"Already under pressure to curb noxious air pollution, the owner of four coal-fired power plants in Illinois is facing new legal complaints about toxic chemicals and heavy metals leaching from decades-old waste ponds."

"OLYMPIA, Wash. -- The state Supreme Court unanimously ruled Thursday that the state's hazardous substances tax is constitutional."

"BEIJING -- China in recent years established global dominance in renewable energy, its solar panel and wind turbine factories forcing many foreign rivals out of business and its policy makers hailed by environmentalists around the world as visionaries. But now China’s strategy is in disarray. Though worldwide demand for solar panels and wind turbines has grown rapidly over the last five years, China’s manufacturing capacity has soared even faster, creating enormous oversupply and a ferocious price war."

"The first major snowfall of the year and a cold snap set to sweep into the northern Midwest could harm some late-maturing corn and soybeans crops and delay the harvest, an agricultural meteorologist and the National Weather Service said on Thursday."