"The new well will track one plugged after a moratorium. Obama administration officials say pressure from courts and Congress did not affect the decision, but that the firm met new safety rules."

"Restrictions on water pumping that helps supply Southern California, intended to protect California's delta smelt, will be relaxed through June."

After a December 2008 spill of toxic coal ash at the Tennessee Valley Authority's Kingston plant, EPA vowed to bring the ubiquitous waste under regulation. First, industry got to the Obama White House to sandbag the effort. Now, GOP lawmakers heavily funded by electric utilities have slipped a rider into the House stopgap spending bill to quash EPA's effort to protect the public altogether.

"A major new survey of the world's coral reefs finds that they are in trouble. Big trouble"

"Miami-Dade, amid a changing regulatory environment and slower growth, is looking for cheaper ways to meet future water needs."

The removal of a dam on Twelve Mile Creek in Pickens County, SC, will release a glut of sediment that will bury more deeply PCB-tainted sediments in a reservoir further downstream.
 

"Oil from the BP spill remains stuck on the bottom of the Gulf of Mexico, according to a top scientist's video and slides that she says demonstrate the oil isn't degrading as hoped and has decimated life on parts of the sea floor."

"Lake Isabella Dam is just one acute example of a widespread problem: Of the nation’s 85,000 dams, more than 4,400 are considered susceptible to failure, according to the Association of State Dam Safety Officials. But repairing all those dams would cost billions of dollars, and it is far from clear who would provide all the money in a recessionary era."

"Americans remain largely in the dark about their true exposure to a number of radioactive contaminants that could be in their drinking water. Surprisingly, it’s because of intentional decisions by the Environmental Protection Agency, the federal government office that is supposed to protect the nation from contaminated water."