"AUSTIN, TEXAS — More than three decades ago, after an energy crisis that gripped the world, a Catholic priest in the Texas city of Lubbock took a stand for the environment. His congregation needed a new church. So the priest, the Rev. Joe James, anchored the building deep in the earth to optimize insulation. He also ordered five wind turbines for the church grounds. The largest was called Big Bird, because it stood 80 feet tall."

"BILLINGS, Mont. -- Environmental groups filed a federal lawsuit Wednesday against the owners of Montana's massive Colstrip coal-fired power plant, seeking to force the installation of more pollution controls at the decades-old facility."

"New York’s Assembly approved a two- year ban on the natural-gas drilling method known as fracking, after two previous attempts to block the practice failed and with the state Senate taking a different approach."

"RICHMOND -- The Environmental Protection Agency will not appeal a federal district court’s ruling declaring it is illegal for the EPA to regulate storm water as a pollutant as it flows into Virginia waterways."

"Report says toxic waste is being spread by scrap metal dealers, and describes its 'alarming' use in civilian areas during Iraq wars."

"Environmental groups and wildlife lovers near Joshua Tree National Park on Monday applauded a proposed state law that would ban trapping of bobcats for commercial purposes."

"ATLANTA, Ga. -- Drug-resistant germs called carbapenem-resistant Enterobacteriaceae, or CRE, are on the rise and have become more resistant to last-resort antibiotics over the past decade, warns a new report from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention."

"A deadly late winter storm dumped heavy snow on the Midwestern United States on Tuesday, contributing to numerous automobile accidents on highways and flight cancellations as it moved east toward the Ohio Valley and the mid-Atlantic states."

In Fort Collins, Colorado, where the oil and gas industry is fighting a municipal ban on fracking, Coloradoan reporter Bobby Magill discovered that the state oil and gas association had forged some two-thirds of the "business" signatures on a petition to the city council.

"California wildlife officials have adopted new rules aimed at protecting the public from mountain lions without resorting to killing so many of the big cats so often when they roam near humans, pets or livestock."

"Permafrost—the ground that stays frozen for two or more consecutive years—is a ticking time bomb of climate change. Some 24 percent of Northern Hemisphere land is permafrost. That's 9 million square miles (23 million square kilometers) found mostly in Siberia, the Tibetan Plateau, Alaska, the Canadian Arctic, and other higher mountain regions."

Tens of thousands of fishermen and activists have written the Food and Drug Administration, which is considering approving genetically engineered salmon as food. They worry the giant fish could escape into the wild and interbreed with natural salmon.

"Oil analysts don't expect sudden changes in Venezuela oil policies after Hugo Chavez's death. But political change in post-Chavez Venezuela could open its oil industry to much wider foreign investment."

"US officials have been fighting to stop a $7.5 billion gas pipeline that would transport natural gas between Iran and Pakistan."

"RICHLAND, Wash. -- Washington's governor prepared to travel to the nation's most contaminated nuclear site to learn more about leaking radioactive waste tanks there Wednesday, a day after federal officials acknowledged budget cuts may disrupt efforts to empty the aging vessels."