As gas companies race to drill more wells that produce gas with a technique known as hydrofracking, the dangers of the toxic wastewater they discharge turn out to be greater than previously understood.

"Thousands of people living within four miles of the Bayer CropScience plant in Institute could have been exposed to potentially harmful levels of methyl isocyanate if the contents of an MIC tank located near an August 2008 explosion had been released, according to a government study obtained by the Gazette."

"NOAA will give high priority to an investigation into the large numbers of baby dolphin deaths along the Mississippi and Alabama coasts, an official told the Sun Herald on Wednesday."
 

Greenwire sorts through the dust storm of counterclaims on the accuracy of "Gasland," an Oscar-nominated documentary about the impacts of gas drilling and production methods known as "fracking."

"U.S. officials on Thursday cleared scientists of charges that they manipulated data about climate change in e-mails that were stolen from a British university in 2009, triggering a climate scandal."

In Wisconsin and other embattled states, environmental groups have joined labor unions in mass protests against conservative attacks which threaten 'green jobs' as well as bargaining rights.

"The pesticide industry is applying extra doses of lobbying in an effort to eradicate federal requirements it considers harmful."

Oil prices rising because of turmoil in the Middle East and other factors pose a new and serious threat to the recovery of the U.S. economy, experts say.