"With rising gasoline prices and skyrocketing oil company profits as a backdrop, the House approved a bill on Thursday to force the Obama administration to accelerate oil lease sales in the Gulf of Mexico and off the coast of Virginia."
 

"Bills aimed at blocking the release of videos taken by activist groups of conditions in confined animal feeding operations are being considered by state legislatures in Iowa, Minnesota and Florida."

"The protracted fight over this year's federal budget has left its mark on the nation's climate and weather satellites, experts said yesterday at a conference organized by defense trade publisher IHS Jane's."

"For the first time in more than 30 years, the construction of new nuclear power plants is under way in the United States despite the ongoing nuclear crisis at Fukushima in Japan." That's according to Standard & Poor's, the profit-driven credit rating agency that painted a rosy picture of Wall St. financial institutions as they were melting down in 2008.

"Workers entered a damaged reactor building at Japan's Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant on Thursday for the first time since explosions crippled the plant two months ago. The plant's operator, Tokyo Electric Power, said the workers were attempting to install a ventilator to help lower radiation levels inside the reactor building."

"Federal protections for some 1,200 gray wolves in Montana and Idaho end on Thursday under unprecedented legislation passed by the U.S. Congress last month removing them from the endangered species list."

Depletion of the Ogallala Aquifer, which has supported life on the U.S. High Plains for decades, poses as much of a threat to the region as drought, depression, or depopulation.

"Less than a week after the wedding of his son William to Kate Middleton, Prince Charles was in Washington on Wednesday to, among other things, speak at a Georgetown University conference on the future of food and sustainable agriculture, a pet issue of his for nearly 30 years."

"Two environmental groups have challenged the air pollution permit for a $750 million iron plant in southwestern Louisiana, which is the first project that was approved under the greenhouse gas regulations that were implemented by U.S. EPA in January."