"Despite strong pressure from the coal industry and its political allies, the Obama administration on Thursday finalized new guidance aimed at reducing the environmental and public health impacts of mountaintop removal mining in Appalachia."
"An Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis study has found mercury contamination in soil downwind from a coal-fired power plant in Indianapolis, supporting the notion of localized mercury hot spots."
"Federal regulators knew potentially contaminated bark and wood chips were being sold from a Superfund site in the asbestos-tainted town of Libby, Mont., for three years before they stopped the practice, according to a letter from the Environmental Protection Agency to U.S. Sen. Max Baucus."
"Documents and interviews reveal that one Pa. water utility has already leased its watershed to gas drillers — and many others are being courted."
The standards were initially scheduled to be released in August 2010, then October 2010, after EPA determined that the ones approved during the George W. Bush administration weren't grounded in science, didn't protect public health with an adequate margin of safety, and didn't protect the environment.
"New cargo and transport vessels must meet energy efficiency standards and cut carbon pollution, the U.N. agency regulating international shipping decided Friday. The decision came despite opposition from China, India and Brazil."
"State environmental officials are investigating why a pipeline on Alaska's North Slope operated by BP ruptured early Saturday during a pressure test."
"The latest draft of guidelines for hydraulic fracturing in New York could open the door to drilling within 1,000 feet of aging underground tunnels that carry water to New York City -- a far cry from the seven-mile buffer once sought by city officials."
"With a handful of Democratic votes, the House Energy and Commerce Committee passed a bill Wednesday that limits the EPA's ability to regulate coal ash and says coal ash residue deserves little more scrutiny and regulation than municipal trash."
"The Republican-controlled House passed a bill Wednesday that would sharply curtail the federal government's role in protecting waters from pollution by barring the Environmental Protection Agency from overruling state decisions on water quality."
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