Water & Oceans

Some California farmers are depleting the groundwater beneath their land faster than nature can recharge it -- and climate change is likely to make things worse. While farmers resist regulating groundwater use, critics argue that not doing it "could prove catastrophic to the state’s real estate sector and its $36 billion agricultural economy."

The South Florida Water Management District approved Gov. Charlie Crist's deal to buy 73,000 acres of farmland from U.S. Sugar Corp. for $536 million to restore the Everglades.

President Obama issued an executive order empowering EPA to set a more demanding timetable for cleaning up the Chesapeake Bay and to penalize states that fail to meet it.

"Iowa is about to launch its biggest assault ever on river and lake pollution -- a $455 million campaign."

EPA may regulate runoff from the coal ash and sludge from air-pollution-control that power plants store in ponds and piles.