SE (AL AR FL GA KY LA MS NC PR SC TN)

"A new study for the federal Minerals Management Service concludes that the construction of pipelines related to oil and gas production in the Outer Continental Shelf of the Gulf of Mexico 'can cause locally intense habitat changes, thereby contributing to the loss of critically important land and wetland areas.'"

"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."

"Water managers, environmental agencies and conservation groups have been talking about cleaning up Lake Okeechobee for decades. The water quality has only gotten worse. Much worse."

"The record rains of the past few days flooded out sewage treatment plants in Fulton, Cobb and Gwinnett counties [GA], dumping millions of gallons of untreated sewage into local waterways."

Residents in Georgia and Alabama returned to waterlogged homes after flooding caused by torrential rains caused at least nine deaths.

"As a species, the endangered Florida panther needs about 4,860 square miles in southern Florida to be protected as critical habitat to save the animal from extinction and recover the species, according to a new scientific petition submitted to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service by three nonprofit organizations."

"Alabama is fighting an invasive weed, 'the killer weed, the nearly indestructible weed,' cogongrass."

"The Tennessee Valley Authority said Monday that it would spend $43 million on economic development projects in Roane County, Tenn., the site of a huge coal ash spill at one of the authority’s power plants last December."

"The Gulf of Mexico opened to industrial-size fish farms Thursday after federal regulators declined to oppose the plan."

"They are not cute and cuddly, but the smalltooth sawfish is getting more federal protection in Southwest Florida waters."