"Coal’s future is being built in rural Mississippi, and so far this is what it looks like: a $1 billion cost overrun, a stew of legal battles, a revolt by ratepayers and a credit downgrade for the local utility."

"About eight in 10 stories contain some discussion of uncertainties and risk, according to Oxford analysis"

"House Republicans have snagged high-profile witnesses for a Sept. 18 hearing on the White House's new climate plan: Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Gina McCarthy and Energy Secretary Ernest Moniz."

"It was supposed to be a few days of relative bipartisan bonhomie in the Senate: A modest but popular energy bill was on the floor. Though senators may have faced a tough vote or two on U.S. EPA rules or the Keystone XL pipeline, the bill was expected to make it across the finish line, demonstrating that at least one chamber of Congress could function."

"Pediatricians and public health advocates are working to revive programs to protect children from lead poisoning, after what they describe as a series of devastating blows to their efforts."

"LOS ALAMOS, N.M. -- At Los Alamos National Laboratory, a seven-year, $213 million upgrade to the security system that protects the lab's most sensitive nuclear bomb-making facilities doesn't work. Those same facilities, which sit atop a fault line, remain susceptible to collapse and dangerous radiation releases, despite millions more spent on improvement plans."

"Federal health officials reported Monday that at least two million Americans fall ill from antibiotic-resistant bacteria every year and that at least 23,000 die from those infections, putting a hard number on a growing public health threat. It was the first time that federal authorities quantified the effects of organisms that many antibiotics are powerless to fight."

"Drilling for shale gas through hydraulic fracturing, or fracking, appears to cause smaller leaks of the greenhouse gas methane than the federal government had estimated, and considerably smaller than some critics of shale gas had feared, according to a peer-reviewed study released on Monday."

"SAN FRANCISCO — In the coastal redwood forests of central California, scientists trying to unravel the mystery surrounding the reproductive problems of dozens of endangered condors think they have uncovered the culprit: the long-banned pesticide DDT."

"WASHINGTON — The coal industry, feeling threatened by federal efforts to promote wind and solar power, has opened a counterattack by opposing President Obama’s nomination of a renewable electricity advocate to head the federal agency with jurisdiction over power lines."