Northeast (CT MA ME NH NJ NY RI VT)

"New Jersey legislators approved legislation on Monday banning the treatment or storage of fracking waste in the state."

"One swarm covered the side-view mirror of a Volvo station wagon in a lot by the Hudson River, trapping a family of three inside. Another humming cluster the size of a watermelon bent a tree branch in front of a Chase Bank on the Lower East Side, attracting a crowd of gasping onlookers. And for several hours, thousands of bees carpeted a two-foot-tall red standpipe on the patio of a South Street Seaport restaurant, sending would-be outdoor diners elsewhere."

"A Brooklyn public school building that had leaking light fixtures will be moved to the top of the list of schools with PCB problems, and the city will replace its lighting very soon, city officials said last week."

"Swaths of Cape Cod's salt marshes are slowly disintegrating. For the human observer, the most notable sign of their decline might be the increase in night herons. They crouch like low, dark smudges on the salt marshes at dawn after feeding on the surfeit of Sesarma crabs through the night."

"Like most members of the Penobscot Nation, Scott Phillips grew up near the Penobscot River and learned to paddle and fish as a young boy. He took to it like a duck to water. He became a competitive racer and eventually opened his own business selling canoes, kayaks and other outdoor gear. Next week, the first of two dams on the river will be removed, altering the way it's used recreationally. The change could also be a boon to Phillip's business."

"Federal officials believe they have identified a highly concentrated pocket of cancer-causing chromium underneath an abandoned factory in Garfield [NJ] that may be the root cause of the large-scale contamination potentially threatening the health of thousands of residents."

"CHARLESTON, W.Va. -- Local citizens on Wednesday threatened to sue FirstEnergy Corp. over a huge coal-ash impoundment along the West Virginia-Pennsylvania border, alleging the operation is polluting area streams, tainting groundwater, and violating federal waste disposal requirements."

"NEW YORK CITY -- Mayor Michael Bloomberg has given his city one of the most detailed and highly publicized plans to reduce carbon emissions and to adapt to rising sea levels and other risks posed by climate change."