"A federal judge on Wednesday approved Exxon Mobil Corp's $5.07 million settlement of charges that it violated the federal Clean Water Act and state environmental laws in connection with a 2013 oil spill in central Arkansas."

"NEW ORLEANS — Ten years ago, the neighborhood hard by the 17th Street canal in this city was water-blasted. The surges from Hurricane Katrina swept into the canal, broke through its flood walls and forced homes off their foundations. Much of New Orleans remained steeped in brackish filth for weeks until the sodden city could be drained."

"Alabama's biggest waste dump inflicts misery on residents of Uniontown, whose complaints to the EPA have gone unheeded".

"Florida has more private property at risk from flooding linked to climate change than any other state, an amount that could double in the next four decades, according to a new report by the Risky Business Project."

"Seven years after the end of a much-lauded program to monitor mercury in Louisiana’s waterways, state officials lack updated data to warn people about any potential contamination in the fish they catch and eat."

"Plaquemines Parish has turned down a settlement offer from BP to pay for damages caused during the Deepwater Horizon disaster and oil spill because it was too small to compensate for the losses, two lawyers representing the parish in settlement talks said Monday (July 13)."
 

"SAN JUAN, P.R. — On an island that is flirting with default, fending off comparisons to Greece and losing its people to the mainland, the biggest problem most people face is something more elemental — one of the worst droughts in Puerto Rico’s history."

"The din created by thousands of nesting birds is usually the first thing you notice about Seahorse Key, a 150-acre mangrove-covered dune off Florida's Gulf Coast. But in May, the key fell eerily quiet all at once."

"In Florida, the official state animal triggers mixed feelings. The Florida panther has been on the endangered species list for nearly 50 years. From a low point in the 1970s when there were only about 20 panthers in the wild, the species has rebounded."

"A CSX train car carrying hazardous material derailed and caught fire in the middle of the night in eastern Tennessee, forcing the evacuation of thousands of people and sending dozens to the hospital with respiratory issues and nausea."