The federal Environmental Protection Agency has told the state that "essential environmental protection measures" must be taken before allowing The Chesapeake Energy Corporation to drill for gas within the 2,000- square-mile Catskills watershed that provides drinking water to millions of NYC residents. The EPA's letter to the State Department of Environmental Conservation reinforces criticism of the plan to blast huge volumes of water mixed with chemicals into rock to extract gas. There is worry that the drilling, which creates large amounts of wastewater, could contaminate NYC's water supply. Katherine Nadeau at Environmental Advocates of New York described the federal agency’s letter as “nothing short of awesome.” more ›

The state is considering authorizing drilling for natural gas on private land within the 2,000- square-mile Catskills watershed that provides drinking water to millions of NYC residents. Drilling could pump $1 billion into the state economy, but there's a bit of downside: It could leak toxic chemicals into drinking water, causing unknown health risks, according to a report by the city Department of Environmental Protection. That is, unless we build a $10 billion filtration plant and spend $100 million a year to run it! more ›

MTA officials have an original idea to deal with subway flooding during heavy rain. Rather than run off untreated water into the harbor that surrounds the city, the MTA is thinking of building giant underground reservoirs to store excess water at places like Parsons Blvd. in Queens, which has a spillover effect, so to speak, on the rest of the subway system. Hours after a downpour, huge puddles of rainwater remain near the Parsons Blvd.... more ›