"Over 3,000 square miles (7,770 sq kms) in Alaska would be protected as critical habitat for the endangered Cook Inlet beluga whale, under a proposal issued on Tuesday by the U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration."

"A new top inspector took charge Tuesday of the International Atomic Energy Agency as it faces one of the most turbulent periods in its 52-year history." Also: "The newly elected chemical weapons chief says he will pursue the last seven holdouts — including Israel, Egypt and Syria — to get them to sign a disarmament treaty and submit weapons stockpiles for inspection."

Sandstorms reminiscent of the 1930s dustbowl are becoming more common in Navajo country -- and climate change seems to be a culprit.

"Twenty-five years ago Thursday, a leak of the chemical methyl isocyanate -- MIC -- killed thousands of people who lived near a Union Carbide plant in Bhopal, India. It was the worst industrial disaster in history. Since then, residents of the Kanawha Valley have lived with and periodically complained about the huge stockpile of MIC at a sister facility, the former Carbide plant in Institute."

"Two environmental groups petitioned U.S. EPA today to set national limits for greenhouse gases using the Clean Air Act."

"A large Southern utility said Tuesday that it would close 30 percent of its North Carolina coal-fired power plants by 2017, a step that represents a bet that natural gas prices will stay acceptably low and that stricter rules are coming on sulfur dioxide emissions, which cause acid rain."

"The heads of the world's largest international financial institutions today called for a comprehensive agreement to combat climate change at this month's United Nations conference in Copenhagen and agreed to further coordinate their own efforts to help achieve the meeting's ambitious goals."

Cleanup of polluting runoff from abandoned mines in Colorado and elsewhere is stalled by a legal paradox.

"BP Plc on Tuesday began cleaning up an oil spill from a leaky Alaskan pipeline, but said it has not determined what caused the leak or how much material spilled onto the snow-covered tundra."