"Some 700 feet deep in the waters off California's jewel of a coastal resort, Santa Barbara, sits a group of football-field-sized asphalt domes unlike any other underwater features known to exist. About 35,000 years ago, a series of apparent undersea volcanoes deposited massive flows of petroleum 10 miles offshore. The deposits hardened into domes that were discovered recently by scientists from the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI) and UC Santa Barbara (UCSB."

"The discovery of methane gas and benzene has transformed a 50-acre neighborhood into an environmental case study — a reminder of Southern California’s history as a center of the oil industry."

"'Daylighting" of urban creeks is being embraced in cities throughout the world. Seattle, Portland, Ore., Yonkers, N.Y., Providence, R.I., as well as Zurich are among many places reopening long hidden waterways. Resurrecting old creeks can help remove hundreds of millions of gallons of storm water from sewer systems each year -- meaning fewer sewage spills and cleaner water."

"Opponents of the law, largely oil firms and conservative activists, miss a signature-gathering target date for putting an initiative on the November ballot, but get a cash infusion to keep trying."

"The Air Quality Management District is hoping users of traditional gas-powered lawn mowers will help them "mow down air pollution" when, for the eighth year, the air pollution control agency hosts a series of lawn-mower exchanges throughout Southern California. The program allows local residents to trade in a gasoline mower and receive a new electric mower at a reduced price."

"A hazardous-waste landfill that Kettleman City residents blame for a rash of birth defects has improperly stored PCBs -- a cancer-causing chemical that can cause reproductive problems, federal inspectors say."

"For the first time in more than a century, a California condor chick successfully hatched inside a federal park that once was a domain of the endangered species."

"California lawmakers approved a groundbreaking smoking ban Monday that, if signed into law, will prohibit smoking at nearly all state beaches and parks."