"Lake Mead sank to its lowest level in nearly 75 years on Sunday, a stark reminder of how drought and growing water demands have sapped the Colorado River and its huge reservoirs."

"Children who sleep in bedrooms with fumes from water-based paints and solvents are two to four times more likely to suffer allergies or asthma, according to a new scientific study."

The Consumer Product Safety Commission did an about-face and announced that it will not regulate cadmium -- a toxic metal found in consumer products that is known to damage kidneys and bones. "Instead, the agency will defer to an independent, private-sector group that has been drafting voluntary limits for several months."

"A secretive network of Republican donors is heading to the Palm Springs area for a long weekend in January, but it will not be to relax after a hard-fought election — it will be to plan for the next one."

"The Chinese flag is being raised in states around the country -- in campaign attack ads warning voters that Congress is creating renewable energy jobs within the borders of America's biggest rival."

Hoaxers are using Chevron's new green-sounding ad campaign to urge the company to live up to its vows.

Sudden aspen decline, a disease that has killed many aspens in the mountain West, seems to be slowing enough that some stands can hold their own.

"Six months after the rig explosion that led to the largest offshore oil spill in U.S. history, damage to the Gulf of Mexico can be measured more in increments than extinctions, say scientists polled by The Associated Press."

To judge by the U.S. federal spending on energy research and development, you wouldn't think there was any problem with energy independence, climate change, or unemployment. But you might think that the oil, nuclear, and coal industries had succeeded in strangling renewable energy in its crib.

"The Environmental Protection Agency's inspector general reported this week that the EPA had improperly used an official website to promote ways of recycling the waste that's left over when power plants burn coal, commonly known as coal ash."