"Environmentalists who have tried with little success to stop the Obama administration from leasing billions of tons of coal for mining are hailing a U.S. district court ruling in Colorado last week as a game changer. At issue in Judge R. Brooke Jackson's decision that scrapped federal approval of coal-lease expansion was the impact of coal mining and burning on global warming."

"Government inspectors all over the country are supposed to ensure the meat we eat is safe. But according to a growing chorus of current and former inspectors - and a number of watchdog groups - the U-S meat inspection system isn’t doing its job."

"The Senate confirmed two of President Obama’s nominees to the Nuclear Regulatory Commission on Tuesday."

"A week before major UN talks on climate change, EPA extends comment period for rule to cut carbon pollution from plants."

"The Nuclear Regulatory Commission on Wednesday rejected a senior federal expert's recommendation to shut down California's last operating nuclear power plant until the agency can determine whether its twin reactors can withstand powerful shaking from nearby earthquake faults."

"LIMA, Peru — The authorities here are investigating the killing of an environmental advocate and indigenous leader who died along with three other men in a remote region of the Amazon jungle that he had sought to protect from illegal logging."

"CHARLESTON, W.Va. — Department of Environmental Protection officials plan to announce as early as Tuesday a proposed rule outlining a focused plan for mandated inspections of thousands of chemical storage tanks across West Virginia and — Tomblin administration officials hope — ease concerns about implementation of the state’s new tank safety law."

A Massachusetts prosecutor dropped charges against two protestors who claimed global warming was so dire they had no choice but to block a coal shipment. The prosecutor made the announcement clutching an article by Bill McKibben, which he said convinced him that “Climate change is one of the gravest crises our planet has ever faced.”