"TRAVERSE CITY, Mich. — The Environmental Protection Agency proposed stricter requirements Wednesday for cleaning ballast water that keeps ships upright in rolling seas but enables invasive species to reach U.S. waters, where they have ravaged ecosystems and caused billions of dollars in economic losses."

"Is the U.S. leading or blocking progress toward stopping global warming? It's a key question this week as officials from more than 190 countries begin the latest round of negotiations seeking an eventual global climate-protection plan."

"Grain prices are tempting farmers to plow up protected land, even as conservation subsidies shrink."

"The arsenic-in-juice war continues. Today, Consumer Reports released an alarming study that found high levels of arsenic in samples of apple juice."

GOP Presidential candidate Newt Gingrich has been a supporter of subsidies for corn-based ethanol for years. That has boosted his income as a lobbyist and bolstered his support in corn-growing Iowa, one of the earliest tests in the race. But it may also disprove his claims that he is not a lobbyist, and hurt him politically in other states as many GOP candidates have disavowed ethanol subsidies.

"Marine scientists are trying to find out why previously unknown blooms of toxic algae are suddenly proliferating along the California coast, killing wildlife and increasing the risk of human sickness."

"Congress has restored funding for US inspectors to oversee horse slaughter, paving the way for slaughter and processing to resume for the first time since 2006. Animal rights groups are livid."

The first-ever rule to limit toxic mercury in coal-fired powerplant emissions is about to take effect. It will require updating antique equipment -- and part of the utility is fighting that tooth and nail, complaining about how costs will hurt the economy. But where plants have installed the new scrubbing devices, many new jobs have been created.

"CHARLESTON, W.Va. -- Investigators from the U.S. Department of Labor's Office of Inspector General have found that federal regulators are not identifying 'scofflaw violators' who don't pay mine safety and health fines, allowing those mine operators to avoid debt-collection lawsuits or other enforcement actions."

"The Obama administration says BP and two other companies are likely to face new citations for alleged safety and environmental violations stemming from last year's Gulf oil spill.

Michael Bromwich, head of the Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement, says the upcoming notices stem from reviews that go beyond a federal government probe of the April 2010 Deepwater Horizon blast, which killed 11 workers and resulted in the nation's worst offshore oil spill.