"The cap-and-trade system will limit emissions from 600 major industrial plants in the state, starting in 2012. Firms could buy pollution offsets from timber companies that preserve carbon in forests."

"The Department of Interior has identified some two dozen potential sites for large-scale solar power installations on public lands in six Western states as part of an effort to encourage development of renewable energy on public lands and waters."

A yearlong Pittsburgh Post-Gazette investigation has shown that persistent air pollution in southwestern Pennsylvania is linked to higher incidence of killers like heart disease, respiratory disease, and lung cancer in hundreds of communities.

"The United States is too reliant on China for minerals crucial to new clean energy technologies, making the American economy vulnerable to shortages of materials needed for a range of green products — from compact fluorescent light bulbs to electric cars to giant wind turbines."