An abandoned river -- the Trinity -- runs through Dallas. Storms wash old industrial poisons into it via ditches. As poisons accumulated in its sediments, fish became dangerous to eat. "So people stayed away, and over time, it no longer mattered which came first -- the toxic fish or the abandoned river."

"Thirty years ago today, an earthen tailings dam near the United Nuclear Corp. Church Rock Uranium mine collapsed, spilling ninety million gallons of liquid radioactive waste and eleven hundred tons of solid mill wastes into the Rio Puerco. The spill contaminated water, land and air at least 50 miles downstream on Navajo Nation land in New Mexico and Arizona."

"TUCSON, Ariz. (AP) -- Long dependent on wellwater and supplies sent hundreds of miles by canal from the Colorado River, this desert city will soon harvest some of its 12 inches of annual rainfall to help bolster its water resources."

Residents say goodbye to Picher, Oklahoma, a town undermined and polluted by mining operations.

Navajo people are fighting the return of uranium mining they say threatens to despoil their lands and health.

"The federal government plans to spend up to $3 million a year to demolish and rebuild uranium-contaminated structures across the Navajo Nation, where Cold War-era mining of the radioactive substance left a legacy of disease and death."

Drought is driving some people in the Navajo Nation to drink water that is contaminated with uranium and other contaminants.

Scientists in the Houston area are focusing research on the flare stacks at its hundreds of petrochemical plants -- which may be a major overlooked cause of smog.

A Texas state senator is seeking documents on meetings between Texas Commission on Environmental Quality Chairman H.S. Buddy Garcia and a lobbyist for Asarco as he was preparing to approve its application to reopen a smelter.

EPA said it would announce its decision Thursday on Texas' request for an ethanol waiver.