health and Health Planning Council. The blame, as with many things nowadays, is being put on the coronavirus.
Environmental initiatives are among the lesser-noted casualties of the COVID-19 pandemic, but some are losing ground temporarily and some may be altered for the foreseeable future.
A court-ordered delay in enforcing the state’s new ban on plastic shopping bags was prolonged when the court system, operating remotely, set aside all but essential cases. Some stores had refused to accept bottles for redemption, and recycling was suspended in some localities.
Drawing direct parallels to several critical issues – including the COVID-19 pandemic – the Long Island Power Authority is pushing hard to push the Island’s steam-driven power plants into retirement.
