Water & Sewer
NYS Fails to Monitor Water Pollution Permits
Environmental Advocates of New York
May 01, 2008
Environmental Advocates of New York released a new report today detailing serious flaws in the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation’s (DEC) oversight of hundreds of water pollution sources across the state. The report, Permission to Pollute, documents how the state’s primary environmental agency is rubber-stamping water pollution permits without substantive review, as required every five years under the federal Clean Water Act. Environmental Advocates’ investigation also uncovered that the public is being denied its right to scrutinize hundreds of permits issued by the DEC that authorize the discharge of billions of gallons of sewage and industrial pollution every day.
Pollution Permit Program Faulted
Brian Nearing
April 29, 2008
Times UnionThe state's water pollution permit program is so backlogged that it is approving most renewals without asking too many questions, an environmental lobbying group said Monday.
The report from Environmental Advocates of New York said the state should hire more staff at the Department of Environmental Conservation to better scrutinize 1,100 permits overdue for renewal by at least a decade.
Federal Clean Water Act rules require that the state completely review permits and pollution levels at least every five years.
Protect our Land. Preserve our Waters.
Angela Batchelor
February 21, 2008
Like mushrooms, housing is sprouting throughout the mid-Hudson Valley. It’s a developer’s dream of new condominiums, multifamily homes, and hotels and retail businesses. In 2004, permits for new-home development quadrupled in Red Hook and doubled in Milan and Pine Plains. In colossal swaths, developments are planned for rural lands, farms, and river fronts.