"ANCHORAGE, Alaska -- Shell Oil Co. on Monday took a step closer to tapping vast petroleum reserves off Alaska's Arctic coasts when the federal Environmental Protection Agency approved an air quality permit for one of the company's drilling vessels."

"Tens of thousands of people marched in Tokyo on Monday in the biggest show of public opposition to nuclear power since the start of the Fukushima Daiichi crisis in March."

Federal agents from several agencies arrested 12 in a sweep targetting illegal imported pesticides in New York's Chinatown. The unlabelled or mislabelled pesticides were especially dangerous because they could be mistakenly consumed and were potent enough to kill a child.

"Police in the Brazilian Amazon say they have arrested two men in connection with the murders of two rainforest activists who were gunned down in May."

"COLUMBIA, S.C. — Groundwater at a large landfill in lower Richland County, S.C., continues to show signs of harmful pollution, despite more than a decade of cleanup efforts."

"More than 30 million people were displaced last year by environmental and weather-related disasters across Asia, experts have warned, and the problem is only likely to grow worse as climate change exacerbates such problems."

"More than 30 million people were displaced last year by environmental and weather-related disasters across Asia, experts have warned, and the problem is only likely to grow worse as climate change exacerbates such problems."

"More veterans who deployed to Iraq in 1991 and took anti-nerve-agent pills suffer from symptoms of Gulf War Syndrome than those who did not receive injections; and the illness is more prevent in troops who used pesticides on their uniforms or skin, USA Today reports, citing results of a study scheduled to be released Monday."

"US President Barack Obama on Monday introduced a wide-ranging proposal to save the federal government $3 trillion over the next 10 years by cutting spending and raising taxes, including the repeal of a number of tax subsidies for the oil and gas industry." ...

"Federal agencies have changed the designation of loggerhead sea turtles from a single threatened species to nine distinct population segments; five are listed as endangered and four are listed as threatened.

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service said the change will help scientists tailor conservation efforts to deal with threats faced by genetically distinct groups of the species in regions around the world.