"Developing countries are standing their ground against demands by rich nations to add steps to curb carbon emissions into a formal registry or appendix as part a broader pact to fight climate change." Hopes dim for nations to reach a climate pact in Copenhagen in December.

"Solar panels are expensive and increasingly in demand. And now, many communities are learning of their solar array's value the hard way – they're being stolen."

"Half a century after Pacific walruses began recovering from industrial-scale hunting, marine biologists are growing worried that they face a mounting threat from global warming."

"Just a few years ago, king salmon played an outsize role in villages along the Yukon River....But this year, a total ban on commercial fishing for king salmon on the river in Alaska has strained poor communities and stripped the prized Yukon fish off menus in the lower 48 states."

"As kids, many of us come to see snakes as frightening, evil creatures. In some places, that ingrained fear has taken a toll on the snake population. ... Some folks ... are trying to improve one snake's image - before it disappears."

"The Obama administration on Wednesday moved to curtail the practice of mountaintop mining to extract coal, angering mining companies that said the move threatens thousands of jobs."

"In 2004, CDC scientists published a reassuring report about lead contamination in Washington’s water even though they knew that thousands of blood lead measurements had been lost. Now Congress wants to know why."

"Dozens of red flags suggest that a wide range of pollutants are playing a role in millions of birth defects that strike worldwide every year. But little is being done to understand or control exposures."

"U.S. Conference of Mayors President Seattle Mayor Greg Nickels says that by Friday, 1,000 mayors, representing 85 million Americans, will have signed the U.S. Conference of Mayors' Climate Protection Agreement."

General Electric is the latest company to complain about the policies of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce in opposition to climate change legislation. “The Chamber does not speak for us on climate legislation, but we are still a member,” said GE spokesman Peter O'Toole.

"HONG KONG -- Companies that import solar panels to the United States are facing up to $70 million in unexpected tariffs."

"The natural gas industry is moving to disclose information about chemicals used in controversial extraction technologies in the wake of spills at drilling sites in Pennsylvania and as New York is proposing new regulations."

"WEST PALM BEACH -- The city's sewage treatment plant has pumped untold millions of gallons of poorly treated wastewater onto wetlands adjacent to wells used to supplement the city's drinking water supply. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has cited the city with 117 pollution violations."

Missouri "allowed tourists at the Lake of the Ozarks to swim in waters that officials knew were infested with harmful E. coli bacteria for two weeks at the beginning of the summer tourist season, Gov. Jay Nixon said Wednesday."

"After months of deliberations, state environmental regulators on Wednesday released long-awaited rules governing natural gas production in upstate New York, including provisions to oversee drilling operations near New York City’s water supplies."