"Duke Energy Corp, the biggest power company in the United States, said Tuesday its Progress Energy Florida utility will retire the Crystal River nuclear plant in Florida."

"HOBART, Australia -- The month of January, usually the prime whale catching month for the Japanese whaling fleet in the Southern Ocean, has come and gone without the death of a single whale, says Sea Shepherd Conservation Society Australia Director Jeff Hansen."

"PRESTON TOWNSHIP, WIS. -- When the biggest frac-sand mine in Trempealeau County opened here in 2011, even the dead were shown consideration."

"A federal judge has ruled strongly in favor of a major energy firm that [San Diego] sued for roughly $250 million over its pollution cleanup efforts beneath 166-acre Qualcomm Stadium site."

"COTTRELLVILLE, Mich. -- The fight has been under way for several years, but the momentum may have peaked on a night in June 2011. That was the night of a community meeting in Marine City to discuss a startling spate of rare kidney cancers identified in area children -- one as young as 5 months."

"Esther Tauscher stood outside her Staten Island home, leafing through boxes of family photos that had been steeped in storm water. She paused to point out life events -- her honeymoon, holding her baby boy in a hospital bed."

"President Barack Obama is leaning toward choosing Gina McCarthy, a top official in charge of air quality at the Environmental Protection Agency, to run the EPA in his second term, according to two sources familiar with the matter."

"The National Weather Service moved to fire one of its top managers Friday, four days after he was quoted in an article in The Washington Post lamenting that budget cuts and the threat of further reductions in March were forcing him to pare back a public safety service."

"The effects of the so-called sequestration budget cuts on the federal government are revealed in a Jan. 25 memo to National Park Service staff written by Park Service Director Jon Jarvis."

"OSLO -- Plans by Arctic nations to start cooperating over oil spills are vague and fail to define corporate liability for any accidents in an icy region opening up to oil and gas exploration due to global warming, environmentalists said on Monday."