"The Obama administration issued rules that give operators of power plant and factories an array of options to prevent fish from being killed when water is used to cool machinery."

"When a mile-wide tornado roared through Joplin, Mo., it killed 158 people and injured thousands. And it also kicked up toxic remnants from the city’s industrial past that are still haunting its residents on the third anniversary of the disaster."

"On Memorial Day weekend in 2011, an unattended campfire in Bear Wallow Wilderness sparked a small brush fire that quickly turned into a holocaust, burning through 538,000 acres and destroying 32 homes in the process. It cost taxpayers more than $79 million to suppress. The Wallow fire was the largest fire in Arizona history, with almost 6,000 people evacuated during the weeks it burned. The San Carlos Apache Indian Reservation, just to the west of where the fire started, was hardly touched."

Some nuclear power plants could face hazards from climate-driven sea-level rise much greater than the levels they were designed for.

"A new study finds that when more precipitation falls as rain instead of snow, stream flows in drainage basins decline. This could complicate matters for areas that need snowmelt for water."

"Saying there’s a 'race against time,' an advocacy group said this week that climate change – leading to sea level rise and worsening wildfires – is putting some of the nation’s most significant historical sites at risk."

"A federal appeals court has refused to reconsider a major decision in the long-running battle over the 2010 gulf oil spill, leaving in place an earlier ruling that forces the British oil company BP to pay some businesses for economic damages without the businesses having to prove the losses were directly caused by the spill."

"The devastating wildfires scorching Southern California offer a glimpse of a warmer and more fiery future, according to scientists and federal and international reports."

"President Obama's second pick to head the agency tasked with monitoring the nation's electric grid is set to go before the Senate next week, but it still may not be smooth sailing."