"RALEIGH — The U.S. Justice Department has opened a criminal investigation into the state environmental agency tasked with regulating Duke Energy after a coal ash spill left the Dan River so polluted that people were advised to avoid contact with the water."

"A new experiment by scientists at the U.S. Food and Drug Administration has found that bisphenol A does not affect the health of rats fed low doses. Other scientists say the study is flawed."

"U.S. scientists announced on Wednesday an important milestone in the costly, decades-old quest to develop fusion energy, which, if harnessed successfully, promises a nearly inexhaustible energy source for future generations."

"HOUSTON — T. Boone Pickens has personified the nation’s oil industry for more than a generation. So when he made an offhand comment at a conference here a few weeks ago expressing reservations about lifting the nation’s ban on exports of crude oil, he startled some of his old allies in the business."

"We often talk about climate change as a matter of science. But the biggest questions are really about money. How much would it cost to fix the problem — and what price will we pay if we don't?"

"CHARLESTON, W.Va. -- The Federal Emergency Management Agency denied a request from Gov. Earl Ray Tomblin to reimburse costs associated with responding to the chemical leak that continues to affect central West Virginia."

"The major winter storm that has left hundreds of thousands in the southern USA without power is blazing a trail up the East Coast."

"WASHINGTON -- Sens. Dianne Feinstein and Barbara Boxer proposed emergency drought legislation Tuesday ahead of President Obama's planned visit to Fresno, as Democrats scrambled to counter GOP charges that trying to save rivers and fish during California's historic drought is destroying the nation's chief source of fruits and vegetables."

"The White House announced a new ban on sales of elephant ivory within the United States on Tuesday, part of a plan aimed at cracking down on trafficking of wildlife that is threatening some species, including the African elephant, with extinction."

"WASHINGTON — The Obama administration on Tuesday moved to exert more control over the injection of diesel fuel deep underground to extract oil and natural gas, its first foray into addressing the potential contamination of water from the controversial technique."