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"Federal biologists will consider increasing Endangered Species Act protections for the northern spotted owl, reflecting the bird’s continued slide toward extinction despite steep logging cutbacks in the Northwest. The United States Fish and Wildlife Service said Wednesday that there was enough new information in a conservation group’s petition to warrant looking at changing the owl’s listing from threatened to endangered."

"The glaciers of the Canadian West could shrink by 70 percent by 2100, according to new research that has implications for predicting glacier loss around the world."

"Radon levels in buildings near unconventional natural gas development in Pennsylvania are higher than those in other areas of the state, suggesting that hydraulic fracturing has opened up new pathways for the carcinogenic gas to enter people’s homes, according to a study published on Thursday. Radon is the second leading cause of lung cancer worldwide."

"Pacific Gas & Electric Corp must pay a record $1.6 billion in penalties stemming from a natural gas pipeline explosion in 2010 that killed eight people near San Francisco, California's chief utility regulator ordered on Thursday."

A recent Gallup public opinion Poll suggests Americans are less concerned about the environment than they have been in two decades. Does that mean environmental journalism has failed?

Republicans, who have as a political party denied the overwhelming consensus science on climate change, may face political consequences in future elections.

"An influential European scientific body said on Wednesday that a group of pesticides believed to contribute to mass deaths of honeybees is probably more damaging to ecosystems than previously thought and questioned whether the substances had a place in sustainable agriculture."

"For 6 million years, the Colorado River has gathered fresh snowmelt high in the Rocky Mountains and carried that water south for 1,450 miles (2,300 kilometers). It travels over falls and rapids, through deserts and canyons, all the while providing water to 35 million people and thousands of acres of farmland. But today the river is at risk."

"Despite a surge in oil tank car blasts, Obama stops short of strict regulatory action demanded by trackside residents".

"Even U.S. EPA's fiercest foes on Capitol Hill sometimes come calling for favors." Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, an implacable enemy of EPA's regulatory efforts, asks EPA to smile upon cleanup grants for his state. He is not alone.