New York’s Landmark Water Testing Law Hinges on State Health Department
The law leaves key decisions to an agency with a history of dragging its feet on implementing water quality legislation.

This article was published in partnership with City & State.


This article has been corrected to note that the state Drinking Water Quality Council has only discussed recommending contamination levels for seven PFAS variants, rather than having made those recommendations, and that limits for PFOA and PFOS were formally adopted in 2020, not 2019. Environmental Advocates NY’s position on notification levels has also been clarified.
The policy and its sudden reversal will be among Acting Commissioner Anthony Annucci’s last acts.
A new letter from the federal government is energizing a push to expand health insurance for undocumented New Yorkers, but time is running out.
New York prisons may have effectively banned journalism behind bars.
Formerly incarcerated “peers” offer drug counseling to people in county jails — when they can get in.
While the governor awaits guidance from the federal government, thousands of undocumented New Yorkers can’t afford to go to the doctor.
Biofuels, hydrogen, carbon capture, and nuclear: These are some of the technologies that will be on the table as New York weighs how to clean up its grid over the next 17 years.
National Fuel customers paid for a website directing New Yorkers to oppose electrification mandates, documents show.