Electric cars likely to spark new 'smart grid'

Entire industries grew up around gasoline-powered cars, ranging from the ubiquitous filling stations to fast-food restaurants along highway exits. Similarly, the rise of electric cars probably will transform more than just the automobile. | 04/04/11 13:22:00 By - Kevin G. Hall

Nuclear disaster fuels debate about Fla. evacuation plans

The uncertain science of protecting the public from nuclear accidents is a concern in heavily populated, hurricane-prone South Florida. | 04/04/11 10:03:40 By - Curtis Morgan

Dam plans in Calif. raise questions of costs and environmental damage

California has a lot of water now from the winter runoff. Dams to store water for later use have been considered, but have high costs and environmental problems. | 04/04/11 09:55:55 By - Matt Weiser

Sea lions' appetite for salmon has lawmakers out for blood

The California sea lions were unwelcome visitors from the very beginning, greeted with yells, rubber bullets and firecrackers when they swam up the Columbia River to gobble up thousands of endangered salmon at the Bonneville Dam. This spring, the sea lions have found safe harbor at the dam, about 50 miles east of Portland, Ore., after an appellate court in San Francisco ruled that states and the National Marine Fisheries Service had to stop the killings. But the reprieve could be short-lived | 04/03/11 13:56:00 By - Rob Hotakainen

A weary, ailing Florida town welcomes spotlight

It’s been nearly seven years since Tallevast, Fla., residents learned that the wells they had been using for their homes were contaminated with highly toxic substances. | 04/03/11 13:36:42 By - Toni Whitt

Don Young says no thanks to Humane Society award

Calling them "hypocrites, plain and simple," Alaska Rep. Don Young thumbed his nose last week at one of the nation's foremost animal advocacy organizations, the Humane Society. | 04/03/11 13:27:10 By - Erika Bolstad

New House probe of Obama: Decision to dump Yucca site

Lawmakers from states stuck with tons of radioactive materials left over from the Cold War Friday cheered a House of Representatives panel's decision to investigate the Obama administration's scrapping of a central nuclear waste dump in Nevada. | 04/01/11 19:20:00 By - James Rosen

On public lands plan, GOP tells Obama to 'get off my lawn'

President Barack Obama wants to make it easier for Americans to use parks and public lands, saying that too many "can go days without stepping on a single blade of grass." But with the nation deep in debt and facing a long backlog of projects on its public lands, many Republicans are lining up against Obama's plan, leaving its fate uncertain. | 04/01/11 17:19:00 By - Rob Hotakainen

EPA opposes plan for S.C. gold mine

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency opposes plans for a huge gold mine north of Camden, South Carolina, saying in a recent letter that the project could threaten drinking water, wildlife and creeks that drain off the site. Romarco Minerals wants to create what would be the largest gold mine east of the Mississippi River. But the mine would excavate or fill an unusually large number of wetlands and streams — and the EPA said it can’t support the plan. | 04/01/11 07:29:25 By - Sammy Fretwell

Kansas nuclear plant among three in U.S. needing more oversight, NRC reports

Kansas' Wolf Creek nuclear power plant is among three in the United States that need more intensive oversight, the chairman of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission told Congress on Thursday. The other two are the H.B. Robinson plant in Hartsville, S.C., and the Fort Calhoun plant near Omaha. | 04/01/11 07:13:44 By - Mike McGraw

Alaska utility's wind power plan criticized for low payouts

Anchorage's city power utility made a long-awaited offer this week to buy wind power from Cook Inlet Region Inc., backers of a proposed wind turbine project on Fire Island. But CIRI senior vice president Ethan Schutt said the offer is so low it's ridiculous and contains unworkable terms. | 04/01/11 06:34:25 By - Rosemary Shinohara

McConnell leads fight against Obama's environmental policy

In Kentucky, where coal mining has been the lifeblood of many rural communities, miners and the lawmakers who represent them say the Obama administration's push for regulations that cap greenhouse gases and toughen mine permitting requirements feels like an assault. | 03/31/11 07:08:17 By - Halimah Abdullah and Renee Schoof

Alaska Sens. Murkowski Begich want Obama energy plan specifics

In an energy security speech that focused heavily on increasing domestic oil and gas production, President Barack Obama mentioned Alaska just once. The mention came just after Obama criticized oil companies for sitting on leases, and right before he suggested that there's also a need to focus on cleaner, renewable sources of energy that won't have as significant a contribution to climate change. | 03/31/11 06:39:26 By - Erika Bolstad

Obama renews pitch for clean energy to reduce oil appetite

President Barack Obama on Wednesday announced a goal to cut U.S. reliance on foreign oil by one-third by 2025, saying that demand from growing economies such as China and India probably will force prices up in the long term. | 03/30/11 19:09:00 By - Margaret Talev and Kevin G. Hall

N.C. bill would double solar power requirements

Solar energy is proving so successful in North Carolina that industry advocates want to double the amount of sun-powered electricity that is required by state law. | 03/30/11 07:25:11 By - John Murawski

Green energy law will increase rates for Californians, utilities say

California consumers could see sharp electricity rate increases under sweeping new legislation that would require them to ramp up their energy supplies from wind, solar and other green sources, local utilities said. The state Assembly approved a measure requiring power companies to obtain up to 33 percent of their energy supplies from green sources, up sharply from the current 20 percent. The state Senate already has passed the bill. But utilities say they face steep cost increases to comply with the measure. | 03/30/11 06:47:29 By - Rick Daysog

Alaska's Dutch Harbor shows highest radiation in U.S. from Japan crisis

During the worst week of the Japanese nuclear crisis, the EPA's radiation monitor in Dutch Harbor recorded the highest levels of radioactive iodine fallout in the United States among reporting stations, the agency said. Despite the relatively high levels in the Aleutian Island community on March 19 and 20, state and federal health officials say the amounts of radioactive byproducts were way too small to pose a health risk. | 03/30/11 06:40:02 By - Richard Mauer

80 percent of BP spill fines sought for Gulf Coast states

More than 140 women who'd championed Gulf Coast recovery after Hurricanes Katrina and Rita were at it again Tuesday, convening on Capitol Hill to announce that they were supporting legislation that would guarantee the five Gulf Coast states at least 80 percent of BP's fines from last spring's oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico, an amount that could top $21 billion. | 03/29/11 18:04:00 By - Maria Recio

Congress urged to track cancer clusters better

Activists urged the government Tuesday to let people post and track cancer cases across communities, a public health effort that they say could lead to discoveries of new chemical-related cancer clusters throughout the United States as well as insights into disease management. | 03/29/11 16:27:00 By - Erika Bolstad, Barbara Barrett and Lesley Clark

California's offshore ship emissions rules upheld by 9th Circuit

The merchant shipping industry has failed a second time to short-circuit California's effort to combat the toll on the health of its population from air pollution caused by oceangoing vessels. The industry is contesting California's authority to regulate fuel used by seagoing vessels up to 24 miles off its coast. | 03/29/11 06:53:31 By - Denny Walsh

Chernobyl scientist says nuclear disaster produced 'invisible enemy'

The horrors of the world’s worst nuclear accident greeted Natalia Manzurova when she arrived in the Ukraine after the 1986 explosion at Chernobyl. Speaking at the University of South Carolina at a time of increasing debate about nuclear power, the Russian scientist likened an atomic energy disaster to that of a war, with one major distinction. | 03/29/11 07:33:31 By - Sammy Fretwell

Dominican Republic turns to natural gas in energy crunch

A cab driver who plans ahead, Rafael Macario had his Toyota Camry rigged to run on three different kinds of fuel. Gasoline is the most expensive, propane the most dangerous, and natural gas is his favorite. He is among a growing number of Dominicans banking on natural gas as not just a cleaner form of energy, but one that costs about a third of a gasoline fill-up. | 03/29/11 07:03:06 By - Frances Robles

