"The chief of the Army Corps of Engineers on Tuesday approved a $2.9 billion plan to restore wetlands destroyed by construction of the Mississippi River-Gulf Outlet. But the corps continues to demand that

"Fixing the botched repairs at the Crystal River nuclear plant north of Tampa Bay could cost nearly $3.5 billion and take eight years, in a worst-case scenario."

"In the aftermath of Memphis' smoggiest summer in years, local efforts to control air pollution have been thrown into disarray by the city's decision to withdraw funds for vehicle emissions testing and a Shelby County Commission squabble over plans for a new monitoring station."

"SAPELO ISLAND, Ga. -- Once the huge property tax bills started coming, telephones started ringing. It did not take long for the 50 or so people who live on this largely undeveloped barrier island to realize that life was about to get worse. Sapelo Island, a tangle of salt marsh and sand reachable only by boat, holds the largest community of people who identify themselves as saltwater Geechees. Sometimes called the Gullahs, they have inhabited the nation’s southeast coast for more than two centuries. Theirs is one of the most fragile cultures in America."

"LEXINGTON, Ky. -- Officials have canceled a proposal for commercial logging in the Daniel Boone National Forest in Rockcastle County that had caused concern about the potential impact on a pristine spring and trees hundreds of years old."

"The governor declines to declare that one exists. Critics say it's all about business."

"CLARKSVILLE, Tenn. -- Conservationists have built an artificial bat cave deep in the Tennessee woods to see if it can be a blueprint for saving bats who are dying by the millions from a fungus spreading across North America."

"More than 191,000 gallons of toxic chemicals may have been released from the Stolthaven New Orleans petroleum and chemical storage and transfer terminal in Braithwaite during Hurricane Isaac, according to a company report filed Tuesday with the U.S. Coast Guard National Response Center. That's just one day after the Louisiana Department of Environmental Qualty assured the public that monitoring at the facility detected no offsite contamination."

"Aging boomers pop more pills to keep fit. Farmers feed more antibiotics and hormones to fatten livestock. Adults and children use exotic shampoos and conditioners to make their hair shiny. Most of these drugs and personal-care chemicals wind up down the drain, into sewage, land-applied sludge, reclaimed water and ultimately the Indian River Lagoon, St. Johns River and other waters."

"It's been seven years since a poisonous cloud spread across tiny Graniteville, S.C., after a deadly train wreck rocked the gritty textile community. And since that tragic morning in January 2005, a group of researchers has been tracking the lingering effects of chlorine on the public health."

"Climate change may be the subject of debate in some places but in South Florida it’s become a costly reality."

"In Miami Beach, where prolonged flooding in low-lying neighborhoods has become the norm after heavy storms, city leaders are weighing a $206 million overhaul of an antiquated drainage system increasingly compromised by rising sea level.

"LOUISVILLE, Ky. — The sooty-looking black gunk has been here for as long as anyone can remember, creeping on the outside of homes, spreading over porch furniture, blanketing car roofs, mysterious and ever-present."

"The National Hurricane Center has placed the New Orleans area under a hurricane watch for Isaac, which is now forecast to make landfall at Gulfport on Wednesday at 7 a.m.  as a Category 2 hurricane with sustained winds of 105 mph. The new forecast extends the hurricane watch area westward to Morgan City.

"The fallout has begun just one day after a federal appeals court scrapped a major EPA rule designed to curb long-distance drifting power plant pollution -- and Louisville's air quality may pay the price."

"In a lawsuit filed in federal district court, the North Carolina Environmental Justice Network, the Waterkeeper Alliance and Neuse Riverkeeper Foundation accuse a Jones County hog farmer of illegally disposing of and discharging animal waste into creeks, rivers, ditches and lands surrounding the farm."