"A lead congressional committee investigating the Gulf of Mexico oil spill has broadened its inquiry, now checking if tens of thousands of abandoned oil and gas wells are leaking or even being monitored for leaks."

The BP oil spill's damage to the oyster industry is not just to the oystermen themselves, but to a whole chain of regional businesses that depend on them.

"U.S. EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson [Thursday] urged Congress to take up legislation strengthening her agency's authority over oil dispersants in the wake of the Gulf of Mexico gusher, calling for more testing and disclosure of the chemical ingredients in the controversial spill-fighting products."

On Thursday two powerful House committees approved separate drilling reform bills, raising the possibility that the House would meld and pass them soon.

"For the first time in the nearly three months since the Deepwater Horizon rig exploded and sank off the Louisiana coast, there was no oil leaking from the blown-out Macondo well into the Gulf of Mexico  on Thursday afternoon, BP said."

"About 137,000 pieces of imported children's jewelry sold at two stores popular with preteen girls — Justice and Limited Too — were recalled Tuesday for high levels of cadmium, the latest in a series of recalls involving the toxic metal."

"A small Colorado tribe takes control of its energy resources and becomes a billion-dollar corporation — but has it gone too far?"

"Four years after tragedies in Kentucky and West Virginia prompted sweeping mine safety changes, a House panel Tuesday split along party lines over the need for additional reforms."

"Scientists are reporting early signs that the Gulf of Mexico oil spill is altering the marine food web by killing or tainting some creatures and spurring the growth of others more suited to a fouled environment."

"President Obama and Senate Democrats have decided to press ahead in the next two weeks with a scaled-back energy bill that limits carbon pollution by power plants but not by other industries in an effort to salvage the legislation before midterm elections."