Environmental News

DELMAR, N.Y. (AP) — The Niagara River corridor from Lake Erie to Lake Ontario is renowned as a winter haven for water birds. But this year's bitterly cold season has made it notable for something else: dead ducks. Biologists say carcasses began piling up by the hundreds in early January after consistently low temperatures started icing over nearly the entire Great Lakes, preventing the ducks from

After receiving more than 1,500 comments, 16,000  letters, and 30,000 signatures on various petitions over the past five weeks, the Department of Environmental Conservation had decided to revise its mute swan management plan. "The draft plan for management for mute swans received significant public interest and DEC received many thoughtful and substantive comments," Commissioner Martens

ALBANY, N.Y. (AP) — A State Senator from Queens is trying to stop the slaughter of mute swans proposed by the state Department of Environmental Conservation. A bill introduced last week by Senator Tony Avella would put a two-year moratorium on DEC's plan to eradicate all 2,200 wild mute swans in the state by 2025...

ALBANY, N.Y. (AP) — Environmental, health and consumer advocacy groups are pushing back against plans by the Cuomo administration to restructure how pesticides are tracked. In a letter to legislative leaders, 38 groups protested a proposal in Gov...

Attorney General Eric Schneiderman and Assemblyman Robert Sweeney are proposing first-in-the-nation legislation banning a form of plastic pollution that is an emerging threat to New York’s Great Lakes and other bodies of water. The “Microbead-Free Waters Act” will prohibit the sale in New York state of beauty and cosmetic products that contain tiny plastic particles called microbeads...

Anti-fracking activists will protest in Albany today before the governor makes his State of the State address. More than 100 groups are co-sponsors of the protest which is expected to bring about 2,500 people to Albany. Officials from Citizen Action are calling on Governor Cuomo to be a leader in renewable energy...

The Otsego County Conservation Association has announced that it will send nine middle-school students to DEC Environmental Education Camp next summer through a countywide competitive essay contest. OCCA will reward the nine winners with a week-long stay at New York State Department of Environmental Conservation Summer Camp, where campers spend their week immersed in the natural environment and en

ALBANY, N.Y. (AP) — New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo has signed a law requiring manufacturers of thermostats with mercury to collect their old temperature controls in an effort to keep mercury out of the environment. The measure requires they establish collection programs and in 2015 start filing annual reports on collections...

New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman and eleven other state attorneys general want to crack down on pollution they say contributes to climate change. The group asked the US Environmental Protection Agency to set strict emission limits for existing fossil fuel power plants, but allow states to decide how those plants will meet those limits...