A University of Tennessee at Chattanooga study shows that the metals and organic chemicals found in used cigarettes can leak out, contaminating water and killing microorganisms.

With the proposed Yucca Mountain nuclear waste repository now dead, "local leaders and lawmakers from the sites where the waste is now stored, however, are increasingly concerned that the Energy Department will leave it in place, even though that might violate legally binding cleanup agreements."

As the final rounds on the climate bill approach, environmentalists seem to be coming late, disunited, and outgunned to a battle they had years to prepare for.

Talking Points Memo has obtained a set of talking points and an example script given to employees of the Bonner PR firm working on the coal-funded campaigh against the climate bill. "The talking points specifically instructed employees to lie to the community organizations they were calling, telling them they were working with seniors/veterans groups and that other seniors/veterans groups had written the letter they would be signing. They were in fact working directly for a coal industry front group, and the letter was written by Bonner and associates."

"The Environmental Protection Agency should move immediately to adopt enforceable limits on the release of nutrient pollutants -- such as fertilizer and sewage -- into rivers and streams to halt the creation of dangerously low oxygen areas in water bodies, and the dead zone in the Gulf of Mexico should be one of its first targets, the agency's Office of Inspector General said in a report made public today."

"Most Americans approve of the way President Obama is handling energy issues and support efforts by him and Democrats in Congress to overhaul energy policy -- including the controversial cap-and-trade approach to limiting greenhouse gas emissions."

"Evolution takes place over long stretches of time: millennia and epochs. But some new research shows that animals might be changing much faster than nearly anyone thought. ... Those changes ... seem to be linked to humans."

"The Nuclear Regulatory Commission ... is urging nuclear plants to embrace a more systematic approach to assessing fire risk -- one that relies on a computer program."

The Justice Department and Illinois are suing Midwest Generation, charging the utility company with evading the Clean Air Act by not installing pollution controls when modernizing its plants. The move marks an Obama administration reversal of Bush policies.

Another allegedly grass-roots PR campaign funded by the coal industry has been embarrassed by the revelation that photos of the "real" people who support coal were obtained from a commercial stock-photo outfit.