People & Population

"Former U.S. Environmental Protection Agency chief Lisa Jackson has been hired by Apple as vice president of environmental initiatives."

"CHARLESTON, W.Va. -- A federal bankruptcy judge in St. Louis ruled Wednesday that Patriot Coal can cut health benefits for retired coal miners and their spouses as part of a plan for the company to emerge from bankruptcy."

"FLAGSTAFF, Ariz. --  A uranium mining company seeking a mineral lease on state land in northwestern Arizona could have a hard time transporting the ore off-site because of the Navajo Nation's objections to an industry that left a legacy of death and disease among tribal members."

"Hydraulic fracturing on Indian land may become more difficult under new rules proposed by the Department of the Interior and the Bureau of Land Management."

Drought, loss of water rights, and debt are among the factors causing farmers in India's Maharashtra state to commit suicide.

"At least 800,000 people across the United States live near hundreds of sites that store large amounts of potentially explosive ammonium nitrate, which investigators are blaming as the source of last month's deadly blast at a fertilizer plant in West, Texas, a Reuters analysis shows."