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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

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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The 2022/2023 State budget included watershed (no pun intended) amendments to the regulations governing New York’s Freshwater Wetlands. It has been published that the changes to the Freshwater Wetlands Act are expected to capture approximately one million acres (1,560 square miles) of previously unregulated freshwater wetlands – the equivalent in landmass of 1/10th the state of Rhode Island.  As part of the move, the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (“DEC” or “Department”) is seeking information from stakeholders as it considers the revisions to the regulations and develops criteria to implement the Act. Continue Reading DEC Seeks Feedback by February 17th as it Considers Revamped Freshwater Wetland Regulations

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Max Kukurudziak, Unsplash

On July 28, 2023, in response to three separate fires at Battery Energy Storage System (“BESS”) locations in New York, Governor Kathy Hochul announced the creation of an inter-agency fire safety working group.  The Fire Safety Working Group, to be comprised of the Division of Homeland Security and Emergency Services Office of Fire Prevention and Control, New York State Energy Research and Development Authority (NYSERDA), New York State Department of Environmental Conservation, Department of Public Service, and the Department of State.Continue Reading Fires at New York Battery Energy Storage System Facilities Ignite State Response

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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

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Josh Withers, Unsplash

Last month, the State’s highest court, the Court of Appeals, upheld the Appellate Division’s decision annulling the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) issuance of permits to Sand Land Corporation (“Sandland”) for renewal and expansion of sand mining operations at a 50-acre site in Southampton, New York and remanded the matter back to the DEC. The site, owned by Sandland, is a pre-existing sand mining site.Continue Reading NYSDEC Mining Law Appears Further Undermined by the Court of Appeals

Took a walk on lunch break to create a collection of industry and “gas punk” type photos.
Patrick Hendry, Unsplash

            The Phase I Environmental Site Assessment (“ESA”) is the quintessential environmental diligence tool for transactions involving real property.  A Phase I ESA includes a site inspection and review of current and past uses and ownership, among other things, to evaluate actual and potential environmental conditions.  If performed in accordance with the All Appropriate Inquiry Rule (“AAI Rule”), a Phase…

Continue Reading It’s Official! ASTM E1527-21 is the New Phase I Environmental Site Assessment Standard
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James Wainscoat, Unsplash

In November 2015, the northern long-eared bat was listed as a threatened species due to the devastating impact of white-nose syndrome.  White-nose syndrome is a disease caused by a fungus that affects hibernating bats and is decimating the bat population.  As a result of continued population decline, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (“USFWS”) announced a final rule to reclassify…

Continue Reading U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Lights the Bat Signal, Designating the Northern Long-Eared Bat as Endangered
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For the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (“NYSDEC” or “Department”), discretion has been the better part of valor when considering enforcement of certain provisions of the Revised Part 360 Solid Waste Regulation Series (“Regulations”). 

In September 2017, NYSDEC announced a comprehensive overhaul of the then existing regulations governing Solid Waste Management Facilities.  The Regulations became effective on November…

Continue Reading Nearly 5 Years After Historic Update, New York’s Part 360 Solid Waste Regulation Series Remains a Work in Progress

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 economically-blighted property.

Applicants can now…
Continue Reading 10 More Years – New York’s Brownfield Cleanup Program Extended