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"The scale of operations at the Hanford Site, scene of a multi-billion-dollar cleanup of a half-century of accumulated hazardous waste, cannot fail to impress."

"The effort to reduce the rising pollution levels in Silver Springs could become the model for improving the health of freshwater springs statewide. Recently, Marion County commissioners approved an agreement with state environmental regulators that permits the county to lead the process to determine the ceiling for contaminants at the fabled site."

"In a remote desert spot in northern Nevada, there is a geothermal plant run by a politically connected clean energy start-up that has relied heavily on an Obama administration loan guarantee and is now facing financial turmoil."

"A new plan to curb global warming risks becoming a battleground between rich and poor nations and could struggle to get off the ground as negotiators battle over the fate of the ailing Kyoto climate pact."

Salmonella bacteria are pervasive in much U.S. chicken, and sicken an estimated 1 million people a year.

For many poor families in California's rural San Joaquin Valley, the drinking water that comes from the tap is unhealthful -- often polluted by the same large-scale agriculture that gives them jobs. Pollution of private wells is a problem that spreads nationwide.

Mark Grossi reports for the Fresno Bee October 1, 2011.

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"With the Obama administration about to decide whether to green-light a controversial pipeline to take crude oil from Canada’s oil sands to the United States Gulf Coast, e-mails released Monday paint a picture of a sometimes warm and collaborative relationship between lobbyists for the company building the billion-dollar pipeline and officials in the State Department, the agency that has final say over the pipeline."

The multi-billionaire Koch brothers have financed a big part of today's conservative surge in U.S. politics, and they have a penchant for secrecy. As a result the U.S. news media have reported their opposition to government regulation -- but not the fact that Koch companies have used bribes to win business in Africa, India, and the Middle East, and that they have "sold millions of dollars of petrochemical equipment to Iran, a country the U.S. identifies as a sponsor of global terrorism."

"Earlier this week, I published a post pointing out that the Daily Caller's claim that the EPA plans to hire 230,000 employees to enforce new climate regulations is false. Since then the Daily Caller has quadrupled-down on the claim, despite a number of other outlets -- first Politico, then Greg Sargent's Washington Post blog -- also pointing out that it was flat-out wrong. Now the Caller has published an editor's note that, rather than reasserting the claim, attempts to reframe their entire argument."

Many people have told stories of getting severely sick near natural gas wells, especially ones using the controversial fracking technique. One of the biggest barriers to determining whether the gas production is causing illness is the gas industry's resistance to disclosing the toxic emissions and hazardous wastes they generate.

Abrahm Lustgarten and Nicholas Kusnetz originally reported the story for ProPublica September 16, 2011.

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