"HOUSTON -- A federal agency investigating a deadly explosion at a Texas fertilizer plant told a Senate committee Thursday that regulation of the dangerous chemicals used in the industry fall under a 'patchwork' of standards that are decades old and are far weaker than rules used by other countries."
"Exxon Mobil Corp.'s bid to shield from public view its inspection results for a shuttered pipeline that leaked at least 5,000 barrels of heavy Canadian oil sands crude in Arkansas this spring is galvanizing a debate over transparency and spill readiness that could affect the future of Keystone XL."
"A potentially deadly heat wave is expected to bear down on some Arizona and California desert areas in the next few days, forecasters said on Wednesday."
"Tokyo Electric Power Co. said radioactive water may still be leaking into the sea from the crippled Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant after enhanced levels of radioactive tritium were detected in the port area in front of the facility."
"ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. -- A furious wildfire torching through the mountains of southern New Mexico's Gila National Forest has grown to 127 square miles, forcing some ranchers to ship their cattle out of state as the blaze burns through entire grazing areas."
"NEW ORLEANS — BP is placing full-page advertisements in three of the nation’s largest newspapers on Wednesday as the company mounts an aggressive campaign to challenge what could be billions of dollars in settlement payouts to businesses after its 2010 oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico."
"While residents of Medicine Hat anxiously wait for swelling river waters to recede, flooding in Calgary has left the city’s economy in shambles."
"A trio of wind-driven wildfires roared unchecked across 76,000 acres of national forest in southwest Colorado on Monday and firefighters held the line against flames threatening the mountain town of South Fork."
"For 27 years, forests around Chernobyl have been absorbing radioactive elements. A fire would send them skyward again – a growing concern as summers grow longer, hotter and drier."
"In 2006, the EPA’s Chicago office told Midwestern fertilizer dealers it found problems with nearly all their safety plans for poisonous anhydrous ammonia. Fix them, the EPA wrote the dealers, or face possible fines."
