"The Interior Department is failing to collect tens of millions of dollars in lease payments for coal mining on federal lands, according to an agency inspector general’s report released Tuesday."

"Fears of terrorism have made it harder than ever for citizens to find out what dangerous chemicals lurk in their backyards, The Associated Press has found. Secrecy and shoddy record-keeping have kept the public and emergency workers in the dark about stockpiles of explosive material."

"If four federal agencies closed their doors, would anyone notice?"

"WACO, Texas — Federal agents and the state fire marshal have effectively barred a federal safety panel from the site of a Texas fertilizer plant blast that killed 15 people and injured about 200 others, hampering its investigation, the panel's chairman said."

"If U.S. EPA air chief Gina McCarthy is eventually confirmed as agency administrator, the Office of Air and Radiation will join four other agency offices that have no permanent, Senate-confirmed leaders."

Major news and journalism organizations, including the Society of Environmental Journalists, have condemned the Justice Department's seizure of Associated Press phone records as a threat to journalists' ability to report on government conduct.

"U.S. taxpayers are footing the bill for overseas lobbying that promotes controversial biotech crops developed by U.S.-based Monsanto Co. and other seed makers, a report issued on Tuesday said."

Many Americans still lack clean tap water -- but federal and state governments can't provide it, for a number of reasons.

"Saying she hopes Republicans on the panel will attend, Environment and Public Works Chairwoman Barbara Boxer announced plans for a second attempt to vote on the 'important nomination' of Gina McCarthy to head U.S. EPA."

"For anyone anxious about toxic chemicals in the environment, Sunday marked a dubious milestone."

"OTTAWA — Some federal scientists working at the Department of Fisheries and Oceans may soon gain new freedom to control their research and speak in public, under a tentative deal announced Thursday to transfer management of a world-renowned freshwater research facility that opened in 1968."

"Senator Barbara Boxer said on Tuesday she plans to investigate the explosion at a Texas fertilizer plant earlier this month that killed 15 people and injured scores more."

"A little-noticed change in U.S. EPA air policy has turned a national pollution-monitoring network that has been providing data to researchers for 22 years into a regulatory tool, leaving states scrambling to figure out the implications."

"The Homeland Security Department program charged with the security of chemical facilities like the former West Fertilizer Co. plant has been riddled with problems so severe since its creation five years ago that federal investigators recently wondered publicly 'whether it can achieve its mission, given the challenges the program continues to face.'"

"At a glance, U.S. EPA's plan to cut an $11.5 million grant program in an effort to meet the sequestration mandate doesn't look like much given the agency's $8.5 billion budget. But that's a lot of money to state and local air regulators who have been counting on it."