State of New York

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Julie Marsh, Unsplash

The Nature Conservancy (TNC), a global environmental nonprofit founded in 1951, is offering grants of up to $50,000 across Long Island and New York State to support conservation and climate adaptation initiatives, with a focus on projects that protect lands and waters crucial for adapting to climate change.

This initiative is part of TNC’s 2025 Climate Resilience Grant Program (CRGP), which awards grants to local organizations and supports fee and easement acquisitions connecting critical floodplains and shorelines, helping to mitigate flooding and erosion.  The program also provides funding for organizational capacity-building, as well as planning and strategy development.  

TNC prioritizes projects that involve meaningful community engagement, especially in underserved and frontline communities, and that work with groups historically excluded from conservation, aiming for more equitable outcomes for people and communities.Continue Reading Empowering Long Island’s Future: Nature Conservancy Supports Local Conservation Efforts

Healthy hydration at home
Bluewater Sweden, Unsplash

On May 13, 2024, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (“EPA”) and New York State officials broke ground on a clean water infrastructure project at Plant 6 of the Hicksville Water District, located in Nassau County.  This groundbreaking step represents just the initial phase of a comprehensive effort to implement a $9 million treatment system to remove a number of hazardous per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (“PFAS”), also known as “forever chemicals,” from Hicksville’s water supply, and secure clean drinking water for local residents. 

PFAS are used in food packaging and in products that resist heat, oil, stains, grease and water, such as nonstick cookware, water-repellent clothing and some cosmetics, among many other industry and consumer products.  PFAS exposure has been linked to, inter alia, certain cancers, increases in cholesterol levels, changes in liver enzymes, and immune system and development damage to infants and children.Continue Reading Navigating the Waters: A Long Island Community’s Response to the EPA’s PFAS Directive

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micheile henderson, Unsplash

The New York Climate Leadership and Community Protection Act (“CLCPA”) established ambitious targets to transform New York’s energy generation and efficiency. The CLCPA was signed into law in 2019 with goals to achieve 100% zero-emission electric generation by 2040 and greenhouse gas emission reduction to 85% below 1990 levels by 2050, among others.  The clean energy investments contemplated by the CLCPA include $35 billion in large-scale renewable and transmission projects, $6.8 billion to reduce building emissions, $1.8 billion for solar and more than $1 billion for clean transportation initiatives. Continue Reading Green for Green: New York’s Climate Justice Working Group Identifies Qualified Disadvantaged Communities for Clean Energy and Energy Efficiency Investments

When New York Governor Kathy Hochul executed the 2022-2023 State Budget, it included a 10-year extension to the State’s Brownfield Cleanup Program (“BCP” or “Program).  The State’s voluntary, incentive-laced, BCP was set to expire on December 31, 2022.  The Program’s extension generally reinforces the State’s commitment to incentivize the remediation and re-use of environmentally-compromised and…

Last week’s election had news outlets across the State and nation talking about Long Island’s rare “red wave”.  While many are now debating what the apparent sea change means for Long Islanders, at least for the next few years, equal attention should also be paid to another important and far-reaching election result of a different…

On October 5, 2021, the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (“Department” or “DEC”) released water quality guidance values for three emerging compounds, PFOA, PFOS and 1,4-Dioxane (collectively, “Emerging Compounds”).  The comment period for the draft guidance values runs until November 5, 2021.  Comments can be issued to the Department at 625 Broadway, 4th…

The facts at issue in Elpa Builders, Inc. v. State of New York are relatively straightforward.  The property owner (the “Owner”) owned a 53,645-square-foot parcel of property (the “Property”) along New York State Route 347 (“Route 347”) in the Town of Smithtown.  The Property is improved with a commercial building and is subject to a…

Last year, the New York County Supreme Court heard an Article 78 challenge by Preserve Our Brooklyn Neighborhoods (“POBN”), a civic organization dedicated to maintaining the unique character and historical significance of the Fort Greene area of Brooklyn, New York.  This lawsuit, which I discussed in a previous post, turned on whether a…

In a recent decision, Matter of Red Wing Properties, Inc. v. Town of Rhinebeck, et al., the Second Department held that a landowner’s intent to continue using its property for mining operations established a valid pre-existing nonconforming use.

Red Wing Properties, Inc. (“Petitioner”) owns roughly 241 acres of property located with the Town of…

Last week, the New York Supreme Court, Suffolk County, denied an application for a preliminary injunction to enjoin the completion, maintenance and operation of two sixty-foot tall electronic billboard-monuments (“Project”) on opposite sides of State Route 27 a.k.a. Sunrise Highway, which Project is owned by the Shinnecock Indian Nation (“Nation”).

A.  The Project and …