"In its most frank assessment since last year’s leak at Freedom Industries, the Tomblin administration said Friday that West Virginia had inadequate environmental regulations to prevent such an incident and lacked sufficient training and planning to respond once toxic chemicals had contaminated the Kanawha Valley’s regional water supply."
"Groups that support teaching students about the evidence showing that humans are contributing to a global rise in temperatures are speaking out against West Virginia’s changes to the state’s new K-12 science education standards."
"A new state report details troubling mining legacies in 10 Pennsylvania counties, including Elk, raising questions about the true cost of coal for those communities as new, more modern forms of energy development begin to take root."
"CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. – Gabriele Rausse tends to grape vines that are thriving on the same high slope where Thomas Jefferson tried, and failed, to launch a Virginia wine industry more than 200 years ago."
"Federal prosecutors charged Freedom Industries and six of its owners, managers and employees with criminal violations of the Clean Water Act related to the January 2014 chemical leak that contaminated the drinking water of 300,000 people in Charleston and surrounding communities."
"More than 16,000 miles of Virginia rivers are polluted, a new report shows. That’s up nearly 3,000 miles from the previous report two years ago."
"While the Obama administration is touting Virginia's pollution trading program as an 'innovative market-based approach' to cleaning up the Chesapeake Bay, Maryland's trading effort remains stuck in limbo after years of study and debate."
"When Maryland Gov. Martin O’Malley (D) hits his last few days in office next month, he plans to enact dramatic new regulations for farmers who use chicken droppings to fertilize their fields."
"With ocean policymakers mulling new protections for deep-sea canyons off the East Coast, a new report portrays them as vulnerable "treasure troves" of marine life at risk from fishing trawlers."
