"If taxpayers end up paying only 1 percent of the cost of cleaning up PCB contamination in the Fox River, that could be between $10 million and $15 million. If the taxpayer obligation reaches 10 percent, the figure becomes $100 million or more."

Residents of Treece, Kansas, try to go forward as they wait for buyouts at a Superfund site created by years of lead and zinc mining.

"Global warming is now officially considered a threat to U.S. national security. For the first time, Pentagon planners in 2010 will include climate change among the security threats identified in the Quadrennial Defense Review, the Congress-mandated report that updates Pentagon priorities every four years."

"The Department of the Interior will undertake an experimental initiative to improve the management of Glen Canyon Dam and the Colorado River as it flows through Grand Canyon National Park, Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar announced Thursday during the Colorado River Water Users Association conference."

"Negotiations at the UN climate summit have been suspended after developing countries withdrew their co-operation."

"Millions of households across America are taking a first step into the world of the 'smart grid,' as their power companies install meters that can tell them how much electricity they are using hour by hour -- and sometimes, appliance by appliance. But not everyone is happy about it."

"Mercury exposure in the United States increases with age, then starts tapering off when people turn 50, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention found in a study released today."

"Architects of Senate energy and climate legislation reiterated their support for nuclear power and offshore drilling yesterday in an effort to garner the support of moderate Democrats and Republicans."

"As a result of the largest environmental bankruptcy in U.S. history, $1.79 billion has been paid to fund environmental cleanup and restoration under a bankruptcy reorganization of American Smelting and Refining Company, ASARCO, federal officials announced today."

"TORONTO - A Mexican man who strongly opposed the presence of a Canadian company in his hometown felt sure his activism would lead to his murder but was willing to pay that price to protest what he regarded to be human rights abuses, friends said Thursday."

"The first official draft blueprint for a deal at the UN climate talks sees targets of limiting global warming to 1.5 or 2.0 degrees Celsius (2.7 or 3.6 degrees Fahrenheit), according to a document seen by AFP on Friday."

"The owner of the highly polluted Kin-Buc Landfill in Edison has agreed to make the largest environmental clean-up contribution in the United States, $1.79 billion, as part of a bankruptcy settlement."

"The Bureau of Reclamation wants to use an experimental biological pesticide to control invasive mussels that are interfering with dam and hydropower operations that supply electricity and drinking water to millions of people across the Southwest."

"Nearly 130 scientists today asked the Interior Department to change a policy set under the Bush administration guiding how agencies decide whether a species is endangered."

"Wind turbines can kill a few Indiana bats without endangering the species but the owners must ask for permission first, U.S. District Judge Roger Titus ruled on Dec. 8. Titus blocked construction of 82 turbines in Greenbrier County, W.Va., and restricted 40 turbines already under construction to seasonal operation."