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

"U.S. EPA closed a 14-year-old civil rights complaint against a landfill in a predominantly black community in Alabama last month, telling a federal court that legal challenges over its slow response to the case are moot."

"Problems continue to mount for the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico. To high unemployment, a lagging economy and billions in public debt, add unsafe drinking water to the island's list of woes. A new study by the Natural Resources Defense Council says nearly all of the tap water available on the island violates federal safety standards."

"The state’s new Democratic governor vetoed a bill to limit plaintiff compensation in CAFO nuisance lawsuits, though the Republican-dominated legislature could overturn the veto as early as this week."

"A wildfire in Georgia's Okefenokee National Wildlife Refuge has forced dozens of nearby residents to leave their homes, authorities said on Sunday, adding the blaze might not be fully contained for months."

"The most biologically diverse waterway in America is in bad shape. The Indian River Lagoon is repeatedly being choked with oxygen-robbing algae, its surface increasingly dotted with thousands of dead fish, manatees, birds and other creatures."

"MIAMI — One of the first sea-level rise maps Broadway Harewood saw was a few years back, when climate activists gathered in his neighborhood to talk about how global warming would affect people in less-affluent South Florida communities."

"A wildfire that has burned more than 100,000 acres (40,469 hectares) at the Okefenokee National Wildlife Refuge in southern Georgia could take until November before it is put out, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service said on Monday."

"WINDSOR -- Air whistled through the kitchen faucet when Earldell Trowell turned on the tap one morning last summer. On July 4, one of the hottest days of the year, she had no water."

"Eric Newman speeds through the maze of bayous at the Mississippi River's mouth with the confidence of someone who's done this for decades. He points to prime spots to catch redfish, where crabbers go for blues and the grassy channel where his grandfather had a fishing camp. Suddenly, he slows his boat."