Disasters

"Court reduces company's maximum fine a week before trial over blowout that dumped millions of gallons of oil into Gulf of Mexico."

"MORGANTOWN, W.Va. -- The U.S. Department of Labor wants a federal judge to order the immediate shutdown of a potentially dangerous West Virginia coal slurry impoundment it says hasn't been certified by a professional engineer for two years."

"HOUSTON — Unless the Justice Department and BP reach a last-minute settlement, the British oil company will return to court on Monday to face tens of billions of dollars in civil claims from the 2010 explosion on the Deepwater Horizon rig in the Gulf of Mexico that could cripple the company for years to come."

Two new scientific studies explain a paradox: climate change is likely to bring more blizzards but less snow overall. It's physics.

"A new report from the Government Accountability Office elevates the problem of looming gaps in satellite weather data to a 'high risk' concern for the federal government."

"U.S. farmers will plant crops this spring under the shadow of a persistent drought that grips prime farmland from the mississippi river to the rocky mountains, with grain supplies already tight from drought losses in 2012."

"A newly discovered asteroid about half the size of a football field will pass nearer to Earth than any other known object of its size on Friday, giving scientists a rare opportunity for close-up observations without launching a probe."

"Transocean Deepwater Inc. was found guilty by a federal judge Thursday of violating the federal Clean Water Act, based on the company's role in causing the uncontrolled release of 4.9 million barrels of oil into the Gulf of Mexico from BP's Macondo well after Transocean's Deepwater Horizon drilling rig exploded and sank in April 2010."

"The U.S. government is at high risk of financial exposure from climate change, the Government Accountability Office said on Thursday, two days after President Barack Obama vowed to tackle the issue with or without Congress' help."