Texas Rep. Barton praises state's air quality efforts

Texas' environmental regulators are "the best in the country," and "Texas air quality is excellent," U.S. Rep. Joe Barton said last week during an event that highlighted the state's ongoing scrap with federal authorities over air quality. Last year, the EPA rejected the state's unique flexible permitting program as too lenient. | 03/29/11 07:43:00 By - Aman Batheja

Plans for new Calif. nuclear plant face obstacles

Investors in California's Fresno County have plans to build a new nuclear reactor and ship the spent fuel to France. They face a number of hurdles, including public concerns about the nuclear crisis in Japan. | 03/28/11 15:37:24 By - John Ellis and Mark Grossi

Group to tell Senate panel about 42 disease clusters in 13 states

An environmental group will tell a Senate panel Tuesday that it has identified 42 suspected clusters of cancer, birth defects and other illnesses in 13 states. | 03/28/11 15:10:00 By - Lesley Clark

Trace levels of radiation from Japan found on East Coast

The first radioactive fallout from Japan's multi-reactor nuclear accident arrived on the East Coast late last week, Progress Energy and other nuclear plant operators reported. The amounts detected so far are minuscule and pose no public health risks, nuclear experts and health officials said Sunday. | 03/28/11 07:34:36 By - John Murawski

Earthquake science advances - does nuclear safety keep up?

The 104 nuclear reactors providing 20 percent of America's electric power were designed and built in the 1960s and '70s, an era when seismologists knew much less about earthquakes than they do today. | 03/23/11 18:57:00 By - Renee Schoof and Greg Gordon

Decline in native fish in California's Lake Tahoe since 1950s

A new study says that there has been a considerable decline in native fish in Lake Tahoe since 1951. According to a university press release, the study found that 58 percent of the 26 locations historically studied on the lake showed a decline of species or no native species at all. | 03/23/11 13:24:01 By - Bill Lindelof

Georgia farm works to re-establish the American Chestnut tree

Moments after planting a group of young trees behind his Charlane Plantation home, Chuck Leavell was already thinking of future generations of another kind of tree -- his family tree. | 03/23/11 12:57:15 By - Caryn Grant

Alaskan musk oxen found dead at Bering Preserve

At least 32 musk oxen in the Bering Land Bridge National Preserve perished during a nasty storm surge last month, and officials are worried many more may be buried deeper in the ice and out of sight. | 03/23/11 06:36:01 By - Mike Campbell

Obama lacks authority to shutter Yucca site, court told

Lawyers for Washington state and South Carolina on Tuesday accused President Barack Obama of having exceeded his constitutional power in shuttering the Yucca Mountain nuclear waste repository. | 03/22/11 19:15:00 By - James Rosen

North Carolina approves of free electric car chargers for Duke Energy customers

State regulators this morning gave Duke Energy the go-ahead to offer customers free home charging stations for plug-in electric cars. | 03/22/11 13:33:48 By - John Murawski

Calif. lawmaker criticizes utility over quake safety at nuke plant

Calif. state Sen. Sam Blakeslee, a Republican, rebuked PG&E; for not suspending license renewal activities until better earthquake mapping is completed. | 03/22/11 13:09:53 By - David Sneed

Spring - and pollen season - has sprung

Yes, pollen is here and causing problems, thanks to nature's way of saying it is making love and lots of it. | 03/22/11 13:08:01 By - Johanna D. Wilson

Historic Macon house gets energy efficiency makover

Josh Rogers admits that the combination that led to the restoration of the historic house in Macon, Georgia, is a little counter-intuitive -- that “green” techniques can be used to restore an historic home. | 03/22/11 12:21:19 By - Phillip Ramanti

Critics question safety of leading plant model for nuclear expansion

Regulators are close to finalizing approval of a design that FPL hopes to install at Turkey Point, but some are skeptical of promises of a simple, safer reactor. | 03/21/11 15:49:10 By - Curtis Morgan

Workers stabilize spent fuel stored at Japanese reactor

Japanese workers, who are risking their lives attempting to cool a half dozen crippled nuclear reactors, managed Saturday to stabilize a storage pool that holds some of the deadliest spent fuel, halting its release of radiation, the Japanese government said. | 03/19/11 18:07:00 By - Greg Gordon

Safety of Japanese reactors questioned long ago in U.S.

Safety questions about the Mark I model nuclear reactors that are burning out of control in Japan were first raised years ago in the U.S., by the nation's top nuclear safety official and by the General Electric engineers who helped design them. | 03/17/11 19:42:00 By - Rob Hotakainen and Greg Gordon

U.S. nuclear plants store more spent fuel than Japan's

U.S. nuclear plants use the same sort of pools to cool spent nuclear-fuel rods as the ones now in danger of spewing radiation at Japan's Fukushima Daiichi plant, only the U.S. pools hold much more nuclear material. That's raising the question of whether more spent fuel should be taken out of the pools at U.S. power plants to reduce risks. | 03/17/11 19:24:00 By - Renee Schoof

Graham: U.S. nuclear regulations are 'gold standard'

Sen. Lindsey Graham said Thursday that the Japanese crisis hasn't shaken his confidence in nuclear power and praised President Barack Obama for moving ahead with federal loan guarantees to build new plants. | 03/17/11 17:33:00 By - James Rosen

Three radiation monitoring units are headed to Alaska

As federal and state officials continued Wednesday to issue assurances that there was little risk to public health in North America from the nuclear crisis in Japan, the EPA announced it was stepping up its monitoring capability in Alaska, Hawaii and Guam. | 03/17/11 06:42:54 By - Richard Mauer

U.S. officials: Japanese should widen nuclear evacuation zone

Energy Secretary Steven Chu said Wednesday that U.S. officials believe at least one Japanese nuclear power reactor is in "partial meltdown," and the top federal nuclear power regulator said that radiation is so high it warrants a much wider evacuation zone. | 03/16/11 20:10:00 By - Greg Gordon

Japan's crisis intensifies debate: Is nuclear worth it?

As the six-day nuclear crisis worsened in Japan on Wednesday, China announced it was suspending construction to rethink its designs for nuclear plants, following the lead of Switzerland and Germany. | 03/16/11 19:21:00 By - Rob Hotakainen and David Lightman

EPA to limit coal-fired power plants' toxic emissions

Toxic air pollutants such as mercury, which can lower the IQ of children who get high doses early in life, will be reduced from coal-fired power plants under a major air pollution regulation that the Environmental Protection Agency unveiled Wednesday. | 03/16/11 18:11:00 By - Renee Schoof

Florida nuclear power critics skeptical of safety plans

Federal regulators, state and local emergency managers and Florida Power & Light say they may learn lessons from Japan’s battle to control earthquake-crippled reactors but they downplayed the possibility of a similar nuclear nightmare striking the state. | 03/16/11 06:56:40 By - Curtis Morgan

More nuclear radiation monitors may be placed in rural Alaska

The state of Alaska is considering adding additional radiation monitors in rural areas as a precautionary measure as federal nuclear officials continue to monitor Japan's failing Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant. State and federal officials continued to emphasize that they did not expect harmful radiation from Japan to reach North America, including Alaska. | 03/16/11 06:37:21 By - Erika Bolstad, Rob Hotakainen and Renee Schoof

Americans in Japan voice anxiety over nuclear meltdowns

With minor levels of excess radiation detected in Tokyo and at two nearby U.S. military bases, alarm is building among Americans in Japan who fear the Japanese government and the U.S. military are underplaying the threat of contamination from four out-of-control nuclear reactors. | 03/15/11 19:14:00 By - Liz Ruskin and Warren P. Strobel

