Environmental law assures that the environment be protected against both public and private actions to take account of costs or harms inflicted on the eco-system. Attorneys handle environmental law are involved in the protection of natural resources, land, and wildlife; regulation of harmful emissions into air and water; and monitoring of commercial and industrial activities for their impact on the environment. Environmental law attorneys also advise businesses on compliance with federal and state environmental laws.
Poughkeepsie is a city in the state of New York, the United States, which serves as the county seat of Dutchess County. Poughkeepsie is located in the Hudson River Valley midway between New York City and Albany. The name derives from a Native American word (roughly U-puku-ipi-sing), meaning "the reed covered lodge by the little-water place," referring to a spring or stream feeding into the Hudson River, south of the present downtown area. Poughkeepsie is known as "The Queen City of the Hudson. " During the late 1980s through the late 1990s, Poughkeepsie suffered from severe socioeconomic turmoil, serving as a symbol for urban decay in the Hudson Valley. Recent efforts at waterfront and Main Street revitalization poise Poughkeepsie for a potential upswing. Poughkeepsie is the largest principal city of the Poughkeepsie–Newburgh–Middletown, NY Metropolitan Statistical Area (MSA), which includes all of Dutchess and Orange counties. The two-county MSA had a population of 621,517 at the 2000 census. A July 1, 2007 estimate placed the population at 669,915. Poughkeepsie-Newburgh-Middletown is also a component of the larger New York–Newark–Bridgeport, NY–NJ–CT–PA Combined Statistical Area.