More than 1,500 volunteers in four states will fan out on Saturday Oct. 1 to clean up trash and flood-strewn debris along the Connecticut River and its tributaries. The Connecticut River Watershed Council’s 15th Annual Source to Sea Cleanup – always held in early fall – comes at a perfect time to help communities in Vermont, New Hampshire, Massachusetts and Connecticut that are still cleaning up from Tropical Storm Irene. Click this environmental headline for more on this story.

The Associated Press has reported that all of Connecticut’s state beaches had to be closed because of high bacteria from runoff.

Some people call attention to an issue by marching in protest; this group will make its point with a flotilla of small watercraft. East Shore resident Larry Smith is inviting boaters to show their feelings over the proposed dumping of dredged material from Bridgeport into a “borrow pit” in New Haven Harbor by blowing their air horns in unison July 3, Dredging Today reports.

A Greenwich resident who thinks the town should do more to ensure the quality of the water that flows from the town’s wetlands into Long Island Sound asked the Board of Selectmen to establish a town commission to deal with stormwater issues.

“The river doesn’t know any governmental boundaries, so we all have to work together,” said Marven Moss, a member of the Pequonnock River Initiative’s Monroe Steering Committee. Save the Sound is leading the initiative. Other watershed initiatives in the state include the Norwalk River Watershed Initiative, Farmington River Watershed Initiative, and Pomperaug River Watershed Initiative.

The town of Greenwich has agreed to pay a $200,000 penalty under a settlement with state and federal officials over the release of raw sewage.

“Sound Health 2010″ looks at indicators of the Sound’s health in the areas of water quality, coastal and animal populations, habitats, and land use. See inside for more information and photos from the report. Sound Health 2010, looks back at environmental conditions in the Sound and its watershed over the last two years and compares them to conditions from the last 20 to 30 years.

U.S. Army Corps of Engineers plans to drop a quarter-million cubic yards of contaminated dredged yuck from Bridgeport Harbor into Morris Cove. More than 100 neighbors gathered for the last public hearing recently blast the Corp’s plan and to question its science.

An employee of a Terryville company charged by federal authorities with dumping chemicals into the Plymouth sewer system has been sentenced to five years probation.

The DEP is proposing regulations that provide specific requirements for reporting spills and discharges to offer clarity for the regulated community.

After many months of studies, testing and negotiations, Mayor Michael Pavia hasannounced that he and the city’s Director of Legal Affairs, Michael D. Larobina, signed a consent order with the CT DEP concerning Scofieldtown Park that outlines a process for hiring design engineers and construction contractors.

NRG has announced that it is “‘leading the way as sponsor of the ‘Great River Cleanup’” The company announced that the Connecticut River Watershed Council needs a few thousand volunteers for the Oct. 2, 2010, Source to Sea Cleanup.  This year, NRG Energy again leads the way as title sponsor, with many of its Connecticut
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WEST HAVEN — “Tens of thousands of gallons” of a flame-suppressing chemical foam is believed to have spread from a broken pipe fitting at Yale University’s West Campus into the Oyster River, authorities said this morning. The foam is not harmful to people, officials said, but fish die off has been reported. via ‘Tens of
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WASHINGTON – A newly discovered type of oil-eating microbe is suddenly flourishing in the Gulf of Mexico. Scientists discovered the new microbe while studying the underwater dispersion of millions of gallons of oil spilled into the Gulf following the explosion of BP’s Deepwater Horizon drilling rig. And the microbe works without significantly depleting oxygen in
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The United States, long considered a laggard in addressing global warming, is poised to achieve substantial reductions in global warming pollution thanks to clean energy policies adopted over the past decade by state governments, according to a new report by the Environment America Research & Policy Center. “While there’s no doubt that Congress must pass
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Green lodging. It’s a relatively new term, but expect it to become more common as travelers increasingly seek to stay in a place that practices environmentally responsible policies, from saving water to recycling. In Connecticut, there are already 15 accommodations that participate in the Connecticut Green Lodging program, and several of them are located in
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PORTLAND- Conn — Portland Fire Department and several area fire crews are on the scene of a fire at Triram Connecticut LLC, an asphalt factory in Portland by the Connecticut River. via Portland Asphalt Factory Fire – WFSB Hartford. Also see: PORTLAND FIRE: Blaze damages portion of Triram asphalt plant – The Middletown Press. PORTLAND —
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HARWINTON — The Board of Selectmen is reviewing ways to implement low impact development on town land to reduce water runoff. Engineer Stephen Trinkaus and Glenn Chalder of Planemetrics have already met with the various land use commissions throughout the summer about their preliminary low impact development (LID) proposals for feedback. via Harwinton Board of
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The Commissioner of Environmental Protection hereby gives notice of a tentative determination to renew a permit based on an application submitted by Bridgeport Energy LLC (“the applicant”) under section 22a-430 of the Connecticut General Statutes for a permit to discharge into the waters of the state.

The Pequonnock River Initiative (PRI) — a partnership between the City of Bridgeport and the towns of Monroe and Trumbull — was formed recently to develop a watershed plan for the Pequonnock River watershed.