SE (AL AR FL GA KY LA MS NC PR SC TN)

"Coal ash from earlier environmental disaster is causing health concerns for poor African-American residents."

"The Tennessee Valley Authority board of directors voted Thursday to retire the Allen Fossil Plant in Memphis, and a new, combined-cycle natural gas plant will be built nearby."

"North Carolina House and Senate leaders announced a compromise on a stalled coal ash bill late Tuesday, days before legislators end their session."

"CHESAPEAKE, Va. -- Dominion Virginia Power's plan to close its coal-fired power plant on the Elizabeth River would leave nearly a million tons of fly ash in a waste dump that has leaked arsenic and other contaminants into groundwater for more than a decade, company documents show.:"

"COROLLA, N.C. — Retired Washington, D.C., police Officer E.T. Smith patrolled the beach in his four-wheel-drive truck on a recent morning, keeping an eye out for wild mustangs and the drunks who like to harass them."

"Oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico may be contributing to a dramatic dive in the region's oyster harvest. Prices are up and the harvest is down, ever since the 2010 BP oil spill, but the exact cause remains unclear.""

"Louisville residents have watched storms, disease, drought and age kill trees for years. Now, city officials are getting some of the first numbers detailing the extent of the losses."

"The largest red tide bloom seen in Florida in nearly a decade has killed thousands of fish in the Gulf of Mexico and may pose a greater health threat if it washes ashore as expected in the next two weeks, researchers said on Thursday."

"A federal judge in Tennessee has approved a $27.8 million settlement from the Tennessee Valley Authority to more than 800 people affected by a 2008 accident that unleashed a wave of toxic coal sludge, plaintiffs' lawyers said Tuesday."

"Mississippi Power will convert from coal to natural gas or retire several units at plants in south Mississippi and Greene County, Alabama, as part of an agreement to end litigation over construction of a coal-fired power plant in Kemper County."