Fear of radiation sickness focused for now on Japan

Concerns about radiation sickness in Japan are focused for now on the area about 20 miles around the quake-struck Fukushima nuclear plant, where the public has been evacuated but some workers are still fighting off a nuclear disaster. | 03/15/11 18:45:00 By - Renee Schoof

Japan's nuclear crisis prompts U.S. run on iodine pills despite no threat

Major suppliers of pills that provide protection from radiation say they're out of stock due to panic buying, even though experts say that the Japanese nuclear catastrophe poses no health threat to Americans. | 03/15/11 18:12:00 By - Rob Hotakainen and Renee Schoof

Idaho state parks buy local for gift shops

Anna Baumhoff, owner of Homemade by Dorothy’s, was surprised when a state park manager came to her booth at the Buy Idaho show last month and asked for a price list. Then another state park representative showed up, and another. By the end of the day, six or seven had stopped by. Four more have called her since then. | 03/15/11 13:27:46 By - Audrey Dutton

Mouse species not seen since 1968 is found in North Carolina

Call it beginner's luck. Biology student Rob Gilson found a critter so rare it hadn't been seen in Mecklenburg County since 1968. A palm-sized oldfield mouse succumbed to Gilson's lure of sunflower seeds and was trapped at Cowan's Ford Wildlife Refuge on Feb. 20. | 03/15/11 13:12:52 By - Bruce Henderson

Japan's nuclear crisis might cause rethink of Duke Energy plans

As Japan struggles to contain its radiation-leaking plants, a U.S. nuclear industry that's still looking for a renaissance braces for the domestic fallout. The reaction could begin this morning, when Duke Energy asks the N.C. Utilities Commission to endorse its decision to spend hundreds of millions of dollars to develop a new nuclear plant. In all, six new reactors are planned in North and South Carolina. | 03/15/11 07:24:33 By - Bruce Henderson

Does Japan's nuclear complex crisis imperil California?

The struggle to avert disaster at a Japanese nuclear power plant has many Californians wondering about the risk of a radiation cloud crossing the Pacific. Experts weighed in on that possibility Monday. | 03/15/11 06:47:45 By - Matt Weiser

Tsunami warning website fails Pacific Coast residents

Until technicians were able to increase the bandwidth of an Alaska-based weather website early Friday, it failed as an information linchpin for hundreds of hundreds of thousands of people on the California, Oregon and Washington coasts looking for life-and-death tsunami information. | 03/11/11 20:42:00 By - Erika Bolstad

Tsunami warnings begin at Stennis Space Center in Mississippi

The National Data Buoy Center collects information that helps provide tsunami warnings. | 03/11/11 16:59:36 By - Donna Harris

Why is California less vulnerable to tsunami? San Andreas fault

Much of California is less vulnerable to the kind of tsunami wreckage caused Friday in Japan because the state's coastline is generally steeper, a University of California quake expert said. Ironically, he said it is the San Andreas earthquake fault that keeps California's coast so steep. | 03/11/11 15:31:02 By - Matt Weiser

Seafood company fined for polluting water in Aleutians

A Seattle-based seafood company that operates mostly in Alaska will pay $1.9 million in penalties as well as cleanup costs for the ammonia and other waste it discharged from its processing plant in the Aleutians. | 03/09/11 18:29:00 By - Erika Bolstad

Senate bill would extend deepwater offshore drilling leases

Senators said Wednesday that a bill extending exploratory leases in the Gulf of Mexico will encourage drilling — and help bring down the price of oil. | 03/09/11 18:18:00 By - Maria Recio

Sierra Club survey finds variation in local fees for solar power

A survey in San Luis Obispo County, California, finds a wide variation in permit fees charged to businesses that install solar power. The Sierra Club is urging local governments to set fees just to cover costs. | 03/09/11 15:22:32 By - David Sneed

Group files notice to sue coal company for water pollution

An environmental coalition filed a notice of intent to sue a Kentucky coal company for thousands of violations of the Clean Water Act. | 03/09/11 15:12:54 By - Dori Hjalmarson

Should shark fin soup be banned?

Head to head on the debate over whether California should ban the Chinese delicacy shark fin soup to save sharks. | 03/09/11 14:53:17 By - Ben Boychuk and Pia Lopez

Dolphin deaths case will be watched closely for months

It may never be known why infant dolphins died along the coasts of Mississippi and Alabama. Scientists say it will take time to figure out, and lawsuits are keeping evidence closed off form the public. | 03/08/11 17:00:54 By - Karen Nelson

Governor wants to gut agency charged with managing Florida's growth

Florida's new governor wants to dismantle the agency that manages growth in the state. | 03/08/11 16:40:18 By - Craig Pittman

Jane Goodall brings conservation message to Texas

Jane Goodall walked quietly among dozens of adoring students Monday at Texas Christian University, posing for pictures and signing autographs as teens pushed closer for a word or a glance. The 76-year-old scientist and conservationist is an unlikely rock star to a generation whose parents were children or not even born when she began her pioneering work with chimpanzees in Tanzania in July 1960. | 03/08/11 07:29:13 By - Shirley Jinkins

Judge won't force Exxon to pay for more Valdez spill cleanup

U.S. District Court Judge H. Russel Holland ruled Monday against a request that he force Exxon Mobil Corp. to pay for the cleanup of oil left on the Prince William Sound shoreline from the 1989 tanker Valdez spill. | 03/08/11 06:38:01 By - Sean Cockerham

Film about Camp Lejeune's toxic water to debut at N.Y. festival

A documentary about the historic water contamination at the Marines' Camp Lejeune, N.C., will have its world premiere this spring at the Tribeca Film Festival in New York. | 03/07/11 14:54:00 By - Barbara Barrett

Modesto convention center uses federal money to go green

The Modesto Centre Plaza could become a showcase for energy efficiency under a plan to spend funding from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act. | 03/07/11 14:10:55 By - Ken Carlson

U.S. Forest Service looks at changes in the 21st century

Resiliency is replacing productivity as the watchword of the U.S. Forest Service. The agency was founded in 1905 on the idea that using the science and technology of forestry could dramatically increase forest productivity and prevent a threatened “timber famine.” At the heart of that policy was eliminating forest fires, a goal and task the agency carried into the 1970s. | 03/07/11 13:08:49 By - Rocky Barker

Genetically altered salmon spook Northwest lawmakers

Fearing for the wild salmon industry in the Northwest, Democratic Sen. Patty Murray of Washington state wants to stop the Food and Drug Administration from making a quick decision on whether to approve genetically modified Atlantic salmon for human consumption. | 03/06/11 00:01:00 By - Rob Hotakainen

Bill seeks to speed up EPA action on mine permits

Kentucky Sens. Mitch McConnell and Rand Paul introduced legislation Thursday designed to force the Environmental Protection Agency to move more quickly in deciding whether to approve or veto permits that mines need to operate under the Clean Water Act. | 03/03/11 15:35:00 By - Halimah Abdullah

Eastern cougar declared extinct

The eastern cougar has been declared extinct, according to a report issued Wednesday by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. | 03/02/11 11:49:11 By -

Environmentalists want Kansas coal-fired power plant halted

An environmental group demanded Tuesday that the Environmental Protection Agency halt construction of a coal plant in western Kansas. Earthjustice sent a letter to Karl Brooks, EPA Region 7 administrator, making a formal demand that Brooks object to a permit issued by the state to build the Sunflower Electric Power Corp. plant. | 03/02/11 07:06:43 By - Karen Dillon

Exxon Valdez payment dispute goes back to court

Exxon Mobil Corp. says it has paid enough for the 1989 Alaska oil spill, but a judge will hear arguments Friday that the company still owes nearly $100 million to remove oil from the Prince William Sound shoreline. | 03/02/11 06:33:10 By - Sean Cockerham

