"Two years after the worst offshore oil spill in U.S. history, Congress is poised to steer a large chunk of the fines that will be paid by BP - up to $21 billion by one estimate - to the Gulf Coast to help restore coastal ecosystems and rebuild economies in the region."
"U.S. oil companies will be allowed to drill in more areas of the Gulf of Mexico but won only limited access to the Arctic under the final version of the Obama Administration's five year drilling plan that was slammed by industry and some environmentalists."
"The devastating wildfires in Colorado have provided a showcase for the latest technology in mapping and tracking emergencies. ESRI and Google Maps are presenting maps of the fires that the two companies continuously update, demonstrating an increasingly popular method for disseminating emergency information."
"This last week, record temperatures and wildfires have scorched the western United States. The National Climate Data Center reports that 41 heat records (at various of 6,027 weather stations around the country) have been broken or tied since Sunday, mostly in Colorado, Kansas and Nebraska, which is quite unusual for this time of year."
"MIDDLEPORT, N.Y. -- A massive arsenic cleanup project could affect the entire village of Middleport. The soil in yards, gardens and even a school campus may have to be dug up and carted away.
How big of an area are we talking about? The village is similar in size to about 500 football fields - and that's a lot of dirt. Residents learned what's in store Wednesday night.
"When Pennsylvania passed a state law that stripped local authority over where potentially hazardous natural gas wells could be drilled, cities and townships decided to take matters into their own hands."
"OTTAWA — Alberta-based Enbridge can't say what impact millions of dollars in cuts to federal environmental emergency staff would have on its oil-spill response plan for the Northern Gateway pipeline project, even though the plan relies partly on federal help if a spill were to occur."
"Climate sceptic mining billionaire's bid for control of Fairfax Media threatens its journalists' editorial independence."
"Wheat prices rose Wednesday as the hot, dry summer continued to take its toll on crops in the U.S. and Russia."
"Scientists say that the latest observations suggest that Arctic sea ice cover is continuing to shrink and thin."
