Stories
Plunked on a southern New England shoreline is an understated and misunderstood ecosystem: Great Meadows Marsh in Stratford, Conn. For decades, that site was treated as an ugly nuisance, but it’s the focus of a $4 million restoration project aiming to make the coast more resilient to climate change. Rick Potvin, manager of the Stewart…
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The six New England states will soon receive more than $200 million from the federal government to replace lead pipes in the region’s drinking water system. The allocation is part of the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, which was signed by President Biden last year. The overall law targets $15 billion toward replacing every lead pipe in the country’s…
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Maine lawmakers heard hours of testimony this week in support of a proposal to create a $100 million fund to help the growing number of Maine farms that are discovering so-called “forever chemicals” in their water or on their land. But some advocates are warning that massive sum of money still may not be enough.…
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Lakes across the world are getting saltier. New Hampshire is no exception. In New Hampshire, road de-icing salt is the main culprit – that’s the salt we sprinkle on highways in the winter. And climate change is exacerbating salinization – more rain and snow in the winter, along with an increase in freeze and thaw…
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On a sunny day in August, environmental scientist Kellie Merrell scans the shoreline from a motorboat in the shallows on Lake Fairlee. There are lots of cottages. White pine trees tower over the water, reaching out from a few rocky points. Merrell is here with a team of scientists from the state to do a…
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General Electric announced Tuesday it’s reorganizing into three companies, two of which it plans to spin off. The company isn’t saying yet which of its new companies will keep its commitment to clean up the Housatonic River. About 20 years ago, GE signed a court-ordered agreement to remove PCBs from the river, and from the…
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A new analysis of Massachusetts public water systems by the Sierra Club finds that 70% of communities have detectable levels of the six most dangerous PFAS chemicals in their ground and surface waters. When looking at a wider range of PFAS chemicals, 91% of communities have detectable amounts in at least one of their drinking…
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President Biden is re-imposing fishing limits in a vast undersea mountain range that conservationists say plays a vital role in the health of North Atlantic ecosystems and fisheries. That reverses efforts by former President Trump to roll back protections there and in two other national monuments in Utah. President Obama established the Northeast Canyons and…
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Fisheries regulators in the Northeast are permanently putting some 25,000 square miles of seafloor off-limits to some types of commercial fishing, in an effort to protect sensitive deep-sea corals. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration issued a final rule this week that bars mobile bottom-trawling gear from vast deep-sea areas along the outer continental shelf…
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Since November, the bluff on which the weather station sits has eroded at a rate of 1.78 feet each week, on average. Now, all that stands between the building and the sea is 30 feet of sand. It’s a cruel irony: in this place where scientists study Mother Nature, she’s telling them to leave.
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