"West Virginia regulators are going to stop processing surface mining permits that propose to dump waste rock and dirt into streams while they develop new guidelines that force coal operators to reduce water quality impacts downstream from valley fills."

"Patriot Coal will cut in half the length of streams buried by its Hobet 45 mountaintop-removal mine, but still produce nearly the same amount of coal as the company originally hoped, under a deal announced Tuesday by the Obama administration."

After missing the last self-imposed deadline for cleaning up the Chesapeake Bay, mid-Atlantic governors say they are getting serious. Now EPA is taking over an effort the states have failed at.

"Maryland advocates for a ban on a toxic flame retardant that accumulates in the environment and has been linked to cancer and brain development problems intend to pursue an earlier phaseout of the chemical than the timeline currently spelled out in a recent federal agreement."

"A federal appeals court has upheld Maryland's decision to deny a water quality certification for a liquefied natural gas terminal at Baltimore's Sparrows Point."

"Environmental groups gathered along the Delaware River Wednesday to call on the Delaware River Basin Commission to protect the Delaware from toxic chemical contamination related to natural gas drilling."

"A coalition of former governors, congressmen, scientists and others sent the Obama Administration their proposed Chesapeake Bay restoration strategy, a plan much tougher than the one being developed by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency."

"Kiddie Kollege, a day-care center that opened inside a heavily contaminated building in Gloucester County with a fresh coat of paint and little else, is about to be razed, nearly four years after state inspectors discovered the contamination."

"Extremely high, potentially unhealthy levels of lead dust have been found in the Allegheny County Health Department's dilapidated office building in Lawrenceville that houses the Childhood Lead Poisoning Prevention Program."

"Wind turbines can kill a few Indiana bats without endangering the species but the owners must ask for permission first, U.S. District Judge Roger Titus ruled on Dec. 8. Titus blocked construction of 82 turbines in Greenbrier County, W.Va., and restricted 40 turbines already under construction to seasonal operation."

"Nearly 28 years after Congress authorized the Army Corps of Engineers to deepen the Delaware River's main shipping channel, the only thing about the project that has deepened is the controversy."

"Maryland plans to dramatically increase the area of the Chesapeake Bay that is closed to oyster harvests, Gov. Martin O'Malley said Thursday, offering an expanded foothold to an iconic species that has dropped to 1 percent of its peak population."

"Concerns about toxics discharged from an unlined coal ash waste dump in suburban Washington, DC have prompted four environmental groups to give formal notice that they intend to sue Mirant MD Ash Management, LLC and Mirant Mid-Atlantic, LLC Corporation of Atlanta, Georgia for Clean Water Act violations in Maryland."

"A nonprofit organization that monitors the health of the Potomac River said Wednesday that a condition causing abnormalities in fish should serve as an urgent warning to rehabilitate the waterway that provides 90 percent of the D.C. area's drinking water."

"West Virginia political leaders promised Tuesday to speak "with one voice" to clarify the Obama administration's proposals to more strictly regulate mountaintop removal coal mining."