"The federal government is about to announce its first rules for the handling and storage of potentially toxic coal ash, months after tons of the waste spilled into a major river in North Carolina."

"What could be worse that getting a bag of coal for Christmas? A bag full of toxic chemicals, health groups say."

"A trickle of water is being returned to a few parts of the dried-out delta—and those parts are blooming."

"The United States is poised to tackle illegal fishing and seafood fraud on a broader scale than ever before, with the release today of a set of recommendations that calls for everything from "boat-to-plate" traceable fish to international enforcement."

"Its magnitude was ambitious and unprecedented: The National Children’s Study promised to follow 100,000 American children from before birth to the age of 21. Researchers sought a better understanding of autism, obesity and cancer by tracking links between children’s environments and their health outcomes. Since 2007, Congress has appropriated about $1.3 billion to fund planning and research; millions went to four research centers in the St. Louis region alone."

"A conservative energy group is comparing regulations to curb carbon pollution proposed by the Obama administration to CIA torture tactics recently detailed by a controversial Senate report."

"Amid the shouting on Capitol Hill, the wads of campaign cash and the activist careers shaped around the Keystone XL pipeline, the project at the flash point of America's energy debate now confronts a problem bigger than politics. It may no longer pencil out."

"A government-appointed group of top nutrition experts, assigned to lay the scientific groundwork for a new version of the nation's dietary guidelines, decided earlier this year to collect data on the environmental implication of different food choices."

Theo Colborn, who pioneered research on endocrine-disrupting chemicals, has died at age 87.

"It was the late 1970s and Theo Colborn was, like pretty much everyone else in the ’70s, getting divorced. She was in her 50s and already retired from a career as a pharmacist.