"MEXICO CITY -- The number of Monarch butterflies making it to their winter refuge in Mexico dropped 59 percent this year, falling to the lowest level since comparable record-keeping began 20 years ago, scientists reported Wednesday."

"When Uranium Energy Corp. sought permission to launch a large-scale mining project in Goliad County, Texas, it seemed as if the Environmental Protection Agency would stand in its way. To get the ore out of the ground, the company needed a permit to pollute a pristine supply of underground drinking water in an area already parched by drought."

After CDC researchers confirmed that dengue fever had returned to the U.S., a Key West health officer said no new cases had been reported since October 2010.

"The rotting bodies of about 6,000 pigs in a river that supplies tap water to Shanghai has drawn attention to an ugly truth -- China's pig farms are often riddled with disease and one way or another, sick animals often end up in the food chain."

"Hulking, pitch-black mounds resembling coal have grown exponentially in the last week along the banks of the Detroit River in southwest Detroit, prompting concern about potential pollution from residents and legislators on both sides of the river."

"Republican lawmakers pressed President Barack Obama on the Keystone XL pipeline in a meeting on Wednesday. Initial reports suggested Obama would approve the pipeline, but he did not offer a definitive answer."

"Rep. Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) on Tuesday released his budget proposal calling for approval of the Keystone XL pipeline and slashing the discretionary spending that helps protect Americans from climate-related threats."

"Key weather and climate satellites would get a boost under a new Senate spending proposal."

"Within weeks of setting off a geiger counter and scrubbing three layers of skin off his hands and arms, former Navy quartermaster Maurice Enis recalled being pressured to sign away U.S. government liability for any future health problems."

Japan has successfully extracted natural gas from methane hydrates ("fire ice") 1,000 feet below the seabed.

The white-nose syndrome fungus that is killing bats in their caves has now spread to 22 U.S. states and 5 Canadian provinces.

"Two advocacy groups have come up with a new tactic to show how climate change—and laws to deal with it—could make investments in fossil fuel companies riskier and rock financial markets."

"State Department assessment focused on market response to rejection, rather than the climate impact and environmental cost of a pipeline approval."

"BANGKOK -- Governments [Tuesday] extended greater protection to endangered rhinoceroses that are being slaughtered for their horns, which already are subject to an international trade ban. A record 668 South African rhinos were killed by poachers last year, and nearly 150 have died in 2013."

"Makers of the specialty cocktails used to crack open the Earth and set loose gobs of oil and gas are sparring once again on behalf of their corner of the energy industry."