"ST. PETERSBURG, Russia — Russian investigators have dropped charges against all but one of the 30 crew of a Greenpeace ship, who were accused of hooliganism following a protest outside a Russian oil rig in the Arctic, the group said Wednesday."

"The Environmental Protection Agency was justified in intervening to examine possible risks of gas drilling to Texas drinking water, the agency's internal watchdog reported Tuesday. But environmentalists say the report raises fresh concerns about the EPA's 2012 decision to halt its investigation into possible well water contamination in Parker County, Texas."

"The EPA Inspector General's report is the latest analysis to spotlight the regulator's handling of high-profile cases of alleged drinking-water contamination near natural gas drilling sites.

"MILWAUKEE — In a state whose license plates advertise it as America’s Dairyland, where lawmakers once honored the bacterium in Monterey Jack as the state’s official microbe and where otherwise sober citizens wear foam cheesehead hats, road crews are trying to thaw freezing Wisconsin streets with a material that smells a little like mozzarella."

"VICTORIA -- Within three hours of the Joint Review Panel’s announcement giving conditional approval for the proposed Northern Gateway pipeline, the Lake Babine First Nation threatened the lawsuit it has been preparing for months."

"WASHINGTON -– The Environmental Protection Agency has quietly updated its website in response to a complaint that its public information on artificial turf made from old tires understated potential concerns about safety."

"The California Public Utilities Commission has called on utilities and private companies to install about $5 billion worth of batteries and other forms of energy storage to help the state power grid cope with the erratic power supplied by wind and solar energy."

"SOUBISE, Grenada -- When Hurricane Ivan slammed into this small island almost a decade ago, Esley Sanderson leaped from inside his house to save his life."

"Hash marks went down next to each species on [Mike] Newhouse’s clipboard. With a gloved hand, he brushed flakes off the paper. Forget about a white Christmas, this was a white Christmas Bird Count, part of Audubon’s 114th annual census of our feathered neighbors."

"Researchers say they have discovered a large reservoir of melt water that sits under the Greenland ice sheet all year round."

"MILWAUKEE - The electric barrier on the Chicago Sanitary and Ship Canal that is considered the last line of defense to stop an Asian carp invasion of Lake Michigan has a problem: Fish can swim through it."