National (U.S.)

"WASHINGTON — A string of fiery train derailments across the country has triggered a high-stakes but behind-the-scenes campaign to shape how the government responds to calls for tighter safety rules. Billions of dollars are riding on how these rules are written, and lobbyists from the railroads, tank car manufacturers and the oil, ethanol and chemical industries have met 13 times since March with officials at the White House and the Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration."

"A federal appeals court today sided with U.S. EPA in a broad challenge from two states and the mining industry to controversial Obama administration policies aimed at addressing the environmental effects on waterways of mountaintop-removal coal mining."

"Trout caught in Torch Lake, Mich., are not safe to eat. Groundwater in Baldwin, Fla., is not safe to drink. Six acres of land in Bridgewater, Mass., are not safe to live on."

"ELSBERRY -- After driving several miles along a winding rural road west of this Mississippi River town, Denny Mertz finds what he’s looking for. The retired engineer, turned full-time farmer, stops next to a neighbor’s field covered in soybeans — and something sinister."

"After potentially serious back-to-back laboratory accidents, federal health officials announced Friday that they had temporarily closed the flu and anthrax laboratories at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta and halted shipments of all infectious agents from the agency’s highest-security labs."

"On Monday, the Heartland Institute convened its Ninth International Climate Change Conference in Las Vegas. A Chicago-based, non-profit free-market think tank with a $6 million annual budget, Heartland has been hosting conferences for those dubious of the science confirming human-caused climate change since 2008."

"A coalition of green groups plan to urge President Obama and senators to oppose a bill reauthorizing the Export-Import Bank over its roll-back of restrictions for financing overseas coal plants."

"The Senate killed a bipartisan bill Thursday designed to boost hunting and fishing protections — a victim of a long-running war over amendments that came in the shadow of gun politics."

"Over the past five years, the Obama administration has repeatedly called for cutting fossil fuel subsidies in the form of tax breaks and other incentives. But the amount of money the federal government forfeits through subsidies has increased steadily over that time period, reaching $18.5 billion last year, according to a new report from the environmental group Oil Change International."

"Coal has assumed out-sized importance in the upcoming election as a devastating sequence of mine shut downs and job losses in eastern Kentucky have put the region up for grabs"