At a 2025 Environmental Roundtable hosted by State Senator Anthony Palumbo in Riverhead last Thursday, where elected officials from across the East End met with environmental interest groups, East Hampton Town Councilwoman Cate Rogers used her time to speak about one of the town’s biggest environmental issues, coastal resilience, and the fear that the some projects may no longer get the federal funding that small municipalities rely on. 

Northern states are depending on imported Canadian hydropower to clean up their grids. What happens now?

On Tuesday, President Donald Trump initiated a trade war with Canada and Mexico, America’s two largest trading partners. Following through on weeks of threats, he imposed 25 percent tariffs on imported goods from Mexico and Canada and a lower 10 percent tariff on imports of Canadian energy resources. (Update, Thursday, March 6: Trump has announced a one-month delay on the tariffs on most Mexican and some Canadian goods.)

Maryland has introduced a bill requiring its Department of Agriculture to ban certain pesticides, including PFAS, or "forever chemicals," according to CBS News. This bill may cause some worry about the impact on lawn treatments, but are fewer chemicals in our environment necessarily a bad thing?

WASHINGTON — EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin has begun to do what President Donald Trump wanted to do in his first term but couldn’t: Shrink the Environmental Protection Agency and cut its regulations on energy and business.

In his first month on the job, Zeldin, a former Long Island congressman, has spoken less about protecting the environment in interviews and on social media than he has about his mission to "unleash energy dominance."

Amanda Lefton appointed as commissioner of the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation, with the trust of Governor Kathy Hochul.

Amanda Lefton, a Queens native who grew up on Long Island and now lives upstate with her wife, has been tapped as commissioner of the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation.

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.

Local officials, advocates and residents are renewing calls for the U.S. Navy to clean up toxins used at the former Calverton-based Naval Weapons Industrial Reserve Plant that are polluting local waters.

Suffolk County officials are calling for the contaminated former Grumman site in Calverton to be designated a federal Superfund site to speed up remediation.

New maps released by the U.S. Navy show forever chemicals are heading straight for the Peconic River from the former Grumman plant in Calverton, prompting calls from county officials to declare the property a Superfund site to accelerate cleanup efforts.

A proposed bill in Maryland could require the Department of Agriculture to ban certain pesticides and PFAS, or forever chemicals, from being used in the state. 

Under House Bill 386, the Department of Agriculture would have to develop a list of certain pesticides that have forever chemicals as active ingredients. Those listed chemicals would not be allowed to be used or sold in the state. 

U.S. Senators Todd Young (R-Ind.) and Gary Peters (D-Mich.) introduced the Great Lakes Restoration Initiative Act of 2025, legislation to reauthorize the Great Lakes Restoration Initiative (GLRI) through 2031 to help protect and preserve the Great Lakes. 

PFAS-Free NY campaign launches 2025 legislative action agenda, website.

ALBANY, NY —  Legislators today announced the bills they are sponsoring to protect New Yorkers from exposure to PFAS (per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances) through everyday household items such as textiles, dental floss, cleaning products, cookware, children’s products, cosmetics, and menstrual products. The bills also aim to address PFAS in the water and air. Additionally, the PFAS-Free NY campaign announc

Blue states spent the last four years one-upping each other with bigger and bigger plans to build offshore wind farms that could power the nation into the future.

Now, just three weeks into Donald Trump’s presidency, the question is: What offshore industry?

Suffolk legislators will vote next week to consider a bill allowing wireless cellphone towers to be built on county-owned parkland.

A resolution to allow parkland to be considered for wireless facilities was approved Wednesday morning by a 5-0 vote in the county legislature’s Committee on Governmental Operations, Personnel and Information Technology.

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.

WASHINGTON — The Senate voted largely along party lines Wednesday to confirm former Long Island congressman Lee Zeldin’s nomination to lead the Environmental Protection Agency, which he promised lawmakers to make more business friendly.

All 53 Republicans and three Democrats voted for Zeldin to lead the independent agency, which has a $9 billion budget and more than 15,000 employees who are charged with protecting the environment, despite his limited experience in that science-laden field.

Lee Zeldin (R-Shirley) has been confirmed by the U.S. Senate to serve as administator of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) under President Donald Trump.

LONG ISLAND, NY — As the Senate confirmed former Rep. Lee Zeldin as administrator of the Environmental Agency, local advocates are imploring that he "hold strong and do what's right to protect our environment and our future."

Zeldin was confirmed by the Senate in a vote of 56 to 42, with two not voting.

"CONFIRMED! Thank you to the 56 senators for your vote and confidence," Zeldin wrote on X, adding that he was "grateful" to President Donald Tump for "having the faith in me to be part of his Cabinet as EPA Administrator."

Congressman Dave Joyce (OH-14) and his 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.

LONG ISLAND, N.Y. -- President Donald Trump has withdrawn a Biden administration plan to set new limits on chemical discharge into drinking water. 

State regulators around the U.S. had been waiting for the Environmental Protection Agency to take the lead on PFAS requirements so they could incorporate effective monitoring and treatment into their discharge permits.

On his first day in office, President Donald Trump ordered federal agencies to halt all new approvals for offshore wind, which New York is counting on to meet climate law targets.

Facing renewed calls for clean water, the U.S. Navy has agreed to a new round of testing private drinking wells in the shadow of a former Grumman plant in Calverton.

The Navy is seeking permission from property owners in its sampling area to test drinking wells for poly- and perfluoroalkyl substances, or PFAS, a class of manmade “forever chemicals” that have been linked to cancers, developmental disorders and other health impacts.

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. 

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.

The U.S. Navy has agreed to test private drinking water wells near the former Grumman facility in Calverton for PFAS.

Navy representatives will be on hand at an open house in Riverhead on Wednesday evening, Jan. 22 to discuss the sampling and schedule appointments with property owners. 

The holiday may be over, but your Christmas tree still has some magic to give.

It can help control beach erosion, nourish the soil in parks and provide a habitat for wildlife.

"While this bill is well-intentioned, the management of marine species is better left to the experts at DEC." — Gov. Kathy Hochul.

NEW YORK— Environmentalists are outraged over Gov. Kathy Hochul's recent decision to veto the Horseshoe Crab Protection Act, which prohibits the taking of horseshoe crabs from New York waters. The legislation would have allowed the populations to recover and ensured the survival of the important species, advocated said.

Patchogue Village officials were recognized Wednesday for their efforts to protect the environment.

The South Shore Estuary Reserve program and Citizens Campaign for the Environment presented mayor Paul Pontieri and village trustees with the South Shore Estuary Reserve 2024 Stewardship Award.

New York State Senator Peter Harckham and State Assemblymember Steve Otis joined labor unions, local leaders, and environmental organizations at the Ossining Water Treatment Plan today to urge Governor Hochul to continue New York’s commitment to clean water programs in the upcoming state budget. Attendees, including members of the New York Clean Water Coalition, called on the Governor to invest $600 million in the Clean Water Infrastructure Act in her executive budget proposal for FY2025-2026.