"Wild rice is sacred to the Ojibwe of Minnesota, but that may not be enough to protect it from the promise of jobs that a new copper-nickel mining industry would bring to the state."

"With the Obama administration moving to impose tougher limits on toxic air pollution as well as emissions that lead to smog and acid rain, it's betting the private sector can add a new technology to the utility industry's arsenal."

"The federal Environmental Protection Agency and the New York City Council speaker, Christine C. Quinn, are both calling for replacing school light fixtures that are leaking PCBs in five years or less, putting more pressure on the Bloomberg administration to speed up its planned time line of 10 years."

"U.S. EPA's long-awaited study of formaldehyde's toxicity got panned today by a National Academy of Sciences' panel that sharply disagreed with the agency's conclusions and declared the effort in need of 'substantial revision.'"

"Critics say it's a chemical that could cause infertility or cancer, while others see it speeding the growth of super weeds and causing worrying changes to plants and soil. Backers say it is safe and has made a big contribution to food production."

"The Maine House of Representatives on Thursday overwhelmingly endorsed banning the chemical bisphenol-A from children's products such as sippy cups and baby bottles."

"Two years ago some University of South Florida researchers began studying the effects of the most widely used fungicide in the country to see if it might kill more than just fungus. Turns out it's also a pretty effective frog-icide."

"Echoing her housing commissioner, Baltimore Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake said Monday that Baltimore's public housing authority has decided 'it is not possible' to pay lead-poisoning judgments that could one day exceed $800 million because the money is needed to improve living conditions for thousands of poor families."

"A new report is suggesting the air at many Quebec construction sites contains levels of asbestos at or above provincial norms, raising fresh questions about whether the substance can be handled safely in Canada."