"WASHINGTON — After a series of costly and embarrassing accidents in its efforts to drill exploratory wells off the north coast of Alaska last year, Royal Dutch Shell announced on Wednesday that it would not return to the Arctic in 2013."

"The giant Pacific leatherback turtle, known for its arduous 6,000-mile ocean trek from the U.S. West Coast to breeding grounds in Indonesia, could go extinct within 20 years as its population continues to plummet, scientists say."

"A US court has declared the conservation group Sea Shepherd to be 'pirates' and ordered it to stop its aggressive actions against Japanese whalers."

"BP Plc fostered a culture that put cost-cutting over safety before the deadly 2010 Gulf of Mexico oil spill, a noted forensic engineer said in the first day of testimony in the federal civil trial centered on the disaster."

"NEW ORLEANS — BP finally faced off in court Monday against an army of federal and state prosecutors, lawyers and even its contract partners over the Gulf of Mexico oil spill three years ago, contending that it alone should not shoulder blame for the rig explosion that killed 11 workers and soiled beaches and marshes from Louisiana to Florida."

A surge in the use of fungicides is bringing higher crop yields; but experts warn that there is not enough monitoring of the emerging fungicide contamination of streams -- and that not enough is known about the health consequences.

"Drilling specialists have been pumping heavy fluids into a gas well 50 miles off the Louisiana coast in a bid to halt natural gas moving among underground formations at the site."

"Limited data and unreliable estimates on air pollution from oil and natural gas production is hindering the Environmental Protection Agency's efforts to police the drilling boom, the agency's internal watchdog said in a report released Thursday."

"Sea Shepherd is claiming victory after Japan temporarily suspended its annual whale hunt in the Southern Ocean."

"Court reduces company's maximum fine a week before trial over blowout that dumped millions of gallons of oil into Gulf of Mexico."

Two retired outdoorsmen -- with help from water researchers -- are testing streamwater in western Pennsylvania. They are struggling to get EPA attention to chemicals they fear could be related to the fracking boom.

"This winter, our usually quiet Colorado valley -- so quiet that you can hear the wingbeats of the eagles and ravens that pass overhead -- has reverberated with the growls of trackhoes digging trenches across hillsides and irrigated pastures."

"Super mega dolphin pod, which indulged in a feeding frenzy off the coast of San Diego over the holiday weekend, is only the latest in a recent string of odd behaviors by large creatures of the sea."

"SOUTHERN OCEAN -- The Japanese whaling factory ship Nisshin Maru has collided with two whale conservation vessels and its own refueling tanker in Australia’s Antarctic waters, damaging the other ships. No injuries are reported."

"JUNEAU, Alaska — --The Alaska Senate on Tuesday approved a Parnell administration measure to roll back cruise ship wastewater standards that were approved by voters in 2006. The vote was 14-6."