Pollution

"Animal manure, a byproduct as old as agriculture, has become an unlikely modern pollution problem, scientists and environmentalists say."

A deliberately caused oil spill of some 660,000 gallons in Northern Italy snaked down the Po River and reached the province of Parma raising fears of contamination in a farm district that produces Italy's famed prosciutto and parmesan cheese.

"At least 31 more coal-ash impoundments across the country -- including two in West Virginia -- have been found to have polluted nearby groundwater, wetlands and streams, according to a report issued Wednesday by two national environmental groups. The report brings to more than 100 the total number of sites where coal-ash disposal has been linked to contamination of water supplies with toxic pollutants including arsenic, cadmium and selenium."

"General Electric Co. and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency offered different lessons Wednesday on the first year of PCB Hudson River dredging -- starting with how much PCBs were removed."

"State and federal officials were, at one point, looking at almost a complete loss of support from Asarco for projects to clean up contaminated sites. Then, a dramatic recovery of copper prices lead to benefits for Tacoma, Everett, and elsewhere in the state."

"The U.S. House Energy and Commerce Committee said on Thursday it was investigating the potential impact of hydraulic fracturing on the environment and human health."

"A range of health problems are linked to the pits on military bases in Iraq and Afghanistan. Toxic substances have been found in the smoke."

"The cement industry is launching a late push to water down new regulations that would limit the amount of mercury and other hazardous pollutants emitted by their plants."

"Across the country, stormwater runoff hammers thousands of rivers, streams and lakes. Communities are left to struggle with the consequences of too much pavement and too little oversight. Now the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency is gearing up to tighten federal stormwater rules that have been criticized by environmental groups and deemed ineffective by a national panel of researchers."

Growing pollution in the Baltic Sea has been making it unswimmable and contaminating fish. Now Russia has sealed a deal to put a pipeline beneath the Baltic -- with big international repercussions.