Western governors fume at Obama plan for wild lands

Republican governors from across the country made clear this week how much they think Obama administration initiatives interfere with their states' rights. | 03/01/11 19:35:00 By - Erika Bolstad

Arctic oil studies yield discoveries about sea life

Spurred by the rush to develop the Arctic's offshore oil and gas riches, scientists are unlocking some mysteries about the marine environment off Alaska's northern coast. Hundreds of millions of dollars have been spent on the icy Beaufort and Chukchi seas, resulting in major discoveries -- including the existence of commercial fish species such as Pacific cod and walleye pollock in places never before documented. | 03/01/11 06:41:57 By - Elizabeth Bluemink

More dead baby dolphins wash ashore along the Gulf coast

The phenomenon of new born or stillborn baby dolphins washing ashore from the Gulf or the Mississippi Sound continued through the weekend and Monday. | 02/28/11 16:01:02 By - Karen Nelson

Warmer oceans taking toll on world's coral reefs

Global warming took a toll on coral reefs in 2010, endangering one of the world's key ecosystems that benefit people in countless ways. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration satellite data show that 2010, the warmest on record, was hard on corals. | 02/28/11 15:39:00 By - Renee Schoof

Some California wildlife have electric shocks coming to them

Caltrans is implementing an innovative way to reduce the number of wild animals killed by cars at the top of the Cuesta Grade. | 02/28/11 14:01:21 By - David Sneed

Tracking down Moon Trees

Very few living things on this Earth have been to the moon, except a handful of aging astronauts. Also on that short list are trees grown from seeds a Gulfport astronaut took with him to the moon. A number of these seeds have grown quietly here on the Coast for almost 40 years. | 02/28/11 11:44:53 By - Karen Nelson

Details emerge on plan to restore salmon in Calif. river

Federal officials have begun revealing details of a multimillion-dollar project that will try to restore a threatened species of salmon to the San Joaquin River. | 02/25/11 12:35:49 By - Mark Grossi

What to do with 40 million old tires?

California is finding many end uses for the estimated 40 million used and waste tires generated in the state each year. | 02/25/11 12:24:08 By - By Carlos Alcala

Calif. Superfund site first to use solar for cleanup

A Superfund site in Davis, Calif., is the first federal groundwater cleanup project powered by solar energy. | 02/25/11 12:12:40 By - Rick Daysog

NOAA to oversee study of dead baby dolphins in Gulf

NOAA will give high priority to an investigation of baby dolphin deaths in Mississippi and Alabama. | 02/24/11 16:11:51 By - Karen Nelson

Mississippi official named to federal ocean group

Mississippi Department of Marine Resources Executive Director Bill Walker has been appointed to the Obama administration’s National Ocean Council’s Governance Coordinating Committee -- a group of state, local and tribal officials across the country who will work on ocean-policy issues. | 02/24/11 16:07:16 By -

Environmentalists say Florida governor's choice for environment chief has conflict of interest

Two environmental groups say the Florida governor's choice of a shipyard executive as head of the environmental protection office is illegal. | 02/24/11 15:54:23 By - Craig Pittman

Study: Pebble mine would be profitable for Alaska companies

Sharp debate erupted Wednesday over a new report that shows that developing the controversial Pebble copper and gold deposit in Southwest Alaska could be very profitable for its owners. | 02/24/11 06:31:52 By - Elizabeth Bluemink

How can polar bears be saved, court asks?

A central question about the Endangered Species Act was behind the legal wrangling Wednesday in a federal courtroom: What, if anything, can be done to save polar bears as the earth warms and sea ice recedes? | 02/23/11 20:07:00 By - Erika Bolstad

EPA sets pollution controls for boilers and incinerators

The Environmental Protection Agency on Wednesday said new pollution controls for boilers and incinerators will save thousands of lives every year but at half the cost of an earlier proposal that industry and lawmakers had strongly criticized. | 02/23/11 18:41:00 By - Renee Schoof

Energy Department considers next uses of cleaned-up Hanford reservation

The Department of Energy is looking at proposals for future use of newly cleaned land at the Hanford nuclear reservation. | 02/22/11 16:24:42 By - Annette Cary

Researchers study dead baby dolphins washed ashore in Mississippi

Researchers have found 18 infant or stillborn dolphins in Mississippi and Alabama. Researchers are trying to determine the cause of deaths. | 02/22/11 16:16:46 By - Karen Nelson

Florida rethinks water treatment amid slower growth, regulatory changes

Miami-Dade County is looking at cheaper alternatives to a large new water-treatment plant. The reassessment comes as Florida's new governor signals possible major changes in environmental regulation. Environmentalists fear water protections will be gutted. | 02/22/11 16:07:59 By - Martha Brannigan and Curtis Morgan

Infant dolphin deaths spiking in Gulf after oil spill

Baby dolphins, some barely three feet in length, are washing up along the Mississippi and Alabama coastlines at 10 times the normal rate of stillborn and infant deaths, researchers say. This is the first birthing season for dolphins since last year's oil spill. | 02/21/11 16:25:28 By - Karen Nelson

Lone wolverine roams the Sierra Nevada

A lone male wolverine has been wandering the Sierra Nevada for at least three years, but is highly elusive. | 02/21/11 12:50:37 By - Tom Knudson

Environmentalists say Everglades restoration has economic benefits

Another big Everglades project broke ground on Friday, a $79 million job in Southwest Florida to plug a drainage canal, install a massive pump to pulse freshwater back into thirsty wetlands and salty estuaries and rip out 100 miles of overgrown roadbed, remnants of a long-dead real estate fiasco. | 02/21/11 07:00:22 By - Curtis Morgan

Duke Energy's profits rise

Duke Energy's profits rose 23 percent in 2010. Demand was up, and rates were increased. | 02/17/11 15:27:34 By - Bruce Henderson

Kentucky lawmakers pass bills to protect coal from environmental rules

State lawmakers in Kentucky approved measures aimed at shielding their state's coal companies from environmental regulation. | 02/17/11 15:20:09 By - John Cheves

Lawmakers rebuke Fla. gov for rejecting highspeed rail funds

A veto-proof majority of the Florida state senate wants the federal government to give Florida the high-speed rail funds the governor rejected. | 02/17/11 15:12:22 By - Mark Caputo

Environmentalists: Canada-Gulf oil pipeline should be delayed

Environmental groups said Wednesday that a 1,700-mile oil pipeline planned between Canada and the Gulf of Mexico posed safety risks and should be delayed. | 02/16/11 19:03:00 By - David Goldstein

California water politics seep into GOP spending bill

San Joaquin River restoration would stop and Central Valley irrigation deliveries ostensibly rise under a Republican spending bill poised for House passage Thursday. | 02/16/11 18:52:18 By - Michael Doyle

House Republicans seek to block many EPA rules

Congressional Republicans this week added amendments to a spending bill that would knock out environmental protections for air, water and wilderness. | 02/16/11 17:58:00 By - Renee Schoof

Florida governor rejects funds for high-speed rail

Florida Republican Gov. Rick Scott is rejecting federal funding for high-speed rail. | 02/16/11 13:29:07 By - Emily Nipps, Steve Bousquet and Michael C. Bender

Economist says Alaska spending too much of oil money

A leadling Alaska economist says the state is saving too little of its oil wealth for future generations. | 02/16/11 13:24:07 By - Elizabeth Bluemink

Kansas 'green' jobs goal is elusive

Kansas has set its sights on creating 10,000 green jobs, many of them from manufacturing and assembling the parts for wind energy turbines. The state’s big bet on wind power has attracted a few hundred jobs so far. But even that success shows the huge challenge Kansas faces | 02/15/11 14:08:48 By - Steve Everly

