"North of Gainesville, a church camp once attracted thousands of visitors because it was built around the gushing waters of Hornsby Springs. Then the spring stopped flowing and the camp had to spend more than $1 million to build a water park to replace it. The old spring site is now so stagnant that it's frequently declared unfit for humans to swim in."

"LAKE WYLIE, N.C. -- For more than a year, one Charlotte environmental group has warned of what could happen if coal ash ponds leak into local lakes. Now, they say, it’s happening."

"[North Carolina] State legislators last summer ignored research that shows sea-level rise will accelerate its creep up North Carolina’s coastline this century. This week, waves of science will say they were wrong."

"Running out of room to dump coal waste and facing thousands of dollars in fines over blowing ash, Louisville Gas and Electric Co. on Monday said it plans to shut down its Cane Run power plant in May 2015, eight months earlier than expected, to replace it with a natural-gas fired plant."

"A Duke University-led study of coal ash contaminants, published Monday, found high levels of toxic arsenic in Mountain Island Lake."

Residents of a neighborhood just east of Hialeah have been experiencing cancer and asthma in what they see as unusual amounts. They live in an area with many industries that pollute with toxic dust and chemicals. Those companies often flout enforcement efforts by the county.

"Four environmental groups have asked North Carolina’s Environmental Management Commission for a ruling that would force Duke Energy to clean up groundwater contamination near ash ponds at 14 coal-fired power plants."

"Officials in Temple Terrace, Fla., are cautioning residents that heavy rains have brought out the toxic, invasive Bufo marinus toad, a huge amphibian that secretes a toxin powerful enough to kill unsuspecting dogs, cats and other animals."

"A high-profile Kentucky environmental enforcement action involving hundreds of alleged clean-water violations at dozens of mining operations in Eastern Kentucky apparently is coming to a close."

"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."