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"Running out of room to dump coal waste and facing thousands of dollars in fines over blowing ash, Louisville Gas and Electric Co. on Monday said it plans to shut down its Cane Run power plant in May 2015, eight months earlier than expected, to replace it with a natural-gas fired plant."

"Four environmental groups have asked North Carolina’s Environmental Management Commission for a ruling that would force Duke Energy to clean up groundwater contamination near ash ponds at 14 coal-fired power plants."

"Officials in Temple Terrace, Fla., are cautioning residents that heavy rains have brought out the toxic, invasive Bufo marinus toad, a huge amphibian that secretes a toxin powerful enough to kill unsuspecting dogs, cats and other animals."

"A high-profile Kentucky environmental enforcement action involving hundreds of alleged clean-water violations at dozens of mining operations in Eastern Kentucky apparently is coming to a close."

"The chief of the Army Corps of Engineers on Tuesday approved a $2.9 billion plan to restore wetlands destroyed by construction of the Mississippi River-Gulf Outlet. But the corps continues to demand that

"Fixing the botched repairs at the Crystal River nuclear plant north of Tampa Bay could cost nearly $3.5 billion and take eight years, in a worst-case scenario."

"In the aftermath of Memphis' smoggiest summer in years, local efforts to control air pollution have been thrown into disarray by the city's decision to withdraw funds for vehicle emissions testing and a Shelby County Commission squabble over plans for a new monitoring station."

"SAPELO ISLAND, Ga. -- Once the huge property tax bills started coming, telephones started ringing. It did not take long for the 50 or so people who live on this largely undeveloped barrier island to realize that life was about to get worse. Sapelo Island, a tangle of salt marsh and sand reachable only by boat, holds the largest community of people who identify themselves as saltwater Geechees. Sometimes called the Gullahs, they have inhabited the nation’s southeast coast for more than two centuries. Theirs is one of the most fragile cultures in America."

"LEXINGTON, Ky. -- Officials have canceled a proposal for commercial logging in the Daniel Boone National Forest in Rockcastle County that had caused concern about the potential impact on a pristine spring and trees hundreds of years old."

"CLARKSVILLE, Tenn. -- Conservationists have built an artificial bat cave deep in the Tennessee woods to see if it can be a blueprint for saving bats who are dying by the millions from a fungus spreading across North America."