Environmental activists end sit-in at Kentucky governor's office

Author Wendell Berry and 13 other environmental activists emerged from Kentucky's state Capitol on Monday to roars of approval and applause, ending their four-day occupation of Gov. Steve Beshear's outer office. | 02/15/11 07:17:30 By - John Cheves

California study finds LED bulbs have arsenic, lead

A study at the University of California at Irvine has determined that safe and eco-friendly LED bulbs, commonly used in headlights, stoplights and holiday lights, contain lead, arsenic and other hazardous substances. | 02/14/11 13:03:32 By - Paige Maxwells

Illinois' Prairie State Energy Campus aims to be very 'green'

The Prairie State Energy Campus under construction in Washington County, Illinois, is expected to begin generation by the end of the year. | 02/14/11 11:52:49 By - Will Buss

Kentucky environmentalists gather at governor's office to seek end of mountaintop mining

Kentucky environmentalists plan a rally at the capitol on Monday against mountaintop removal coal mining. Author Wendell Berry and other supporters have held a sit-in at the governor's office since Friday. | 02/14/11 10:36:50 By - Shawntaye Hopkins

Texas (really, Texas) considering tax on gas guzzlers

State officials are considering a $100 surcharge on the purchase of some new vehicles that don't meet federal fuel efficiency standards. It's one legislative proposal designed to raise more revenue and help reduce the looming, multibillion-dollar deficit. | 02/13/11 16:50:08 By - Anna M. Tinsley

Oil pipeline from Canada stirring anger in U.S. Great Plains

Crude oil from western Canada began flowing through a controversial pipeline in Kansas last week. Supporters say that construction of the Keystone Pipeline provided an economic boon, producing money and jobs. But in Kansas, local officials along the pipeline's path think that the state sold them out — unnecessarily — to get the pipeline. | 02/13/11 00:01:00 By - David Goldstein

Environmentalists to sue over new Gulf oil, gas projects

The Interior Department has approved 10 oil and gas exploration projects in the Gulf of Mexico since October in violation of two laws that protect whales and other marine mammals, environmental groups said Thursday. | 02/10/11 18:54:00 By - Renee Schoof

Environmentalists to sue over new Gulf oil, gas projects

Fight starts in NC over proposal to make it easier to raise rates to pay for new nuclear plants

Environmental and consumer advocates are fighting a proposal by North Carolina electric utilities. The power companies want to make it easier to raise electricity rates to pay for new nuclear plants. An official said it's the only type of regulatory structure that would allow new plants to go ahead. | 02/10/11 11:24:52 By - John Murawski

Cleanest coal plant? Not so, study says

Supporters of teh Sunflower coal plant to be built in Kanasas said it would be the cleanest in the country. A report obtained by The Kansas City Star says that's not true. | 02/10/11 11:15:40 By - Karen Dillon

Energy Department weighs earlier start for Hanford nuclear waste treatment plant

A plant that will turn radioactive waste at the Hanford nuclear reservation into a solid glass form for disposal could start three years early, under a plan the Department of Energy is considering. The plant now is set to begin in 2019 treating waste left from the development of the nation's first nuclear weapons. | 02/10/11 11:32:03 By - Annette Cary

Key lawmaker questions California's high-speed rail plan

The influential chairman of the House transportation committee voiced skepticism Wednesday about California's high-speed rail plans. | 02/10/11 11:38:19 By - Michael Doyle

Coal gift to University of Kentucky requires coal tribute in new dorm

A gift agreement, obtained by the Herald-Leader under Kentucky's Open Records Act, shows that a new dorm at the University of Kentucky, built with a donation from the head of Alliance Coal, must have an exhibit in the lobby that will be a tribute to the coal industry. | 02/10/11 11:07:23 By - Linda B. Blackford

House panel plans to overturn EPA's finding on climate change

Republicans on the House of Representatives energy committee on Wednesday aired their proposal to block the Environmental Protection Agency from reducing greenhouse gases and to reverse the agency's scientific finding that climate change is dangerous. | 02/09/11 17:49:00 By - Renee Schoof

Alaskan military base's wolves 'are different', dangerous

Since August, biologists with the Alaska Department of Fish and Game and the military have been looking to kill off or drastically thin two packs of wolves -- maybe 12 animals in all -- that roam Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson and around the edges of Eagle River. They say the animals have become increasingly aggressive with humans and dogs. | 02/09/11 12:00:32 By - Julia O'Malley

1950s Anchorage office building gets eco-makeover

One of downtown Anchorage's aging office buildings is about to get an eco-friendly makeover. | 02/09/11 11:57:03 By - Elizabeth Bluemink

EPA's review of Alaska's Bristol Bay includes Pebble mine

The federal Environmental Protection Agency said Monday that it will review the consequences of large-scale development projects, such as the proposed copper and gold Pebble mine, in Alaska's Bristol Bay watershed. The review is in response to petitions from several Southwest Alaska tribes, commercial fishing groups and other organizations opposed to Pebble. Those groups are worried about the potential impact of large-scale mining on Bristol Bay's world-class salmon runs. | 02/08/11 06:36:53 By - Elizabeth Bluemink

Not-so-killer freeze: Burmese pythons return to Everglades

While scientists can only estimate the toll the Big Chill took on the army of exotic reptiles, fish and plants in the wilds of South Florida, field observations over the last year suggest nature knocked them down but not out. Some, including Burmese pythons, already are speeding down the road to recovery. | 02/07/11 18:55:58 By - Curtis Morgan

California developing high-speed rail stations

The state of California is giving money to cities that will develop high-speed rail stations in the state. | 02/07/11 11:14:50 By - Tim Sheehan

Conservation program faces California's budget axe

In some ways, Gov. Jerry Brown's proposed elimination of California's Land Conservation Act is just one more symbol of the state's great budget disaster. Supporters say eliminating the 46-year-old law – commonly known as the Williamson Act – will diminish an important source of environmental protection for 16.5 million acres and increase development pressure on farmers and ranchers. | 02/07/11 06:54:47 By - Loretta Kalb

Ultra-efficient houses for the middle class, and no subsidies

A developer in Sacarmento is building ultra-efficient housing aimed at the middle class. Plenty of California houses have solar, but these will have something new _ batteries that can store the power. And the project is entirely financed by private investors and banks. There are no federal subsidies. | 02/04/11 12:59:31 By - Rick Daysog

Shell again delays offshore drilling in Arctic, citing EPA

Shell's decision sets back the day when the company's offshore production could begin to help refill the trans-Alaska pipeline as output declines from aging North Slope oil fields. A year ago, the company had thought it would begin drilling five exploratory wells in the summer of 2010. Now those wells may not be drilled till 2012. | 02/04/11 12:21:31 By - Richard Mauer

Florida lawmakers look to halt Cuba's offshore oil drilling

With Cuba poised to drill for oil off its coast as early as this spring, Florida lawmakers are renewing efforts to block it, citing fears about damage to the state's beaches in the event of a major oil spill. | 02/04/11 06:53:30 By - Lesley Clark

Hagan, Burr push anew to help Camp Lejeune water victims

North Carolina's two senators are pushing ahead on efforts to win health care for up to 750,000 Marine veterans and their families who might have suffered from water contamination at Marines Base Camp Lejeune, N.C., from the 1950s to the mid-1980s. | 02/03/11 18:32:00 By - Barbara Barrett

Shell drops plans to drill in Alaskan Arctic this year

Shell Alaska has dropped plans to drill an exploratory well in the Arctic waters of the Beaufort Sea off Alaska this year. | 02/03/11 16:04:47 By -

