U.S. Senator Kristen Gillibrand paid a visit to Riverhead on Monday morning to warn about President Donald Trump’s proposed $8 million federal funding cut from the National Estuary Program, which could threaten ongoing efforts to maintain and restore the Peconic Estuary and Long Island Sound.
Village Earns Competitive Grant Funding for Pollinator Gardens
The Village of Port Jefferson is one of several Long Island municipalities and organizations sharing more than $600,000 in grants aimed at creating new pollinator gardens.
Pollinator gardens are floral areas stocked with specific nectar- and pollen-producing plants meant to attract bees, moths, beetles and other pollinating insects responsible for pollinating about three-quarters of the world’s plant life.
In Riverhead, Gillibrand Sounds The Alarm On The Disastrous $8 Million Cut To National Estuary Program Funding Proposed In FY26 Budget That Would Endanger Americans’ Health
Contaminated water can lead to a plethora of health risks; cutting funding to maintain estuary water quality will endanger Americans’ well-being
Today, U.S. Senator Kirsten Gillibrand sounded the alarm on the proposed $8 million funding cut from the National Estuary Program (NEP) in the president’s FY26 budget. The NEP works to maintain and restore water quality of 28 estuaries across the United States, including the Peconic Estuary and Long Island Sound. Without sufficient funding, the NEP will not be able to monitor New York’s estuaries and keep them safe from threats such as excess nitrogen pollution, pathogens, and harmful algal blooms, which have been shown to be harmful to public health and the environment. Funding to restore and protect our estuaries also boosts coastal resilience from storms, improves tourism and recreation, and supports local jobs.
Sen. Gillibrand, environmental advocates urge full funding for National Estuaries Program
With their wild look, native gardens bloom despite cultural and social hurdles
Xilin Zhang was tired of the pressures of maintaining the “perfect lawn,” she said.
So Zhang, a homeowner in the village of New Hyde Park, yanked out her grass and turned her front lawn into a native plant garden: She planted milkweed, false sunflower, New York Ironweed and other plants native to the area. She began the work in 2021 and, over the past few years, her yard started to look like a “little national park,” she said, and was better for the environment, too.
PSEG: Oil leak into East Rockaway river has been stopped, repairs started
PSC cancels New York power line project for offshore wind energy
ALBANY, N.Y. (NEXSTAR) — New York’s Public Service Commission decided on Thursday to stop the project that would bring offshore wind power to New York City. They said that their decision would protect New Yorkers from paying for expensive power lines that might not be needed soon.
Source of oil spill in East Rockaway’s Mill River remains unknown
Crews have been using absorbent materials to soak up the oil and bagging the contaminated debris for disposal. Trucks have been hauling away the waste as quickly as it’s collected.
An oil spill continues to spread through Mill River in East Rockaway. Since Monday night, hundreds of gallons of oil have leaked into the waterway. Although cleanup efforts are underway, the exact source of the spill has not yet been located.
What’s In The Water: Exclusive look inside Yale University labs to study impacts 1,4 dioxane on the human body
What’s In The Water: Groundbreaking study offers insight into potential carcinogen in LI drinking water
News 12’s What’s In The Water series offers an exclusive look at a Yale University study into 1,4 dioxane and what the study will reveal about the dangers lurking in your drinking water.
A first-in-the-nation study hopes to answer questions about an emerging contaminant in Long Island water - and whether it can cause cancer.
Pollinator gardens are coming
SOURCE:
The Long Island Advance newspaper -
By Gary Haber - July 10, 2025
Citizens Campaign for the Environment wins grant, click to read article.
DEC declares majority of Lawrence Aviation site ‘requires no further clean-up’
Republicans and Democrats Finally Agree on Nuclear. It’s the Industry That’s the Problem.
The atomic age is perpetually on the verge of dawning.
Nuclear power is a political winner — but not a money saver. Just ask Tim Echols.
Echols’ term on the Georgia Public Service Commission is up this year, and unlike most states, his position is an elected one.
He says the Vogtle nuclear plant has been a campaign issue — it’s hiked customers’ bills by about 12 percent since coming fully online last year, $21 billion over budget and seven years behind schedule — but that his opponents haven’t been able to weaponize it. He won his Republican primary resoundingly last month.
Lawrence Aviation site cleanup is complete, officials say
From taxes to health care to immigration, Trump's 'big, beautiful bill' will have big impact on Long Island
WASHINGTON — Halfway through his first year back in office, President Donald Trump has the green light from the Republican-majority Congress to move ahead on major parts of his domestic agenda.
The sprawling budget bill Congress passed this week, which Trump signed into law at a July Fourth White House ceremony, will touch Long Island in a variety of ways — from the economy to the environment, from health care access to immigration enforcement — and will be at the center of next year’s midterm elections, said Lawrence Levy, executive dean of Hofstra University’s National Center for Suburban Studies.
State, Sisters of St. Joseph protect 43 acres in Brentwood
Superfund cleanup of Long Island aviation site finally concludes
A former aviation facility in Long Island that had contaminated groundwater and nearby drinking wells is ready for redevelopment following a decades-long cleanup, state environmental officials said Wednesday.
A $50 million superfund cleanup successfully restored nearly all of the 125-acre tract of land where Lawrence Aviation Industries once manufactured titanium sheet metal in Suffolk County.
DEC Announces Cleanup Milestone for Lawrence Aviation Superfund Site on Long Island
Portion of Site Recommended for Removal from State’s Registry of Inactive Hazardous Waste Disposal Sites
New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) Commissioner Amanda Lefton today announced that the cleanup of the former Lawrence Aviation Industries site has reached a significant milestone in the removal of contamination from the site of the former industrial manufacturing facility in the town of Brookhaven, Suffolk County. The announcement was made during a visit by the Commissioner and local officials to the long-vacant industrial site on Long Island. Following cleanup and restoration efforts, environmental monitoring shows the site has achieved removal criteria to delist portion of the site from the Inactive Hazardous Waste Disposal Sites list (State Superfund Registry). DEC is seeking public review and comment on its determination that most of the site no longer requires further cleanup under the State Superfund (SSF) program.
DEC Announces New 43-Acre Conservation Easement to Preserve Open Space in Brentwood
Easement Permanently Protects Globally Rare Pine Barrens Ecosystem
Advances New York’s ‘30 x 30’ Open Space Protection Goals and Helps Connect New Yorkers in Environmental Justice Communities to the Outdoors
New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) Commissioner Amanda Lefton today announced the permanent protection of more than 43 acres of globally rare pine barrens owned by the Sisters of St. Joseph in Brentwood, town of Islip. DEC acquired a conservation easement from the Sisters and will jointly manage the property with them for groundwater an
Long Island Power Authority gets new leader at ‘pivotal’ time
Environmentalists, labor leaders, government officials and solar energy companies all welcomed the appointment of Carrie Meek Gallagher to lead the Long Island Power Authority.
It would probably be difficult to imagine someone with a background better suited to leading LIPA than Gallagher, who takes the helm on July 7. She has more than 25 years of experience in public service, energy regulation and environmental policy — including time monitoring LIPA.

