A conservative GOP freshman congressman from Ohio, Bill Johnson, has been attacking federal surface-mining regulation for costing jobs. It advances him politically. The only problem is that it does not seem to be true.

All along the Mississippi-Missouri river system, floodplains have been reclaimed  as farmlands. Often government agencies like the Corps of Engineers must make agonizing choices between these two beneficial uses.

"Decommissioning Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant will take three or four decades, Japan's government said on Wednesday as it unveiled plans for the next phase of a huge and costly cleanup of the tsunami-wrecked complex."

Can southwest Alaska make money from its rich mineral deposits without destroying the Bristol Bay fishery that is currently an economic mainstay?

"A European court ruled Wednesday that airlines flying into and out of European airports will have to pay a price for the carbon dioxide they emit when they burn jet fuel."

"The gray wolf in Minnesota could go from protected to hunted - perhaps as soon as next fall - after it is removed from the endangered species list in January. "

US energy independence -- for decades a seemingly unreachable strategic goal -- seems now tantalizingly almost within reach as hydrofracking and high oil prices bring into play oil and gas deposits once economically unfeasible. But the US will continue to import hydrocarbons from Canada and Mexico, and price corrections (much less depleting reserves) could snatch the boom from industry's hand. More to the point: should a nation whose political rhetoric uses "energy independence" to justify gifts to industry be preparing to export petroleum products and natural gas?

"WASHINGTON -- The Obama administration on Wednesday announced a tough new rule to limit emissions of mercury, arsenic and other toxic substances from sources such as power plants, a landmark measure that could prevent up to 11,000 premature deaths annually, according to the Environmental Protection Agency.

"Two teams of researchers who have engineered deadly and pathogenic flu viruses have reluctantly agreed to withhold vital details of their work for national-security reasons -- the first time any scientific team has been asked to do so."