"After a celebrated comeback from abysmal water conditions and high pollution levels in the 1970s, Lake Erie is regressing to the highest levels of phosphorous contamination in 40 years, a Great Lakes expert said on Thursday."

"The top U.S. environmental regulator on Thursday said her agency would soon comment on the proposed $7 billion Canada-to-Texas Keystone XL oil sands pipeline, adding she was concerned about emissions and potential leaks that could result from the project."

"Three environmental groups sued the U.S. government on Tuesday, challenging claims in a State Department report that said a proposed Canada-to-Texas oil sands pipeline poses little risk to endangered species because spills on the line were unlikely."

"Nebraska Nebraska Gov. Dave Heineman has called the Legislature into special session next week to address growing concerns over the proposed Keystone XL pipeline. The pipeline would carry tar sands oil across one of the Midwest's most important aquifers.

The action throws a potentially significant new stumbling block into a Canadian company's hope of winning approval before the end of the year for the 1,700-mile pipeline, which would move diluted bitumen -- often heavy in sulfur, nickel and lead -- from Alberta to the Texas coast.

"Some 5 to 20 million tons of debris--furniture, fishing boats, refrigerators--sucked into the Pacific Ocean in the wake of Japan's March 11 earthquake and tsunami are moving rapidly across the Pacific. Researchers from the University of Hawaii tracking the wreckage estimate it could approach the U.S. West Coast in the next three years, the UK Daily Mail reports.

As the natural gas drilling boom based on "fracking" has spread across the U.S. from Texas to New York, ordinary householders have signed more than a million leases allowing companies to drill on their land. But bankers and real estate executives are now starting to ask what happens if they lend money for a piece of land that ends up storing huge amounts of toxic drilling wastewater.

Ian Urbina reports for the New York Times October 19, 2011. [22]

"The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency said on Thursday it will develop rules for the booming shale gas industry to dispose of its wastewater, which has been linked to polluted surface water.

The move is one of several that signal the Obama administration plans to push ahead with regulating whatever aspects of shale gas production fall under its authority.

"HELENA, Mont. -- BP lawyers are asking a judge to dismiss a Montana lawsuit that alleges the oil giant took millions of dollars in insurance money and then left the state with the bill for cleaning contamination from leaky underground storage tanks."

Matt Volz reports for the Associated Press October 19, 2011. [27]

"ALLENTOWN, Pa. — Pennsylvania environmental regulators said Wednesday they have given permission to a natural-gas driller to stop delivering replacement water to residents whose drinking water wells were tainted with methane. Residents expressed outrage and threatened to take the matter to court."