"Already divided over the issues of climate change and sea-level rise, Delaware politicians, voters and communities now face a costly debate over short- and long-term rescue options for eroding beaches along the Delaware Bay and Delaware River."

"SEATTLE — Gliding through the clear, emerald water of Puget Sound, Diver Laura James stopped when something shiny on the bottom caught her eye. She reached down and picked up a tire-flattened beer can."

"Under fire for dumping toxic pollution into Lake Michigan, owners of the last coal-powered steamship on the Great Lakes promised four years ago they would eliminate its murky discharges in time for the 2012 sailing season."

"A controversial American businessman dumped around 100 tonnes of iron sulphate into the Pacific Ocean as part of a geoengineering scheme off the west coast of Canada in July, a Guardian investigation can reveal. Lawyers, environmentalists and civil society groups are calling it a 'blatant violation' of two international moratoria and the news is likely to spark outrage at a United Nations environmental summit taking place in India this week."

Efforts to remove 17 miles of dioxin-laced muck contaminating New Jersey's Passaic River seem to have failed.

"Climate change is expected to drop water levels in the Great Lakes, experts said Wednesday. Levels could drop anywhere from a few inches to several feet as water evaporates in the drought conditions."

NOAA is considering the Georgia Aquarium's proposal to import 18 beluga whales from the Sea of Okhotsk for display and breeding at aquariums.

"Julia Whitty is on a three-week-long journey aboard the the US Coast Guard icebreaker Healy, following a team of scientists who are investigating how a changing climate might be affecting the chemistry of ocean and atmosphere in the Arctic."

"A report out this month found that humans might be to blame for most large whale deaths over the past 40 years in the northwest Atlantic Ocean, with entanglement in fishing gear the No. 1 killer."

"The floodwaters are swelling, but the resources needed to confront them are shriveling up. That's the frustrating reality that state dam officials face as they confront added stress to the thousands of structures they regulate."

"As carbon dioxide continues to build up in the atmosphere as a result of burning fossil fuels, the seas absorb much of it.The full effects have yet to be felt."

"CHARLESTON, W.Va. -- State regulators in West Virginia have ordered Argus Energy to repair a water treatment system at a Lincoln County mine site after a blackwater spill killed fish."

"HOMER, Alaska -- Kris Holderied, who directs the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's Kasitsna Bay Laboratory, says the ocean's increasing acidity is 'the reason fishermen stop me in the grocery store.'"

"Getting a suction tag onto a 5-ton orca can be tricky, but the scientific rewards are big. Scientists are using the devices to gather underwater data about orca behavior to find out how vessel traffic might be affecting the endangered whales."

"BROOKLYN, N.Y. -- With each steady stroke, John Lipscomb inched the canoe deeper into an infamous urban waterway. The water surrounding the boat grew increasingly murky; the sulphuric stench more offensive."