"RALEIGH -- Lawyers for North Carolina environmental groups urged the N.C. Supreme Court on Monday to force Duke Energy to immediately stop the groundwater contamination that’s been seeping for years from Duke’s coal ash pits at 14 sites around the state."

"A record number of manatees have been tallied in Florida's annual survey of the endangered marine mammals, state wildlife officials said Monday."

"North Carolina officials say they have hit Duke Energy, the nation’s largest electric utility, with the largest environmental fine in state history."

"MIAMI — The government divers who plunged into the bay near the Port of Miami surfaced with bad news again and again: Large numbers of corals were either dead or dying, suffocated by sediment."

"Of more than 760 plants in Everglades National Park, an exhaustive new 10-year study identifies nearly 60 that are critically imperiled."

"The EPA will investigate whether a North Carolina state agency's regulation of industrial pig farms discriminates against communities of color."

"After years of deep cuts to environmental programs, Florida voters last November overwhelmingly approved Amendment 1, which changed the state constitution to earmark billions for conservation. But the measure left it up to the Legislature and governor to determine the details of how the money will be spent, and that has led to a heated debate."

"Federal prosecutors filed multiple criminal charges against Duke Energy on Friday over years of illegal pollution leaking from coal ash dumps at five North Carolina power plants."

"Criminal charges are expected to be brought against Duke Energy in the next several days that will accuse the nation’s largest electric utility of multiple misdemeanor violations of the federal Clean Water Act."