"ON THE DAN RIVER, N.C. — Canoe guide Brian Williams dipped his paddle downstream from where thousands of tons of coal ash has been spewing for days into the Dan River, turning the wooden blade flat to bring up a lump of gray sludge."

"SAN JOSE, Calif.—The attack began just before 1 a.m. on April 16 last year, when someone slipped into an underground vault not far from a busy freeway and cut telephone cables."

"WASHINGTON — In marathon meetings and tense all-day drafting sessions, dozens of lawyers, economists and engineers at the Environmental Protection Agency are struggling to create what is certain to be a divisive but potentially historic centerpiece of President Obama’s climate change legacy."

"WASHINGTON — On the heels of the Senate’s passage of a long-awaited farm bill, the Obama administration is to announce on Wednesday the creation of seven regional 'climate hubs' aimed at helping farmers and rural communities respond to the risks of climate change, including drought, invasive pests, fires and floods."

"Federal regulators said on Tuesday that they had fined three companies for mislabeling the type of crude oil they were transporting. The penalties — a total of $93,000 — were the first from surprise inspections begun after since a series of accidents in the last year underscored the hazard of transporting highly flammable oil by rail."

"Federal coffers are missing out on what could be billions of dollars in lost revenue due to shoddy accounting work by the office that handles leases for coal mines on public land, according to a report made public today by the investigative arm of Congress."

"While Obama talks of putting America on the path to a clean, green future, we're flooding world markets with cheap, high carbon fuels."

"Four politically vulnerable Senate Democrats are urging U.S. President Barack Obama to approve the Keystone XL pipeline, spotlighting the implications of an election-year decision that may influence which party controls the chamber."

"WASHINGTON — Members of Congress and West Virginia officials say patchwork federal regulations are inadequate to protect the public from spills such as the one last month that contaminated drinking water for 300,000 people in the Charleston area."

"Several studies have linked pesticides with the development of Parkinson's disease, and now a new study has found a specific gene that may explain why some people are particularly susceptible to developing Parkinson's after exposure to certain pesticides."