Obama announces plan to increase energy efficiency of commercial buildings

President Barack Obama visited Pennsylvania State University today to talk about his plan to increase energy efficiency in commercial buildings by 20 percent by 2020. | 02/03/11 15:55:56 By -

California lawmakers push clean energy agenda

Democratic lawmakers in California are resurrecting a bill to require utilities to buy at least 33 percent of the state's electricity from renewable sources by 2020. | 02/03/11 10:45:21 By - Susan Ferriss

Mexico, cradle of corn, finds its noble grain under assault

Plant specialists describe the native varieties of corn in Mexico as a genetic trove that might prove valuable should extreme weather associated with global warming get out of hand. Corn, one of the most widely grown grains in the world, is a key component of the global food supply. But experts say Mexico's native varieties are themselves under peril — from economics and genetic contamination — potentially depriving humans of a crucial resource. | 02/03/11 09:13:43 By - Tim Johnson

Lawmakers aim to remove gray wolves from endangered list

In the first effort to change the Endangered Species Act in the new Congress, bills have been introduced in the House of Representatives and the Senate to remove the gray wolf from the list of protected animals. | 02/02/11 17:08:00 By - Rob Hotakainen

Dredging deepens Columbia River, so ships can carry more cargo

The first 103 miles of the Columbia River have been dredged to allow deep-draft ocean-going ships to carry heavier loads. | 02/01/11 11:04:22 By - Kathy Korengel

Federal mine safety agency proposes rule to close coal mine loophole

The federal Mine Safety and Health Administration has proposed a rule that would close a loophole that allowed coal mine operators to avoid punishment for patterns of violations. | 02/01/11 10:50:32 By - Dori Hjalmar

Egypt's unrest may have roots in food prices, U.S. Fed policy

Economists and experts in food security have warned repeatedly in recent years that an unbridled rise in food prices could trigger the very kind of explosion of citizen anger that's now threatening to topple the Egyptian government. Such anger is likely to rise elsewhere, too. | 02/01/11 09:16:05 By - Kevin G. Hall

Military, health agency in PR war over base's tainted water

Congressional investigators will meet with Navy officials as soon as next week to pressure the military to reconsider a public relations booklet on past water contamination at Marines Base Camp Lejeune, N.C., that they say is misleading. | 01/31/11 17:53:00 By - Barbara Barrett

Groups oppose Wash. state coal-fired power plant on mercury emissions

Environmentalists want Washington state's only coal-fired power plant to reduce its emissions of toxic mercury. | 01/31/11 11:43:31 By -

Scientists estimate higher risk to Calif. levees from quakes

U.S. Geological Survey scientists say prior studies made very unrealistic assumptions about how well levees in the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta would hold up in an earthquake. | 01/31/11 09:40:10 By - Matt Weiser

Chinese imports challenge Calif. peaches for market share

China is challenging California's dominance of the U.S. processed peaches market. | 01/31/11 09:31:37 By - Robert Rodriguez

Inside the Nissan Leaf

Nissan brought the all-electric Leaf to South Florida. It starts up exactly like a computer. | 01/31/11 09:47:07 By - Curtis Morgan

At NC Superfund site, plans for a new 'eco-industrial' complex

The Mount Holly Community Foundation is working to build a greenway along the Catawba River in North Carolina. The foundation wants to know more about ReVenture Park, a planned "eco-industrial" complex anchored by an waste-to-energy plant on the site of a former chemical plant. | 01/31/11 09:58:56 By - Joe DePriest

Heavier snows may stick around, climate experts say

Tree limbs snap, the power goes out, the car needs digging out again. Along with the grumbling about winter snow there's also a common curiosity: So what does all this say about global warming? How can the average world temperature be inching up and 2010 be tied for the warmest year ever, when places from North Carolina to New England get buried by whopper winter storms? | 01/28/11 17:11:00 By - Renee Schoof

Florida says grand piano is litter, must be removed from sandbar

By order of authorities, Biscayne Bay's "piano bar" will soon be closing after a short and spectacular run from teenage stunt to worldwide sensation. Dumping something so big in the bay is technically a felony, a Fish and Wildlife Conservation commission officer said, but the agency won't press charges if it's removed. | 01/27/11 18:00:45 By - Curtis Morgan and Laura Edwins

Exxon: Natural gas to overtake coal as energy source

Exxon Mobil Corp., in its long-term energy outlook for 2030, forecasts that natural gas will surpass coal as an energy source, with "newly unlocked supplies of shale gas and other unconventional energy sources" proving "vital" in meeting a projected 35 percent rise in energy demand, company CEO Rex Tillerson said. | 01/27/11 12:59:16 By - Jack Z. Smith

Boxer, Feinstein seek to expand federal wilderness land in California

The next California wilderness fights will stretch from the desert to the Delta, in a dicey new political environment. | 01/26/11 19:18:52 By - Michael Doyle

GOP House energy chairman Hastings' fix: drill for more oil

As the new Congress got fully under way this week, the politics of oil moved quickly to the front burner. With gasoline prices rising, the new chairman of the House Natural Resources Committee wants to drill for more oil. | 01/26/11 17:57:00 By - Rob Hotakainen

Study finds oil dispersants lingered deep under Gulf

An active ingredient in the chemical dispersants pumped deep into the Gulf of Mexico after BP's oil spill didn't break down, but remained for several months in a deep layer of oil and gas, according to a study published Wednesday. | 01/26/11 16:43:00 By - Renee Schoof

Fresno's urban kit foxes like hot dogs, burritos, cat food

Scientists have long known that endangered San Joaquin kit foxes live in Bakersfield, raiding dumpsters for half-eaten hot dogs, doughnuts and burritos. Now it turns out that this critter has adapted to city life, eating an essentially human diet -- and thriving. | 01/25/11 12:41:37 By - Mark Rossi

Grackles not welcome at Fort Worth's Super Bowl

The NFL's Green Bay Packers made sure Atlanta's Dirty Birds -- the Falcons -- won't be in Super Bowl XLV. And a consistent offensive has helped ensure that Fort Worth's dirty birds -- the grackles -- won't be a factor in downtown during Super Bowl week. | 01/25/11 12:34:56 By - John henry

Former Marine sues over Camp Lejeune water contamination

A man who served at Marine Corps Base Camp Lejeune for nearly two years in the 1950s has sued the federal government for $16 million, saying poisonous water at the base caused his cancer. | 01/24/11 16:58:00 By - Barbara Barrett

Livestock, wildlife sharing same California land

Who would have thought that beef cattle would be so important to the diet of the sandhill crane? Cattle help the cranes, wildlife experts said last week, by keeping grasses short enough for the fowl to find insects and other food on the ground. | 01/24/11 15:49:34 By - John Holland

Report: Federal nuclear facility in Kansas City contaminated

The internal report by a consultant does not detail the level of contamination in the 230,000-square-foot area of the Bannister Federal Complex, which has been the focus of growing alarm over pollution and worker health. A second report says an unusually high number of Kansas City plant workers have become ill from exposure to beryllium, a carcinogen that can cause several diseases. | 01/23/11 22:33:39 By - Karen Dillon

Politicians quoting Coleridge on water get the meaning wrong

The 19th-century English poet Samuel Taylor Coleridge could never have guessed how he'd be conscripted into California's partisan water wars. This week, Rep. Tom McClintock, R-Calif., became the latest lawmaker to summon Coleridge while lamenting irrigation water shortages. It turns out, though, that the lines he quoted invite a different interpretation. | 01/21/11 16:06:00 By - Michael Doyle

Nuclear industry touts 'mini-reactors'

South Carolina has a chance to lead the world in the development of mini nuclear reactors, the president-elect of the American Nuclear Society said during a swing through Columbia on Thursday. | 01/21/11 13:37:17 By - Jeff Wilkenson

