"President Barack Obama on Thursday will designate the largest marine sanctuary in the world in an area of the Pacific Ocean that will be off-limits to commercial fishing and deep-sea mining, the White House said on Wednesday."

"TUCSON, Ariz. — Authorities are testing water from the San Pedro River in southern Arizona that may be contaminated with toxic waste that traveled north after a massive copper mine spill in Mexico this summer."

"In October 2012, Superstorm Sandy wreaked major havoc on the United States, causing 117 deaths and leaving $62 billion worth of damage in its wake when it passed through New York and New Jersey. But Sandy wasn't the strongest storm ever to hit that region, and there is the potential for other, much bigger storms to strike, a new report warns."

"A Reuters analysis finds that flooding is increasing along much of the nation’s coastline, forcing many communities into costly, controversial struggles with a relentless foe."

"The International Whaling Commission voted Thursday against Japan’s plans to resume “scientific” whaling in the Antarctic next year, but Japan said it would go ahead regardless."

"It's like Florida's version of The Blob. Slow moving glops of toxic algae in the northeast Gulf of Mexico are killing sea turtles, sharks and fish, and threatening the waters and beaches that fuel the region's economy."

"Three conservation groups accused Dominion Virginia Power Wednesday of illegally discharging coal ash waste into the Potomac River."

"A study published Wednesday reveals household laundry water is washing chemical flame retardant pollution into the Northwest’s biggest waterway."

"Nearly 400 years after French voyageur Jean Nicolet arrived with a bang on the banks of lower Green Bay — he fired two pistols skyward to announce the white man's arrival in the world's largest freshwater estuary — the same stretch of shoreline was the scene of another fateful landing."

"The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency approved an aquifer exemption for a coal gasification pilot project in Campbell County [Wyoming] this week, drawing criticism from landowners worried that the facility could contaminate a potential source of drinking water."