Fulflex Inc., which is owned by The Moore Co., a Providence-based elastics and plastics company, will pay almost $200,000 to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency for Clean Air Act violations at its Brattleboro, Vt.-based facility. more

PROVIDENCE – The state has awarded 28 projects a total of $1,524,725 in recreational trail grants from federal transportation funds. more

Bristol’s Mount Hope Farm has 127 acres of fields, woods, streams and ponds for walking, hiking and exploring. It has a year-round farmers market. Executive Director Jennifer Bristol, pictured above, came onboard a year ago, tasked with developing a five-year plan for the nonprofit farm. “I’ve talked to hundreds of people and they all have in their mind this picture of what the farm is to them,” Bristol said. “Marrying the visions of all those people to allow them to maintain the experience and support the future and health of [the farm] is what has to happen on our end.” more

The U.S. Department of Agriculture National Resources Conservation Service of Rhode Island is currently accepting preproposals for applications for conservation-innovation grants, which are designed to stimulate the development and adoption of innovative conservation approaches and technologies, the USDA announced Thursday. more

Portsmouth-based boatyard, New England Boatworks Inc. will pay a $31,500 penalty and take steps to reduce air emissions at its facility under a settlement with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, the EPA announced Wednesday. more

To the Editor: The R.I. Department of Environmental Management is again on record as opposing economic growth and its corollary, jobs. The DEM (an acronym for Delay Economic Momentum) recently objected to a legislative proposal to prevent the expiration of building permits issued to developers by local and state regulatory agencies. more

BOSTON – The Mass. Department of Environmental Protection is seeking public comment for proposed amendments to agency regulations that deal with wetlands, waterways and water-quality certifications, as well as wastewater-related changes to state-issued permits and operation standards for sewer-treatment works. more

Sen. Jack Reed, D-R.I., center with orange jacket, joins Serve Rhode Island volunteers scooping trash from pond shores at Roger Williams Park on April 20. More than 200 volunteers braved wind and rain to join the effort, the sixth organized at the Providence park by the group since October 2008. Every year volunteers fill hundreds of trash bags with bottles, paper, plastic bags and other litter. more

Water quality in Narragansett Bay and at beaches around Rhode Island is improving, but land development in coastal buffer zones and flood plains are “causes for concern,” according to an indicators report released by the Watershed Counts initiative. more

Two buildings in Rhode Island – Raymour & Flanagan Furniture in East Greenwich and Pocasset Bay Manor in Johnston – were judged some of the best in New England in the National Energy Star Building Competition, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency announced. more