January 3, 1983

The Environmental Protection Agency has rejected New York State's request for $20 million in Federal funds to help clean the Hudson River by dredging chemically contaminated sediment from the river bottom and burying it. Almost all fishing has been prohibited in the river since 1975 because of the dangers of eating fish contaminated by polychlorinated biphenyls, or PCB's, a toxic substance suspected of causing cancer. For the last five years, the state, acting on its own, has sought Federal approval for the $27.6 million cleanup plan to remove some of the PCB's from the river. The plan had been recommended by a scientific advisory board.

With the Christian-dominated Lebanese Government scheduled to resume negotiations with Israel on Monday, many Moslems here are worried about what will happen if an agreement is reached to withdraw Israeli and other foreign troops from the country. Some Moslem leaders are demanding that members of the Christian Phalangist militias be disarmed to avert the threat of fighting that could lead to a new civil war. The fears of the Moslems were expressed in an extraordinary procession that took place in West Beirut last week. Hundreds of Moslems, both Sunnis and Shiites, marched, carrying banners, torches and placards proclaiming that they were an integral part of the country, not just members of another sect among the religious and regional groups that are often at violent odds with each other.

The 98th Congress convenes here Monday for a session that leaders expect to be dominated by economic questions and to be shaped by a changing relationship between Capitol Hill and the White House. The new Congress, which contains 26 more Democrats than the last in the House, comes to Washington in the wake of a special session in which both houses asserted their independence of President Reagan, who held sway over Capitol Hill for the first 18 months of his Presidency. According to statements by leaders in the House, Mr. Reagan is likely to meet substantial, even formidable, Congressional resistance in the final two years of his term. The most pressing economic issues facing the new Congress, proposed spending cuts and new taxes, job bills, adjustments in Social Security and a possible restructuring of Medicare benefits, are more broadly questions of setting national priorities, a process that the new Congress, emboldened by the November election returns, is likely to wish to share. ''We will have some initiatives of our own,'' said Jim Wright, a Texas Democrat, who is the House majority leader. ''We will not wait for the President.''

Chief Justice Warren E. Burger criticized Congress today for what he said was its failure to ease the workload of the Federal courts. He also cautioned Congress against giving life tenure to Federal bankruptcy judges. In his annual year-end report on the Federal judiciary, the Chief Justice focused on judicial administration and observed that the ''unfinished business - the accumulated and deferred maintenance - outweighs the progress.''

The New York State Legislature returns to Albany this week to confront a faltering state economy and a potential budget deficit of more than $1 billion that will largely shape - and limit - its actions in many areas. The 206th session of the Assembly and Senate, which opens Wednesday, will also face many other issues - from retraining laidoff steel workers, to requests for increased aid for New York City, to reorganizing state agencies and rebuilding roads and bridges. It will be presented with a series of proposals from the new Governor, Mario M. Cuomo, who has pledged to do more than simply balance the budget. But with the state borrowing $300 million to pay its bills this fiscal year - and facing a much larger potential problem next year - the session may put Governor Cuomo's pledge to a severe test.