As Christmas approaches former tobacco country in rural Prince George's County, Maryland, a food bank helps poor people living in trailers, discarded campers, and even tents. It's not just food, blankets, and clothing that they need. They need kerosene, propane, heating oil, and firewood. They do not qualify for federal low-income fuel assistance. They do not have plumbing or electricity. It is 23 degress outside and they are 23 miles from the White House.

"Reacting to a French pledge to represent the 'common interest' in considering biotech foods, a former US ambassador recommended publishing a 'retaliation list' of European locations where genetically modified organisms (GMOs) were being grown in hopes that activists would destroy them and 'cause some pain' for officials, a leaked diplomatic cable shows."

"U.S. ethanol makers face a battle over reforming subsidies next year after current incentives are rolled over in the tax package signed into law by President Barack Obama on Friday."

"The Obama administration is looking to the Cowboy State as a model for fracturing disclosure on federal lands in the West. Interior Department officials figure it would be hard to argue against an approach developed in petroleum-friendly Wyoming."

"The Senate on Sunday night cleared a food safety package, curbing earlier fears the popular bill would die by the end of this session as a result of a procedural error by upper chamber lawmakers."

A cammo-clad daughter of Plaquemines Parish, Albertine Kimble guides her airboat through coastal marshes forgetten by BP's PR blitz to find the oil. She has neither forgotten nor forgiven.

"An environmental group that analyzed the drinking water in 35 cities across the United States, including Bethesda and Washington, found that most contained hexavalent chromium, a probable carcinogen that was made famous by the film 'Erin Brockovich.'"

"The White House Office of Science and Technology Policy on Friday issued long-awaited guidelines to prevent political interference in science and promote transparency at federal agencies, a move that drew cautious praise from activists in the scientific community who had been dismayed by an 18-month delay at the science office."

"An effort to fight an invasive plant with insects that eat it has drawn opposition from beekeepers who worry it will leave them without an adequate source of nectar and pollen for their honeybees."

"Two years after the disastrous coal ash spill in Kingston, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency is on the verge of enacting the first federal standards for the disposal of ash from coal-fired power plants."