Public

"A group of 14 Midwestern electric utilities continued its push today for a different direction on global warming legislation, asking the Senate's lead climate negotiators to get a full economic study on their bill for businesses and consumers in coal-dependent states."

"In a move that it says will save money and is a practical strategy for monitoring the state's waterways, the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality has proposed loosening its water quality standards."

"Do researchers have an obligation to help the general public understand the relevance of their work? One academic thinks so – despite sporting scars from his effort."

Three years after "colony collapse disorder," a still-mysterious syndrome that kills whole beehives, commercial beekeepers are struggling to provide pollination for the nation's crops.

"Water quality downstream from surface coal-mining operations in West Virginia and Kentucky greatly exceeds recommended toxicity limits, according to previously unreleased sampling data from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency."

"A federal judge has sided with a Midwestern energy company, agreeing to dismiss allegations of Clean Air Act violations at five Illinois coal-fired power plants and partially dismiss claims of violations at a sixth plant."

The failure of aging water and sewer pipes damages streets and homes and causes pollution to seep into drinking water supplies in many cities across the country. The only solution may require higher water bills for consumers.

"Facing foreclosure, Gail Litz, 61, has sued the town of Goldsboro, Caroline County and the state, seeking millions of dollars in compensation and to halt the seeping sewage that is fouling her lake and forced her to close Lake Bonnie Campsites." The Maryland Department of the Environment ordered the town to build a public sewer system or pay fines of $100 per day if it didn't meet the deadlines. "Fourteen years later, the pollution continues unchecked. No fines have been collected. The lake remains contaminated."

"A political battle is heating up between Florida and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency over how best to clean up the state's polluted waters."

"Illinois is moving to phase out the use of perchloroethylene, or perc, a common dry-cleaning chemical linked to cancer, liver damage and neurological problems."