"Once black with oil, the Kalamazoo River runs clear now. But EPA orders dredging and says it will be years before the spill's long-term effects are known."

"VANCOUVER, Wash. -- Port of Vancouver commissioners voted Tuesday to approve a lease for a Columbia River terminal that would take in crude oil by train from North Dakota and ship it to West Coast refineries."

"The number of spills and other accidents from railroad cars carrying crude oil has skyrocketed in recent years, up from one or two a year early in the previous decade to 88 last year."

"LAC-MEGANTIC, Quebec -- Two residents of the Quebec town of Lac-Megantic, where a runaway train derailed and exploded into a wall of fire that killed 50 people, have launched a class action lawsuit to win compensation for the small community."

"SAN BRUNO -- Taking a tougher stand against PG&E, a revamped state regulatory body on Tuesday recommended that the utility be fined at least $300 million -- the largest ever imposed by the Public Utilities Commission -- as part of a $2.25 billion penalty for the company's role in the deadly San Bruno natural gas explosion."

"AUGUSTA, Maine -- A steep decline in revenues from pipeline tariffs and a loophole that allowed companies shipping crude by rail to avoid payment have slashed Maine's oil-spill fund to levels experts say could hurt its ability to respond to an accident."

"The Obama administration is nine months behind schedule on a proposal to bolster safety standards for the type of rail car that killed at least 13 people after slamming, filled with U.S. shale oil, into a small Canadian town over the weekend."

"On a typical day in North Dakota prairie towns like Williston, Dickinson and Beulah, trains with 100 tank cars line up to be loaded with oil destined for markets to the east, west, and south."

After four tank cars full of crude oil from a derailed train incinerated a small Quebec town, killing at least five, the debate over rail versus pipeline for oil transport intensifies.

"NEW YORK — A solar-powered aircraft completed the final leg of a history-making cross-country flight Saturday night, gliding to a smooth stop at New York's John F. Kennedy International Airport."

"President Obama’s ambitious goals to curb the United States’ greenhouse gas emissions, unveiled last week, will get a fortuitous assist from an incipient shift in American behavior: recent studies suggest that Americans are buying fewer cars, driving less and getting fewer licenses as each year goes by."

"A solar-powered plane nearing the close of a cross-continental journey landed at Dulles International Airport outside the nation’s capital early Sunday, only one short leg to New York remaining on a voyage that opened in May."

"The government of Nicaragua is fast-tracking a bill that would authorize a company from China to build a new canal connecting the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans. The dream of a Nicaraguan canal dates back more than a century."

"Aboard the Dorothy Ann, in Lake Erie near Fairport Harbor, Ohio — As Capt. Jeremy R. Mock steered this 711-foot combination of tug and barge toward a harbor berth, a screen of red numbers indicated the decreasing depth of water under the vessel: 6 feet, 3.6 feet, 2 feet."

"Shipping along the Arctic northern sea route is set to grow more than 30-fold over the next eight years and could account for a quarter of the cargo traffic between Europe and Asia by 2030, experts said on Wednesday."