"Many old factories around the country now sit dark and empty. But at a once-defunct Polaroid film factory in New Bedford, Mass., the lights are on again and a new industry is rising up inside the ruins of an old one."

"In Florida, Georgia and the Carolinas, a new federal rule has fishermen angry. A ban on fishing for red snapper -- one of the most popular saltwater fish -- starts Jan. 4."

"Due to human activities, the world's animal and plant species are disappearing at a rate some experts put at 1,000 times the natural progression, the United Nations said January 1, marking 2010 as the International Year of Biodiversity."

"After years of negotiations between environmentalists and industry groups, observers say efforts to reform a century-old law regulating mining may finally pick up steam in Congress."

"A team of international scientists has made a major breakthrough in the fight to save tasmanian devils from extinction."

"The infighting among the federal officials in charge of the Savannah River Site, a federally owned nuclear site in South Carolina that won one of the country’s biggest pots of stimulus money, is so severe that it threatens to undermine public confidence in their work, a federal watchdog warned Thursday."

"The Obama administration may issue an order that would expand the National Environmental Policy Act's scope to prevent global warming. The move could open up new avenues to challenge projects."

"Just as wars over oil played a major role in 20th-century history, a new book makes a convincing case that many 21st-century conflicts will be fought over water."

Despite a 60-vote Democrat majority, climate change legislation faces an uphill fight in the Senate. Are more offshore drilling and subsidies for nuclear plants the key?

"Virginia banned smoking in most restaurants a month ago -- and not all of them mind. North Carolina follows suit."