"The smoldering international battle over the future of the Kyoto Protocol is a 'legitimately difficult' issue -- but not one that should overshadow the practical work of fighting climate change, U.S. Climate Envoy Todd Stern said yesterday."

The nation's largest advanced sewage treatement plant, Blue Plains in Washington, DC, is spending $400 million to upgrade its sludge-processing to produce "Class A" fertilizer. Critics say the cooked sludge may be free of pathogens, but the real issue may be nutrients like nitrogen or phosphorus, heavy metals like cadmium or lead, and toxic chemicals like PCBs and perfluorochemicals.

"Tokyo Electric Power Co. started the unprecedented and potentially risky measure of allowing water to flood the containment vessels of three troubled reactors at the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant, company sources said."

"The latest phase in the legal fight over offshore drilling permits that was kick-started by last year's Deepwater Horizon disaster begins this week with two back-to-back arguments in a federal appeals court in New Orleans."

As the 25th anniversary of the nuclear disaster at Chernobyl in the Ukraine arrives, its lessons may remain unlearned.

"Texans pride themselves on being the heart of the nation’s oil and gas business. But even here, public concern about natural gas drilling is growing."

"Some of Britain's most cherished spring visitors are disappearing in their thousands. Ornithologists say species such as the cuckoo, nightingale and turtle dove are undergoing catastrophic drops in numbers, although experts are puzzled about the exact reasons for these declines."

"Federal agencies turned in progress reports to the White House this week on their scientific integrity policies, but officials are saying little about how far along agencies have come in protecting scientists' work from political meddling."

"Alarmed by studies showing children are vulnerable to toxic chemicals found in scores of consumer products, the nation's largest pediatrician group is joining a growing campaign to overhaul how the U.S. regulates hazardous substances."