Waste

The New York City Council is considering a bill that would make it illegal for a citizen to test - without police permission - the environment for toxic or pathogenic conditions.

The US Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement (OSM) is trying once again to establish a rule updating its regulation of coal mining waste placement.

It's crunch time for developing the successor to the 2002 US Farm Bill, set to expire Sept. 30, 2007. Many of the ingredients that may be blended into the 2007 Farm Bill are now becoming public.

A new ruling by a New Mexico state district judge requires that a report on groundwater pollution from a mixed-waste landfill at Sandia National Laboratories be made public.

US Supreme Court to hear six cases with important environmental implications. Issues involved are: use of sonar in Naval training; logging in California; power plant operation; disposal of mining wastes; royalties paid to the Navajo Nation on coal leases; and liability under Superfund law.

A new report on environmental justice issues is scheduled to be released in mid-March 2007.

Steps necessary to improve security at tens of thousands of US drinking water, wastewater, and stormwater facilities have become a little more definitive with the release Dec. 14, 2006, of a draft set of voluntary guidelines. (

For the last couple of years, more and more cities throughout North America have been switching to "single stream" recycling programs (SSR).