"The rivers that run into New York Harbor will be unfit for recreational activities at least through Sunday because of a catastrophic fire that shut down one of the city’s largest sewage treatment plants, the city’s health department said Thursday."

"Despite strong pressure from the coal industry and its political allies, the Obama administration on Thursday finalized new guidance aimed at reducing the environmental and public health impacts of mountaintop removal mining in Appalachia."

"An Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis study has found mercury contamination in soil downwind from a coal-fired power plant in Indianapolis, supporting the notion of localized mercury hot spots."

"Federal regulators knew potentially contaminated bark and wood chips were being sold from a Superfund site in the asbestos-tainted town of Libby, Mont., for three years before they stopped the practice, according to a letter from the Environmental Protection Agency to U.S. Sen. Max Baucus."

"Documents and interviews reveal that one Pa. water utility has already leased its watershed to gas drillers — and many others are being courted."

"New cargo and transport vessels must meet energy efficiency standards and cut carbon pollution, the U.N. agency regulating international shipping decided Friday. The decision came despite opposition from China, India and Brazil."

"State environmental officials are investigating why a pipeline on Alaska's North Slope operated by BP ruptured early Saturday during a pressure test."

"The latest draft of guidelines for hydraulic fracturing in New York could open the door to drilling within 1,000 feet of aging underground tunnels that carry water to New York City -- a far cry from the seven-mile buffer once sought by city officials."

"With a handful of Democratic votes, the House Energy and Commerce Committee passed a bill Wednesday that limits the EPA's ability to regulate coal ash and says coal ash residue deserves little more scrutiny and regulation than municipal trash."