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"BANGKOK -- Efforts to curb the sale of ivory and rhino horns were voted down on Thursday at an international wildlife summit in Bangkok."

"Over the objections of environmentalists, community groups and neighboring Long Beach officials, Los Angeles harbor commissioners on Thursday approved a $500-million rail yard that could dramatically boost business but also drive more noise and dirty air into schools, parks and low-income neighborhoods."

"MADISON, Wisc. -- Assembly Republicans sent Gov. Scott Walker a bill Thursday that could clear the way for a miles-long iron ore mine in northern Wisconsin, handing the GOP governor a victory that eluded him last year."

"Russian scientists believe they have discovered new life forms sealed off for millions of years in a subglacial lake deep under the Antarctic ice, the RIA news agency reported on Thursday."

"CARRIZO SPRINGS, Tex. -- In this South Texas stretch of mesquite trees and cactus, where the land is sometimes too dry to grow crops, the local aquifer is being strained in the search for oil. The reason is hydraulic fracturing, or fracking, a drilling process that requires massive amounts of water."

"Tesla Motors Inc., which received $465 million in U.S. Energy Department loans to develop and build electric cars, will repay the funds five years ahead of schedule in a plan approved by the government."

"Despite record heat and extreme weather disasters in recent years, insurers aren't adequately planning for climate change, according to a report issued Thursday. Only 13 percent of insurance companies have a 'specific, comprehensive strategy' to deal with global warming."

"Almost one-in-six U.S. nuclear reactors experienced safety breaches last year due in part to poor oversight by federal regulators, according to the Union of Concerned Scientists."

"Incidents including a cooling water leak and unusual wear on steam generator tubes were reported at 16 units owned by companies including Entergy Corp. (ETR) and Edison International (EIX), the Cambridge, Massachusetts-based environmental group said in its third annual report on reactor safety released today.

A new reconstruction of the global temperature over the past 11,000 years only confirms the unprecedented warming shown in the "hockey stick" graph which has become the target of anti-science climate deniers.

"President Obama's nominee for Interior secretary was grilled this morning over how she would balance conservation and development on hundreds of millions of acres of public lands, whether she would support a carbon tax and how she would regulate the controversial technique of hydraulic fracturing."

"Sally Jewell, the CEO of outdoor retail giant REI, was also criticized by some Republican senators over her role as a board member of the National Parks Conservation Association and her support of outgoing Interior Secretary Ken Salazar's former "wild lands" policy.