"A judge has ordered Chevron Corp. to stop work on its controversial oil refinery expansion in Richmond, [Calif.], handing environmentalists their biggest victory in a long fight over the project."

"West Virginia regulators and coal operators have not properly implemented state rules meant to keep strip mining from contributing to flooding during heavy rains over narrow mountain hollows, according to a new federal report."

The state budget crisis has caused the Massachusetts legislature to eliminate all funding for the state's Toxics Use Reduction Institute.

"When you hear about dead zones in the Gulf of Mexico and the Great Lakes, they’re largely caused by pollution draining from the farm belt. It can take a long time and a lot of money to reduce pollution at factories. So they’re starting to pay farmers to cut pollution instead."

"Advocates and U.S. government agree to list the gray wolf as "threatened" in Minnesota and to put ones in Wisconsin and Michigan on the endangered list."

"The American chestnut tree, which towered over eastern U.S. forests before succumbing to a deadly fungus in the early 20th century, appears to be an excellent sponge for greenhouse gases, according to a new study."

The offshore wind farms that were to replace Germany's nuclear and coal-fired power plants aren’t coming online quickly enough.

"The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency announced Wednesday a proposed settlement of a lawsuit that could result in scrutiny of how dozens of dangerous pesticides affect threatened and endangered species living around San Francisco Bay."

"A federal judge sided with environmentalists yesterday and threw out Bush-era Forest Service regulations that govern management plans for national forests."

"A unique partnership between University of Vermont researchers and a federal farm program is providing time and space for grassland songbirds to reproduce on land where their nests usually are destroyed by haying."

"People in North Texas worry about tornadoes, not earthquakes. That's not the case in the small town of Cleburne, just south of Fort Worth. They've had six quakes so far this month. Cleburne happens to sit on a huge, recently discovered natural gas deposit called Barnett Shale. There's been a lot of drilling, and some people wonder if that has triggered the earthquakes."

"Two of Florida's top politicians are pushing state and federal regulators to approve a taxpayer-funded breakwater that would slow down, but not stop, erosion threatening expensive Palm Beach County condos. But biologists fear the breakwater will block sea turtles from one of the most important nesting beaches in the state."

"The Environmental Protection Agency is proposing tougher rules to reduce air pollution from large oceangoing ships, including oil tankers and cargo vessels."

If the United States wants to build a market-based approach to reducing carbon dioxide emissions, it should learn from Europe's failures.

"California officials said Wednesday they are trying to avert the federal government's threat to seize six parks that could be closed to help reduce the state's ballooning budget deficit."