N.C. officials oppose environmentalists' suit on coal pollution

Environmentalists in North Carolina sued over a setlement with mining companies over water pollution. The groups say the settlement went too easy on the companies. State officials want a court to reject the environmentalists' case. | 01/21/11 09:59:54 By - Dori Hjalmarson

Growth of Sacramento's clean-energy sector flat in 2009

A study finds that after doubling over the past 15 years, growth in Sacramento's green sector was flat in 2009, but the region continues to be a leader in California's rapidly expanding clean-energy economy and is well-positioned for growth. | 01/21/11 09:45:18 By - Rick Daysog

With health care 'repealed,' GOP turns to climate change

Now that the House of Representatives has voted to repeal the health care law, Republicans say they're likely to move soon to another target — a rewrite of the Clean Air Act so that it can't be used to fight climate change. | 01/20/11 18:07:00 By - Renee Schoof

Oil flowing through Alaska pipeline but cold remains a concern

The trans-Alaska pipeline -- the spine of the state's oil-dependent economy -- is back on the job this week after a series of expensive and disruptive emergency shutdowns. However, the potential remains for another major shutdown because the oil temperature is well below freezing in some locations which could freeze and clog pumps. | 01/19/11 06:28:34 By - Elizabeth Bluemink

Alaska Natives consider suing over polar bear habitat

Some of the Arctic's largest Alaska Native organizations are threatening to sue the federal government over its decision to designate more than 187,000 square miles of land and ocean as critical habitat for polar bears. They join a growing list of people and groups unhappy with the Interior Department's designation. | 01/18/11 07:39:28 By - Elizabeth Bluemink

Climate change: Rising waters threaten North Carolina

Climate change is carving its name into North Carolina's retreating shorelines. Water is rising three times faster on the North Carolina than it did a century ago as warming oceans expand and land ice melts. It's the beginning of what a North Carolina science panel expects will be a 1-meter increase by 2100. Planners are taking official notice as they prepare for a wetter world. | 01/16/11 14:09:39 By - Bruce Henderson

Cicadas: South awaits invasion that comes every 13 years

Doomsdayers might add the upcoming cicada infestation to recent End of Days events: thousands of birds falling from the skies in two states or the tens of thousands of fish washing up on the banks of the Arkansas River. But the event is more of nature’s clockwork than the end of time on Earth. | 01/16/11 11:31:06 By - Clif LeBlanc

Northwest's unusually foggy summer mystifies experts

The summer of 2010 was the foggiest on record in the Pacific Northwest, according to a researcher dubbed "Dr. Fog" by his colleagues. California is getting less foggy, and there is increasing concern for the redwoods that hug a swath of the state's northern coast. Fog is considered a critical factor in the health of the giant trees and the rich ecosystem that has grown up around them. | 01/16/11 03:01:00 By - Les Blumenthal

With federal earmark, students develop high-tech bus

Western Washington University students are exploring new concepts as they work to create a low-weight, high-efficiency bus. | 01/15/11 16:38:28 By - Jared Paben

California's 'Big One' could be a flood

California has more risk of catastrophic storms than any other region in the country – even the Southern hurricane states, according to a new study released Thursday. The two-year study by the U.S. Geological Survey is the most thorough effort yet to assess the potential effects of a "worst-case" storm in California. | 01/14/11 06:42:14 By - Matt Weiser

New oil drilling regulator lays out the road ahead

Michael Bromwich, the official put in charge of oil and gas regulation after the BP blowout last spring, gave a detailed public update Thursday about changes now under way, including new inspections, environmental reviews and ethical standards. | 01/13/11 17:46:00 By - Renee Schoof

EPA vetoes mountaintop coal mine in West Virginia

The Environmental Protection Agency on Thursday blocked what would have been one of the largest mountaintop coal mines in Appalachia. The decision reverses a previously granted permit for the Spruce No. 1 mine in the already heavily mined Coal River basin. | 01/13/11 16:39:00 By - Renee Schoof

Another Alaska oil pipeline shutdown planned for leak repairs

The trans-Alaska pipeline is scheduled to shut down again this weekend for about 36 hours while workers install new piping to fix a leak that prompted a four-day emergency shutdown, company officials and regulators said. | 01/13/11 06:44:27 By - Elizabeth Bluemink

Judge in Alaska gives go-ahead for coal dust pollution suit

In a 27-page ruling signed on Monday, Anchorage federal District Judge Tim Burgess denied motions by the Alaska Railroad and Aurora Energy Services to dismiss a lawsuit filed by two environmental groups over coal dust and debris that ends up in Resurrection Bay due to operations at the coal export terminal at the Seward port. | 01/12/11 17:45:32 By - Elizabeth Bluemink

Rancher told to remove cattle from Carrizo Plain preserve

Cattle will be temporarily removed from the Carrizo Plain Ecological Reserve as a result of a court settlement announced Tuesday. Under the deal signed in San Francisco Superior Court, the 3,600 cattle that are allowed to graze on the ranch each year must be removed within six months and stay off until the state Department of Fish and Game completes an environmental impact review. | 01/12/11 17:37:26 By - David Sneed

FPL says it's improving 'safety culture' at nuclear plants

FPL says it's improving safety at its Florida nuclear power plants, where there have been safety and security concerns. | 01/12/11 10:30:48 By - Curtis Morgan

African villages may see light due to California solar entrepreneurs

Electric power. We flip a switch, turn it on, take it for granted. The lights, the microwave, the flat-screen TV; and now the Leaf or Volt or some other electric car. But in Africa, electricity remains a rare, hard-earned luxury. With the help of solar power, two Californians aim to change that. | 01/12/11 06:55:27 By - Darrell Smith

Alaska allows some oil to spill from pipeline during restart

As temperatures dropped at Prudhoe Bay, Alaska, and the shutdown of the 800-mile pipeline continued Tuesday, federal and state regulators agreed to allow Alyeska Pipeline Service Co. to temporarily restart the flow of oil even though some will ooze out of a leaking secondary pipe. | 01/12/11 06:37:10 By - Lisa Demer

Oil spill panel blames lax oversight, poor safety standards

Lulled by success, the U.S. wasn't prepared for a catastrophe the size of the Deepwater Horizon oil spill, and it needs additional government regulation and tougher industry self-policing to improve the safety of deepwater drilling, the presidential commission investigating the Gulf of Mexico disaster found. | 01/11/11 11:12:45 By - Erika Bolstad and Renee Schoof

Oil spill panel says Arctic offshore drilling should go forward

The White House-appointed oil spill commission on Tuesday said gaps in research about Arctic waters do not justify a "de facto moratorium" on oil and gas development off Alaska’s northern coast. | 01/11/11 09:28:39 By - Elizabeth Bluemink

Oil pipeline shutdown costs Alaska $18.1 million daily

The shutdown of the trans-Alaska pipeline is likely to extend into a fourth day, making it the third longest closure in the line's 33-year-history. Officials haven't yet announced how or when they intend to restart it, which is challenging in the dead of winter. | 01/11/11 06:38:15 By - Lisa Demer

Leaks shut down key Alaska oil pipeline, halt production

The shutdown of the 800-mile trans-Alaska oil pipeline continued for a second day Sunday as engineers and regulators worked on how to safely get oil flowing again in the dead of winter. Alyeska Pipeline Service Co. cut the flow of oil to the main pipeline Saturday morning after workers discovered a leak on a secondary line. | 01/10/11 06:33:42 By - Lisa Demer

Climate change reveals disease as national security threat

One of the most worrisome national security threats of climate change is the spread of disease, among both people and animals, U.S. intelligence and health officials say. | 01/10/11 00:01:00 By - Jessica Q. Chen

