"BLOOMING GROVE -- On one side of a gravel road in Navarro County, an overgrazed pasture has been cropped to the dirt. Across the road, a surviving patch of Blackland Prairie that has been reseeded with native grasses is covered with a cornucopia of 170 plant species that together comprise prime habitat for bobwhite quail -- if only they could get there."

"AUSTIN -- Exxon Mobil Corp. has reported inadvertent emissions of large amounts of pollutants at its flagship refinery near Houston."

"For decades, cowboys known as 'tick riders' have patrolled the U.S.-Mexico border to prevent cattle carrying 'fever ticks' from entering."

"OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) — High temperatures and an ongoing drought are having an impact on more than just crops and livestock. State health officials say they are also creating ideal conditions for the growth of a tiny, single-cell organism that lives in Oklahoma's rivers, lakes and ponds and can cause a disease that is almost always fatal."

"The Canadian pipeline company TransCanada has quietly begun construction of the southern leg of the controversial Keystone XL pipeline, installing segments near Livingston, Texas, company officials confirmed Thursday."

"The Arizona city already logs more days over 100 degrees than any U.S. city, and climate researchers predict Phoenix will grow hotter still in the coming decades. Planners are taking the projections seriously, and are looking for ways to adapt the city and its residents to a hotter, drier reality."

"DALLAS - Suffering from the nation's deadliest outbreak of West Nile virus this year, Dallas County authorized aerial spraying of insecticide on Friday for the first time in nearly five decades to help fight the mosquito-born illness."

"Faced with a booming population and a disappearing water supply, the city of San Antonio responded by dramatically cutting consumption, pioneering new storage techniques and investing in water recycling and desalination projects. It now boasts that it is 'Water's Most Resourceful City.'"

"FLAGSTAFF, Ariz. -- The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has issued its final rule aimed at cleaning up the largest single source of haze-causing pollutants in the country."

"Work was scarce for architect David Mullican and many Galveston Island builders after hurricane Ike. As damages were assessed, insurance claims disputed and homes were repaired piecemeal, Mullican was out of work for more than a year."

"OKLAHOMA CITY -- Some Oklahoma residents have returned to emergency shelters despite evacuation orders in many areas of the state being lifted, as wildfires continued to burn."

"OKLAHOMA CITY -- More than 64 temperature records were broken in Oklahoma during a scorching July, and additional ones fell across the state Wednesday on the first day of August, according to the National Climatic Data Center."

"GALVESTON - With the world focused on a BP rig explosion in the spring of 2010 that caused the worst oil spill in U.S. history, a massive release of pollutants from the company's Texas City refinery went largely unnoticed."

"PRAGUE, Okla. -- Jerri Loveland sees a connection between the oil drilling that surrounds her home and the earthquake last November that upended her life."

"Flares, leaking pipelines and tanks emitted 92,000 tons of toxic chemicals into the air during accidents, break-downs and maintenance at Texas oil and gas facilities, refineries and petrochemical plants over the past three years, finds a report released today by the nonprofit Environmental Integrity Project, EIP."