"In what the White House calls a milestone in its effort to cut red tape, the Obama administration today said it was overhauling or eliminating five regulations -- including a Clinton-era air-pollution rule -- in an effort to save $6 billion in unnecessary costs over the next five years."

"Long involvement in Canada's tar sands has been central to Koch Industries' evolution and positions the billionaire brothers for a new oil boom."

"Six U.S. senators are calling on the Environmental Protection Agency to immediately examine the health threats posed by forgotten factory sites featured in a recent USA TODAY investigation."

"The Environmental Integrity Project filed a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) lawsuit Tuesday seeking details about dozens of White House meetings with interest groups to discuss Environmental Protection Agency regulations. The non-profit group, which advocates for the enforcement of environmental rules, filed the lawsuit after receiving no response from the White House Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs (OIRA) to a January FOIA request seeking more details on the meetings."

"CAMBRIA COUNTY, Pa. -- A pipe is spewing toxic water into Topper Run from the old Maryland No. 1 coal mine here."

"CHEYENNE, Wyo. -- Wyoming's governor persuaded the head of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to postpone an announcement linking hydraulic fracturing to groundwater contamination, giving state officials -- whom the EPA had privately briefed on the study -- time to attempt to debunk the finding before it rocked the oil and gas industry more than a month later, an investigation by The Associated Press has found."

"MONTPELIER, Vt. -- Vermont is about to become the first U.S. state to ban hydraulic fracturing, or fracking, for natural gas."

"It’s the kind of scenario that might evolve in Hollywood: A college professor detects drug-resistance genes collecting in local wetlands, where they survive for weeks and are spread far and wide by seabirds.

But the discovery of extra-hardy DNA flourishing on the edge of San Diego isn’t science fiction. It’s the result of research by David Cummings, a microbiologist at Point Loma Nazarene University.

"EVERETT -- For decades, the Kimberly-Clark plant provided countless jobs in Snohomish County and paper products to millions of people.

Now that it's closed, the plant is leaving behind another, not-so-positive legacy.

Dioxins -- toxic substances thought to cause cancer in humans -- have been found in the waterway next to the plant at a level 15 times higher than what the state considers safe. The dioxins in sediment under the water are a result of the bleaching process in making paper.

"The Obama administration unveiled long-awaited rules on Friday to bolster oversight on public lands of oil and natural gas drilling using fracking technology that has ushered in a boom in drilling but also triggered environmental protests."