Climate-induced mayhem likely to start in Bangladesh

Nowhere is the potential threat from climate change more worrisome than in Bangladesh, a country strategically sandwiched between rising superpowers China and India, and which also acts as a bridge between South Asia and Southeast Asia. | 01/10/11 00:01:00 By - Malathi Nayak

Why the CIA is spying on a changing climate

As intelligence officials assess key components of state stability, they are realizing that the norms they had been operating with — such as predictable river flows and crop yields — are shifting. Yet the U.S. government is ill-prepared to act on climate changes that are coming faster than anticipated and threaten to bring instability to places of U.S. national interest, interviews with several dozen current and former officials and outside experts and a review of two decades' worth of government reports indicate. | 01/10/11 00:01:00 By - Charles Mead and Annie Snider

Environmentalists fear Hastings will take care of business

Republican Rep. Doc Hastings says any criticism of his environmental record is off base for one reason: He's spent his entire career in Congress trying to clean up a massive nuclear dump in his central Washington state district. | 01/09/11 03:01:00 By - Rob Hotakainen

Graham, DeMint: Bring nuclear waste to South Carolina

Sens. Lindsey Graham and Jim DeMint said Friday the nation should recycle its used nuclear fuel, a move that could bring jobs to the state's Savannah River Site. Recycling is one option for handling the nation's waste now that the Obama administration has decided not to dispose of the waste at Yucca Mountain in Nevada. | 01/07/11 21:44:47 By - Sammy Fretwell

BP crews still cleaning oil from Mississippi Gulf islands

In fact, it is likely more oil tar has been cleaned from the islands in the fall and winter than at the height of the spill last summer, because larger crews of BP workers can now get to the beaches and inlets. They had been restricted to foot traffic while birds and turtles were nesting. | 01/07/11 19:51:31 By - Karen Nelson

Scientists: BP's oil lingers, but bacteria ate natural gas

Scientists are still trying to account for what happened to all of the oil from the BP blowout in the Gulf of Mexico, but they now know what happened to the even greater amounts of natural gas that gushed from the broken well. Bacteria ate just about all of it by August. | 01/06/11 16:11:00 By - Renee Schoof

Panel: BP well blowout revealed industry-wide problems

The errors and misjudgments that led to the explosion of the Deepwater Horizon offshore oil drilling rig last spring weren't the result just of blunders by BP and its contractors, but reflect industry-wide problems that require new regulations and standards, a presidential commission has concluded. | 01/05/11 22:01:00 By - Mark Seibel

BP closes part of Alaska oil field over rent dispute

BP shut down a small portion of the Prudhoe Bay oil field last week after a judge ruled that federal regulators failed for years to get approval from the Inupiat Eskimo family that owns the land. | 01/05/11 06:35:29 By - Elizabeth Bluemink

Environment, coal jobs at issue in Kentucky mountains

Every Sunday, Rick Handshoe strolls from his mobile home across a two-lane paved highway, down the hill to Raccoon Creek in Kentucky, which is sometimes orange, sometimes silty, sometimes clear | 01/04/11 13:15:15 By - Dori Hjalmarson

California is first to adopt light bulb efficiency standards

Californians will see the light – and a resulting energy cost savings – earlier than the rest of the United States. The California Energy Commission says Golden State consumers will be the first in the nation to save money under a federal law improving the energy-efficiency standard of light bulbs. | 01/04/11 06:44:56 By - Mark Glover

Plan to remove nonnative species from Florida Keys includes euthanization

Over the past century, as developers of the Florida Keys gobbled up pristine real estate, the federal government created four refuges along the island chain to protect wildlife and preserve habitat. But in the safe havens for nature, not all creatures are welcome. The U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service wants to remove all nonnative predators. | 01/03/11 06:54:55 By - Cammy Clark

Concentration of factory farms grows in Kansas, Missouri

A report that pinpoints places with the highest numbers of factory farm livestock shows that Kansas and Missouri are in the middle of a growing concentration of factory farms. | 12/30/10 17:18:32 By - Karen Dillon

Texas 'clean coal' plant passes regulatory hurdle

A proposed $2.2 billion "clean coal" plant in West Texas has leapt a major regulatory hurdle, receiving approval from the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality for an air-quality permit. | 12/30/10 07:37:33 By - Jack Z. Smith

Zebra mussels, scourge of the Great Lakes, invade Texas

Zebra mussels, an import from Eastern Europe, has long been spreading across the United States. The Great Lakes have been dealing with it for years, and now it has reached Texas. The aggressive invaders clog water treatment pipelines and intake valves and threaten native species. | 12/29/10 17:50:16 By - Bill Hanna

Zoo in Washington state leads way in holiday lights recycling

Two years ago, a 10-year-old Washington girl from Tacoma's Federal Way had a bright idea. Jessica Lam wrote to the organizers of Zoolights, the annual holiday light display at Point Defiance Zoo & Aquarium, suggesting they get involved in recycling strands of used and unwanted holiday lights – an idea she learned about from her grandfather. | 12/29/10 13:09:36 By - Debbie Cafazzo

Commentary: It's not easy going green

The headline read "Scientists worry energy projects may harm sea life." Oil and gas exploration in Arctic waters? Drilling in Bristol Bay? Renewed deep water operations in the Gulf of Mexico? | 12/29/10 11:02:27 By -

Calif. clean air chief expected to keep job overseeing landmark climate policies

California Air Resources Board chairwoman Mary Nichols is expected to stay when Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger leaves office. She says the state's clean energy and greenhouse gas reduction policies will stay on course, but the agency will have to make do with less. | 12/28/10 15:41:36 By - Rick Daysog

Florida developer fined for failing to follow through on mitigation vow

When one of South Florida's largest home builders received a federal permit seven years ago for a development, the approval came with some conditions. To compensate for destroying 415 acres of maleleuca-infested wetlands in West Miami-Dade County, Century Homebuilders agreed to set aside another 47 acres and create a wetlands preserve by removing the exotic species and replanting with spikerush, pond apple and other native foliage. Century never completed the job. | 12/28/10 07:03:36 By - Curtis Morgan

Will generating ocean energy affect migration of sea creatures?

Scientists believe that sharks, turtles, and a lot of other marine creatures use the earth's magnetic fields to navigate as they migrate from spawning grounds across the open seas and back. And that raises a big question for planners of plants generating electricity from tidal and wave movements: could the electro-magnetic fields that go with power generation affect the internal compasses of sea creatures? | 12/26/10 15:58:00 By - Les Blumenthal

Small Alaska towns fear coal strip-mining

Coal developers buoyed by Asia's energy boom and soaring coal prices are contemplating even more expansion in Alaska. Development plans are triggering an intense land-use debate in where some small communities are fearful about major industrial expansion, particularly mining. | 12/26/10 12:24:59 By - Elizabeth Bluemink

Is Navy plan a threat to world's oldest killer whales?

Could Ruffles and Granny be in trouble? At 59, Ruffles is the oldest known male orca in the world. Granny is his 99-year-old mother. Environmentalists fear for their safety as the U.S. Navy prepares to expand operations on the Pacific Coast. | 12/24/10 03:00:00 By - Rob Hotakainen

EPA to set pollution limits on power plants, refineries

The Environmental Protection Agency said Thursday it would set standards for greenhouse gas emissions from the country's two biggest sources: coal-fired power plants and refineries. The new regulations are likely to have only a modest impact on emissions. | 12/23/10 17:29:00 By - Renee Schoof

Congress passes bill to help save world's sharks

Conservationists called the measure a major step to save a species in trouble. The legislation requires that sharks caught legally must be landed with fins attached in all U.S. waters. Regulations already had banned cutting off the fins and dumping the bodies in the Gulf of Mexico and the Atlantic, but not in the Pacific. | 12/21/10 14:56:00 By - Renee Schoof