Pollution

The American Farm Bureau is suing EPA for requiring farmers to clean up agricultural pollution going into Chesapeake Bay.

"Fearful that pollution from a nearby DuPont factory is harming their health and property values, a growing number of Pompton Lakes [NJ] residents want the company to guarantee the price of their homes — or buy them out."

"The Maryland Department of the Environment has formally threatened to sue the operator of three coal-fired power plants in the state for allegedly polluting ground and surface water with coal ash it's dumping in two unlined landfills."

"Bacteria ate nearly all the potentially climate-warming methane that spewed from BP's broken wellhead in the Gulf of Mexico last year, scientists reported on Thursday."

"Oregon is poised to adopt the strictest standard for toxic water pollution in the United States, driven by concerns about tribal members and others who eat large amounts of contaminated fish."

"New Jersey adopted the nation's toughest restrictions on fertilizer Wednesday as part of a package of bills signed into law by Gov. Chris Christie to protect the fragile Barnegat Bay from further pollution."

In many states, polluted wastewater from gas drilling is required to be disposed of thousands of feet underground. But Pennsylvania only requires minimal treatment before the stuff is pumped into rivers and streams from which communities get their drinking water.

New York regulators are working on a new plan that may limit more tightly the use of the pesticide aldicarb -- which has shown up in the shallow aquifer on which Long Island is especially dependent for drinking water.

"The state of Minnesota is suing 3M Co. over its disposal of chemicals previously used to make Scotchgard and other products."