Eric is a senior attorney in NRDC's New York office and director of New York City Environment. He has worked for more than 30 years on urban environmental issues, including air pollution, solid waste, drinking water and environmental justice. Eric gained nationwide attention in the early 1980s for spearheading the public campaign to get lead out of gasoline. He is co-author of The New York Environment Book and co-teaches the environmental law clinic at New York University School of Law.
Posted December 7, 2011 by Eric Goldstein in Health and the Environment, Saving Wildlife and Wild Places, U.S. Law and Policy
Moving smartly to protect drinking water, conserve wilderness and control flooding, the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation today announced the acquisition of a 1,200 acre forested parcel in the heart of the Catskills, just east of...continued→
Posted September 28, 2011 by Eric Goldstein in Curbing Pollution, Environmental Justice, U.S. Law and Policy
Despite repeated requests from residents, environmental groups and local officials to slow down the environmental review and rule-making processes related to the state’s proposal for high-volume hydraulic fracturing (“fracking”) in upstate New York, Governor Andrew Cuomo’s Department of Environmental Conservation (“DEC”)...continued→
Posted September 21, 2011 by Eric Goldstein in Curbing Pollution, Health and the Environment, Moving Beyond Oil
Two recent opinion polls of New York State voters reveal a public that is deeply divided on the issue of industrial gas drilling in the Marcellus Shale. The results would seem to undercut the State Department of Environmental Conservation’s current...continued→
Posted September 7, 2011 by Eric Goldstein in Curbing Pollution
The New York State Department of Environmental Conservation today released its long-awaited Revised Draft Supplemental Generic Environmental Impact Statement, detailing the Cuomo Administration’s controversial proposal for industrial gas drilling in the state’s portion of the Marcellus Shale, using the technique...continued→
Posted August 17, 2011 by Eric Goldstein in Curbing Pollution, Health and the Environment, Saving Wildlife and Wild Places
Governor Andrew Cuomo closed a glaring loophole in New York State water law yesterday by signing legislation requiring companies that seek to withdraw large volumes of water from state water bodies to first obtain a permit. The newly enacted statute...continued→
Posted August 5, 2011 by Eric Goldstein in Health and the Environment, U.S. Law and Policy
It seems like the City’s Department of Environmental Protection (“DEP”) just can’t catch a break this summer. Two weeks ago, a fire roared through the main engine room of the Department’s massive North River Wastewater Treatment Plant -- shutting down...continued→
Posted June 17, 2011 by Eric Goldstein in Health and the Environment, Living Sustainably, Saving Wildlife and Wild Places
After nearly three years of advocacy by environmental groups and detailed review in Albany, comprehensive legislation to regulate the use of state water resources finally sailed through the New York State Senate last night. The bill closes a giant loophole...continued→
Posted May 31, 2011 by Eric Goldstein in Curbing Pollution, Environmental Justice, Health and the Environment, Saving Wildlife and Wild Places, Solving Global Warming
Last week, I attended the New York City premiere of “The Last Mountain,” a sobering documentary about the coal industry’s devastating mountaintop removal practices in the Appalachian Mountains. As I watched, I was struck by how little most New Yorkers...continued→
Posted March 5, 2011 by Eric Goldstein in Curbing Pollution, Health and the Environment, U.S. Law and Policy
The New York Times just published the third part of Ian Urbina's powerful investigative series on the dangers associated with the controversial natural gas drilling technique known as fracking. Taken together, the three articles paint a devastating picture of current...continued→
Posted February 16, 2011 by Eric Goldstein in Health and the Environment, Living Sustainably, Saving Wildlife and Wild Places
After extensive legal wrangling and nearly three years of negotiations among stakeholders, the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (“DEC”) has issued a 15-year watershed land acquisition permit to New York City. The new permit authorizes the City to...continued→
Posted January 13, 2011 by Eric Goldstein in Living Sustainably, Solving Global Warming
Initial reports suggest that New York City’s Sanitation Department did a much better job in clearing the city’s streets of Tuesday night’s nine-inch snowfall than after the now infamous December Blizzard of 2010. Hats off to the Department and the...continued→
Posted October 22, 2010 by Eric Goldstein in Health and the Environment, Living Sustainably, Moving Beyond Oil, Saving Wildlife and Wild Places, U.S. Law and Policy
Alexander “Pete” Grannis, the former Commissioner of the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation who was fired yesterday by Governor David Paterson, has been a friend of New York’s environment for more than 40 years. As a long-time State...continued→
Posted September 21, 2010 by Eric Goldstein in Health and the Environment
A new book by former New York Times reporter Anthony DePalma offers a comprehensive and fearless account of the environmental aftermath of the September 11th attack on the World Trade Center and the public health consequences of the worst environmental...continued→
Posted September 4, 2010 by Eric Goldstein in Curbing Pollution, Health and the Environment
There were no shouting matches about it on the cable news shows. Very few newspapers covered the story. And you had to search carefully to find it mentioned even on environmental blogs. But this summer, in an historic vote, the...continued→
Posted July 30, 2010 by Eric Goldstein in Health and the Environment, Living Sustainably, Solving Global Warming, U.S. Law and Policy
The New York City Council did not meet in its historic chambers at City Hall yesterday. With portions of the 198 year old City Hall ongoing much-needed renovation, the Council gathered instead at the old Emigrant Savings Bank building, just...continued→
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