"Former Pennsylvania Governor Tom Ridge, along with two of his former gubernatorial campaign managers, signed a $900,000 contract on July 30 to go to bat for the heavily polluting Marcellus Shale gas drilling industry. Ridge’s contract follows on the heels of an exodus from the Rendell administration to the cash-rich industry. Three top Rendell staff members have jumped ship to work in governmental relations jobs for the industry over the past year."

"The front-runner for the Republican nomination in the Colorado governor’s race is causing a stir with claims that his likely Democratic opponent, Mayor John Hickenlooper of Denver, is bringing the city under United Nations control by promoting bike riding and other sustainability measures."

"The dispersants used to break up the BP PLC oil spill came under new scrutiny Wednesday in the U.S. Senate, where a panel warned that the U.S. government lacks critical information about whether the chemicals threaten sea life in the Gulf of Mexico."

"With a startling report that some researchers call more spin than science, the government said Wednesday that the mess made by the BP oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico is mostly gone already."

"Dillingham, Alaska -- It is an unfortunate coincidence of geography that this lush region of wild rivers, grassy tundra and windy sea is home to two competing treasures of almost unimaginable value: the world's largest sockeye salmon run, supporting a fishery worth $440 million a year; and in the hills behind it, a massive deposit of copper, molybdemum and gold worth at least $300 billion."

"More than 2,000 people filed a class-action lawsuit in federal court on Tuesday seeking over $10 billion in punitive damages from BP Plc for 40 days of excess pollution from the company's Texas City, Texas, refinery, according to court documents."

Workers in the Joliet, Illinois, area who are ill because they handled radioactive materials in the production of nuclear bombs are still waiting for compensation promised in 2000.

"On Tuesday, the Center for Biological Diversity and the American Bird Conservancy plan to file a petition with the Environmental Protection Agency seeking a comprehensive nationwide ban on lead-based sporting ammunition and fishing tackle."

"Top climate change leaders from Europe to Africa are wondering if it's time to give up on the United States."