"WEST UNION, W.Va. -- A spill upstream of the town of West Union during the summer has revealed a gap in the system for notifying drinking water systems of possible contamination."

"Federal officials said Wednesday they have given marching orders to Maryland and other states that drain into the Chesapeake Bay to come up with detailed plans for reducing pollution plaguing the estuary, warning that states face development shutdowns or other as-yet unstated consequences if the water fails to get cleaner."

"Nearly two-thirds of the coal-ash dams across West Virginia might need repairs, and a quarter of them are ranked as being in poor or unsatisfactory condition, according to a report released Thursday by the state Department of Environmental Protection."

"A massive fish kill at the 38 mile long Dunkard Creek on the West Virginia–Pennsylvania border has scientists and regulators wondering what went wrong. All signs point to the toxic golden algae but some say it was the polluted creek, with high levels of chloride, which provided ripe conditions for the fish kill."

Gas drilling in the Marcellus Shale formation of Pennsylvania is bringing an economic boom there -- even as oil and gas drilling has fallen dramatically nationwide. But the gas is tax-exempt in Pennsylvania.

"Last call for the Maryland darter. The elusive little fish, one of the rarest in the world, hasn't been seen in 21 years. Now, government and university biologists are teaming up for one more, perhaps final search for it...."

"A proposed coal-fired power plant in Surry County (Va.) would add 'significant and harmful' amounts of mercury and other pollutants to the Chesapeake Bay and several river systems in coastal Virginia already suffering from excessive mercury levels, a study released Wednesday concludes."

"Sen. Robert C. Byrd on Wednesday blasted Massey Energy for what he called 'disregard for human life and safety,' following the company's refusal to help fund a new school so Marsh Fork Elementary students could move away from a Massy coal processing plant and slurry impoundment."

"Hampton Roads Sanitation District, based in Virginia Beach, has agreed to pay a $900,000 civil fine and to take action to reduce alleged sanitary sewer overflows from its collection system and nine sewage treatment plants that have polluted the Chesapeake Bay and its tributaries."

"A federal judge on Monday dismissed most of a lawsuit filed against chemical giant DuPont Co. by Parkersburg (W.Va.) residents over the pollution of their city's water with the toxic chemical C8."

"Philadelphia Has Announced a $1.6 Billion Plan To Transform the City Over the Next 20 Years by Embracing Its Storm Water - Instead of Hustling It Down Sewers and Into Rivers as Fast as Possible."

"Three weeks ago, fish started dying in Dunkard Creek, a scenic stream that winds along the West Virginia-Pennsylvania border in Monongalia County."

Constellation Energy's proposed Calvert Cliffs 3 plant in Maryland, long a poster child of the industry's hoped-for "nuclear renaissance," faces some doubts at the Maryland State Public Service Commission.

"A file cabinet at the Patuxent Wildlife Research Center in Maryland holds some of the center’s six million bird-migration observation cards dating back to the late 1800s. The hand-written cards contain data about sightings of birds such as the ruby-throated hummingbird, often spotted in the 1930s when fruit trees bloomed in spring. Now being digitized, data from these cards will be stored on a U.S. Geological Survey database."

"The federal government said Thursday that it would seek an unprecedented role as the environmental police of the Chesapeake Bay -- enforcing new rules on farmers and keeping a closer eye on state-level bureaucrats -- in an effort to halt the estuary's long decline."