"Royal Dutch Shell said an oil leak from a ruptured pipeline into the North Sea was slowing but refused to say how much oil has already leaked into the sea."

"BILOXI -- NOAA Fisheries has data that shows Gulf shrimpers are now using their turtle-protection devices. Partly because of this, the agency has decided not to impose emergency measures on the shrimping industry in order to stop the unusually high number of sea-turtle deaths in the northern Gulf since the BP oil spill in 2010."

"A report blasting Georgia’s environmental oversight of large livestock farms has raised concerns about potential contamination of Georgia waterways with chemicals from manure."

"Every summer, hordes of beach-goers seeking California sunshine are attracted to the Central Coast. Clad in bikinis and swim shorts, they hit the beach only to be greeted with a sobering surprise: a dense layer of coastal fog rolling off the bay."

"China will double its solar capacity to around 2 gigawatts (GW) by the end of the year as the world's largest solar-panel maker ramps up domestic installation, a local paper said on Saturday citing a government-linked think tank."

"As mussel numbers explode and fish vanish from Lake Michigan, the last in a long line of Milwaukee commercial fishermen sets course for Alaska."

Dan Egan reports for the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel August 13, 2011. [27]

"NO wonder they are called conveniences. Flush toilets swirl human waste down the drain quickly and neatly. But the convenience comes with a rising price for all that follows the flush — a cost that is often paid by municipal water and sewage treatment systems.

Now some groups are rethinking the venerable technology of the flush toilet, particularly for regions that lack such systems or for places where waste water treatment plants, many of them aging, are overburdened by the demands of fast-growing populations.

The planned evacuation for Arizona's Palo Verde nuclear power plant is only 10 miles, while the Nuclear Regulatory Commission called for evacuation of Americans within 50 miles of Japan's stricken Fukushima plant. Are safety plans enough?

"The climate skeptics can finally get excited about the 2012 election: Rick Perry, their candidate of choice, is about to officially throw his hat in the ring."