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"Tropical Storm Arthur has strengthened into a hurricane taking aim at North Carolina's Outer Banks, a thin ribbon of barrier islands and popular vacation spot, before the Fourth of July holiday."

"FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. — The manatee's 47-year run as an endangered species may soon come to an end, as the federal government assesses whether the tubby marine mammal can look forward to a brighter future."

"The North Carolina Senate gave tentative approval Tuesday to a bill that makes Duke Energy close its 33 coal ash ponds in the state within 15 years, but it blocked a vote on shifting costs away from consumers."

"Florida taxpayers have been left shouldering most of the $2 billion Everglades water pollution cleanup cost, despite a constitutional amendment passed by nearly 70 percent of voters that calls for the sugar industry to pick up its share of the tab."

"In their refrigerators and kitchen cabinets, residents along Leonard Road strive to keep a steady supply of what has become a staple beverage in their community over the past few months."

"There’s no evidence in reports subpoenaed by a federal grand jury that Duke Energy ever performed a simple test engineers recommended, one that might have prevented the spill this winter at the utility’s power plant near Eden."

"Slippersnails, olives, periwinkles, tulips - thousands of species of sea snails live in saltwater off the Lowcountry, uncounted millions of creatures."

"Residents of a rural town east of New Orleans say they are being sickened by a nearby gas and petrochemical facility, and are reaching their third week of pleading with state officials to do something about it."

"RALEIGH, N.C. — Records subpoenaed by federal prosecutors show engineers working for Duke Energy warned the company nearly 30 years before a massive coal ash spill that a stormwater pipe running under an ash dump was made of corrugated metal and needed to be monitored for leaks."