"Two out of every three times oil and gas companies have publicly disclosed the chemicals in their hydraulic fracturing fluid, they've left something out."

The biosafety level 3 facility on Plum Island in Long Island Sound has been converted from biowarfare to studying animal diseases, harmless to humans, that could come into the U.S. from abroad. Some of those diseases could devastate U.S. flocks or herds. The secrecy and message-control surrounding the facility is intense. But is the secrecy meant to protect the U.S. public or to protect the financial interests of the agriculture industry?

"As part of his work as a community organizer for environmental causes, Juan Parras takes photos of refineries and petrochemical plants near the Houston Ship Channel. Sometimes, he says he’s made to feel like a criminal for doing it."

Dave Fehling reports for State Impact Texas/NPR September 24, 2012.

"Brace yourself for some shocking news: a new study on Friday found that the two major publications of Rupert Murdoch's News Corporation greatly mislead their audiences about climate change. The Union of Concerned Scientists combed six months of Fox News broadcasting and a year's worth of Wall Street Journal editorial pages for mentions of the science of 'climate change' and 'global warming,' then compared each claim to 'mainstream scientific understanding' of the topic at hand." They found 93% of the statements on Fox News were misleading and 81% of the statements on the Wall St. Journal's opionion pages were misleading.

"The drought of 2012, which continues to spread westward, is making its mark on the national consciousness in many ways. Rising food prices. Interrupted livelihoods. Fields of stunted, desiccated crops. All of this dryness has resonance in our video culture. Just go to YouTube and look at the proliferation of public service announcements on water conservation."

"Speaking truth to power is never easy. In some places, particularly where valuable resources are pursued in places with limited governance, it can be deadly."

"ALBANY, N.Y. — An environmental group is suing the Cuomo administration over public records pertaining to the state's communications with energy industry interests hoping to drill for shale gas in New York using hydraulic fracturing."

Appearance trumps reality in campaign ads as the GOP's war on the "war on coal" heats up.

"A recent report from 'PBS NewsHour' on climate change has drawn sharp criticism from climate groups that feel it provides a false sense of debate around the facts of climate change."

"The segment, which aired on September 16, features interviews with 'converted skeptic' and University of California, Berkeley professor Richard Muller, along with climate skeptic Anthony Watts, a retired meteorologist.

Federal and state health officials say that pesticide spraying for adult mosquitoes has reduced risk of West Nile virus by killing specific percentages of mosquitoes. When confronted with Freedom of Information Act requests for the data to back up those claims, they do not seem to be able to find any.

"In a letter submitted Friday afternoon to internal investigators at the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, a whistleblower engineer within the agency accused regulators of deliberately covering up information relating to the vulnerability of U.S. nuclear power facilities that sit downstream from large dams and reservoirs."

"The letter also accuses the agency of failing to act to correct these vulnerabilities despite being aware of the risks for years.

"The current poster child for global warming is a polar bear, sitting on a melting iceberg. Some health officials argue the symbol should, instead, be a child."

"Organizers of the Kansas State Fair can restrict the display of an animal rights group's video that shows animal slaughter at its annual agricultural event, a federal judge ruled on Tuesday."

"The numbers released quietly by the federal government this year were alarming. A ferocious germ resistant to many types of antibiotics had increased tenfold on chicken breasts, the most commonly eaten meat on the nation’s dinner tables. But instead of a learning from a broad national inquiry into a troubling trend, scientists said they were stymied by a lack of the most basic element of research: solid data."

"Two newspapers produced excellent series in August that scrutinized climate crises related to having too little water, and too much, in their respective regions. The Kansas City Star took on the toll of the severe drought afflicting the Great Plains, while The News Journal in Wilmington, DE, examined impacts of sea-level rise in the Mid-Atlantic. The series share many admirable characteristics. In fact, both opened with the same characterization of a creeping but inexorable dilemma."