"LAFAYETTE, La. -- Pelican Refining Company pleaded guilty to felony violations of the Clean Air Act at its refinery in Lake Charles, Louisiana, and to obstruction of justice charges Wednesday in federal court in Lafayette. If the court sentences according to the terms in the plea agreement, Pelican will pay $12 million in criminal penalties, the largest criminal fine ever imposed in Louisiana for violations of the Clean Air Act."

"HOUSTON -- A Houston-based natural gas and oil drilling contractor pleaded guilty Tuesday to a negligent violation of the Clean Water Act in federal court in Muskogee, Oklahoma."

"U.S. lawmakers will urge Secretary of State Hillary Clinton on Friday to reject the proposed route of the Keystone XL oil sands pipeline, saying they are concerned the approval process has been tainted by alleged conflicts of interest."

"BP will be allowed to participate in an upcoming U.S. offshore oil and gas lease sale despite its role in the largest offshore oil spill in U.S. history, a top government regulator said on Thursday."

"Scientists have mapped out the entire genetic map of the Black Death, a 14th century bubonic plague that killed 50 million Europeans in one of the most devastating epidemics in history.

The work, which involved extracting and purifying DNA from the remains of Black death victims buried in London's "plague pits," is the first time scientists have been able to draft a reconstructed genome of any ancient pathogen.

The Obama White House issued a strong statement Wednesday opposing a bill by Rep. David McKinley (R-WV) that would prevent the Environmental Protection Agency from regulating the disposal of coal ash. A 2008 failure of a TVA coal-ash in Kingston, Tennessee, caused major property and environmental damage. EPA administrator Lisa Jackson took office vowing to regulate coal-ash pollution, but has delayed action under White House and industry pressure.

"A nationwide poll conducted by Hart Research and GS Strategy Group, sponsored by Ceres .... found -- like so many polls before it -- that the public overwhelmingly supports clean air protections across demographic and party lines."

"When President Obama retreated from a tougher stance on smog last month, his Environmental Protection Agency chief had formally concluded that the existing standard endangered thousands of Americans, including children and people with respiratory ailments."

"The email from the American Chemistry Council took Gretchen Lee Salter's breath away. The ACC email that arrived Friday afternoon said there's no reason to worry about bisphenol-A (BPA) in baby bottles and children's sippy cups because the controversial plastic additive is no longer used in those products in the United States."