Pollution

"The Ohio General Assembly Wednesday passed a major new measure to clean up Lake Erie pollution and fight the harmful algal blooms that contaminated Toledo’s water last summer."

"The Supreme Court on Wednesday seemed closely divided over the fate of one of the Obama administration’s most ambitious environmental initiatives."

"Scientists are looking for -- and finding -- little bits of plastic in a lot of places lately: ice cores, deep sea sediments, coral reefs, crab gills, the digestive system of mussels, even German beer. Now, new research suggests they need not actually be searching for the man-made material to discover it."

"A House Energy and Commerce subcommittee debated Wednesday whether to undercut the federal Environmental Protection Agency’s rule on disposing of coal ash, a toxic byproduct of burning coal. The debate came just a day before the Sierra Club announced a new lawsuit against Dominion Power over coal ash pits leaking into the Elizabeth River, 25 miles outside Virginia Beach."

"Democrats in the Legislature continued their multi-front effort to block a $225 settlement with Exxon Mobil in a pollution case in which the state originally sought $8.9 billion."

"MINDEN, La. — Just before midnight on Oct. 15, 2012, Sheriff Gary Sexton of Webster Parish was driving home from the airport when the sky lit up like midday. He flipped on his walkie-talkie to hear everyone asking: What on earth were those big booms?"

"The Gulf of Mexico is close to being back to normal and there are no indications of any long-term damage from the 2010 Deepwater Horizon disaster, a BP report released Monday says."

"RALEIGH -- Lawyers for North Carolina environmental groups urged the N.C. Supreme Court on Monday to force Duke Energy to immediately stop the groundwater contamination that’s been seeping for years from Duke’s coal ash pits at 14 sites around the state."

"New Jersey's state Senate passed on Monday a non-binding resolution that asks a judge to reject Governor Chris Christie's $225 million settlement with ExxonMobil, according to the New Jersey legislature website."