"A coalition of environmental and food-safety groups is asking the Fish and Wildlife Service to grant endangered species protection to the monarch butterfly, whose U.S. population, the groups say, last year fell to 90 percent below its 20-year average."

"Certain members of the Department of Energy's panel reviewing its national laboratories are paid consultants to some of the same labs that they are charged with overseeing."

"The future will require tough trade-offs over protecting species, wildness and the way humans experience the backcountry"

"Halliburton, the company contracted by BP to cement the ill-fated Macondo oil well in the Gulf of Mexico, has reached a $1.1 billion settlement with thousands of businesses, individuals and local governments that suffered losses from the 2010 Deepwater Horizon oil rig explosion, the company and plaintiffs announced on Tuesday."

"Pacific Gas and Electric Co. must pay a record $1.4 billion in fines and other penalties for more than 3,700 violations of pipeline safety laws leading up to the deadly San Bruno natural-gas explosion, two administrative law judges said Tuesday."

The Marlin gold mine in Guatemala, about 50 miles from the border with Mexico, promised economic opportunities that never materialized for the Mayan population there. Now Mayan community leaders are protesting toxic pollution they say has caused health problems.

"Bald eagles continue to expand in Kentucky, extending a steady increase in breeding pairs especially during the last decade."

"Should you worry about the chemicals in your makeup, lotion, shaving cream, soap and shampoo? The answer is a clear maybe."

"When San Francisco billionaire Tom Steyer speaks, Sacramento listens."

"Australia will abandon plans to dump 3 million cubic meters of dredged sand into the Great Barrier Reef area in its effort to create the world's biggest coal port, the Australian Financial Review reported on Tuesday.

The fragile reef, which stretches 2,300 km (1,430 miles) along Australia's east coast, and sprawls over an area half the size of Texas, was the centerpiece of a campaign by green groups and tour operators opposing the plan.