"If taxpayers end up paying only 1 percent of the cost of cleaning up PCB contamination in the Fox River, that could be between $10 million and $15 million. If the taxpayer obligation reaches 10 percent, the figure becomes $100 million or more."

After decades of putting hazardous and toxic waste into the Parker Street Dump, the city of New Bedford Massachusetts built a high school and middle school on the site. Today, the city is dealing with the toxic legacy.

"As a result of the largest environmental bankruptcy in U.S. history, $1.79 billion has been paid to fund environmental cleanup and restoration under a bankruptcy reorganization of American Smelting and Refining Company, ASARCO, federal officials announced today."

"NEW YORK -- Coal miner Consol Energy Inc launched an attack on environmentalists on Tuesday, blaming ecological "activism" for forcing it to idle two mines in West Virginia that employ nearly 500 workers." Activists countered that the coal company's violations were egregious and that Consol should follow the law.

"Frequent accidents at 10 of the state's biggest refineries resulted in the release of millions of pounds of toxic chemicals into the air and millions of gallons of polluted water into state water courses between 2005 and 2008, according to a report to be released this morning by the Louisiana Bucket Brigade."

"Selenium is an essential nutrient, but excess amounts can be dangerous to wildlife and people. Now the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency is preparing a new regulation that would require more than 600 coal-fired power plants to clean up -- perhaps even eliminate -- wastewater discharged into lakes, rivers and other waterways."

"The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency is on schedule to release federal guidelines for the disposal of coal ash some time this month, but a potential loophole in the new rules has some worried they will leave Iowans unprotected."

Cleanup of polluting runoff from abandoned mines in Colorado and elsewhere is stalled by a legal paradox.