"The water supply of more than 2 million Californians has been exposed to harmful levels of nitrates over the past 15 years -- a time marked by lax regulatory efforts to contain the colorless and odorless contaminant, a California Watch investigation has found."

"Oil giant BP succeeded Sunday in connecting a mile-long pipe to help capture what it hopes will be most of the oil flowing from a damaged well into the Gulf of Mexico -- 'an important step' toward capping the massive spill, the company said, but not a complete solution."

In a rush to complete the well it was drilling with the Deepwater Horizon, BP and other companies pushed ahead to complete the well despite multiple warnings that conditions were unsafe. CBS Interviews with explosion survivor Mike Williams and Berkeley engineering professor Bob Bea bring to light new information not yet available to the panels investigating the spill. At least five congressional hearings are scheduled on the spill this week.

"A federal appeals court on Thursday rejected an effort by environmental and Native American groups to stop exploratory oil drilling off the coast of Alaska that could begin this summer."

"Undersea robots were trying to thread a small tube into the jagged pipe that is pouring oil into the Gulf of Mexico in BP's latest attempt to cut down on the spill from a blown-out well that has pumped out more than 4 million gallons of crude."

"The fight over oil drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge heated up Tuesday over the possibility that a new management plan could put the refuge and its billions of barrels of crude off-limits for good."

"Interior Secretary Ken Salazar said Thursday he has named two high-level officials to oversee a restructuring of an agency that oversees offshore drilling."

"The political ripples from the Gulf of Mexico oil disaster spread in the capital on Thursday as six West Coast senators proposed a permanent ban on drilling in the Pacific...."

"The Minerals Management Service has routinely issued drilling permits in the Gulf of Mexico since 2009 without obtaining other federal permits needed to account for the toll energy exploration would take on endangered species and marine mammals, according to documents obtained by the Washington Post."