"ANCHORAGE, Alaska – Home from work, Sandra Talbot headed straight for her favorite spot, a window overlooking the bird feeder. The winter light sparkled off the snow cushioning the white spruce and birch forest around her house. She watched the commotion of songbirds, vying for the best seed or chunk of peanut butter."

"Described as a historic package of Northern Nevada lands bills — six introduced by Congressman Mark Amodei and one by Rep. Steven Horsford — will be up for final passage in the House as a bipartisan suspension bill on Monday, Sept. 15."

"The nation’s nuclear weapons laboratories are woefully unprepared to respond to emergencies, from small radiation leaks to large-scale disasters like the 2011 Fukushima meltdown in Japan, according to a sweeping new federal study."

"As concerns grow over aging rail infrastructure, earthquake readiness and a dramatic increase in crude oil shipments by train, state railroad regulators are scrambling to hire their first-ever railroad bridge inspectors -- two of them."

"Prominent oil lobby the American Petroleum Institute (API) said the Obama administration will likely boost the amount of biofuels refiners must blend into the nation's fuel supply to help out a Democrat in a tight Senate race."

"The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency approved an aquifer exemption for a coal gasification pilot project in Campbell County [Wyoming] this week, drawing criticism from landowners worried that the facility could contaminate a potential source of drinking water."

"Efforts to come up with a new chemical regulation bill face an uphill battle in the Senate."

"Of all the developed nations, few have pushed harder than Germany to find a solution to global warming. And towering symbols of that drive are appearing in the middle of the North Sea."

Proponents of Scottish independence are banking on that country's North Sea oil to fuel its economy -- but after four decades of pumping the reserves may not last forever.

"New US sanctions on Russia are the strongest yet against Russia. The point of new Russia sanctions on five major energy firms is to 'shut down' Russia's deepwater, shale, and Arctic exploration, according to one senior US official."