Ask around at the next group gathering you happen to attend and you’ll likely find that most everyone will agree the state’s waterways are deserving of protection from pollution and their surrounding wildlife should be saved from hazardous plastic. more

The R.I. Department of Transportation will receive $15 million in federal disaster assistance to help repair roads and infrastructure damaged as a result of Hurricane Sandy. more

The state Department of Environmental Management has reached an agreement with seven defendants that calls for them to initially pay $750,000 to the state as compensation for “damages to groundwater and other natural resources at the Davis Superfund site in Smithfield.” more

The European Union imposed a five- year tariff on U.S. bioethanol to curb competition for German, French, British and other EU producers, threatening to raise trans-Atlantic trade tensions over renewable energy for autos. more

(Updated, 4 p.m.) Winter storm Nemo, which hit full force late Friday and dumped more than two feet of snow of parts of the Ocean State, left more than 187,000 Rhode Islanders without power. As of 3:45 p.m. on Tuesday all but 346 Rhode Islanders had power restored. more

BOSTON – Chevron USA Inc. and Texaco Downstream Properties Inc. will pay $1.7 million to resolve allegations they received reimbursement payments from a state fund for gas-station cleanup projects even though both sought and received payments from their insurers, Attorney General Martha Coakley announced last week. These false claims allegedly involved service stations across Massachusetts, Coakley said in a statement. more

BOSTON – The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and the Mass. Department of Environmental Protection reached a settlement with AVX Corp. for $366.25 million plus interest for the cleanup of the Superfund site in New Bedford Harbor, the largest single-site cash settlement in the history of the Superfund program. more

The Washington Trust Charitable Foundation has donated $15,000 to the Greater Westerly Chamber of Commerce Foundation for “Bring Back the Beach,” the Misquamicut Beach Recovery Fund. more

PROVIDENCE – The R.I. Department of Environmental Management is seeking nominations for membership on the newly created R.I. Livestock Welfare and Care Standards Advisory Council. more

A Lapels dry cleaning store in Lincoln recently collected 600 pounds of clothing to benefit Big Brothers Big Sisters in Massachusetts and Rhode Island. more