Pollution

"Less than six months into the job, Ohio Environmental Protection Agency Director Craig Butler grew so weary of Toledo’s mule-like response to long-documented problems at its 73-year-old Collins Park Water Treatment Plant that he entertained the very drastic — and politically explosive — idea of trying to wrest control of it away from the city."

"On Nov. 22, 2006, Paul Jennings received an email from a fellow executive at his chemical company. "As you are aware, Indonesia was planning to go lead free in 2000," the note read. "This obviously did not happen for a number of reasons and since 1st January 2000 until the present, we have supplied 28,390 [tons] of [tetraethyl lead] ... generating $277 million in revenue.""

"CHARLESTON, West Virginia — When coal-cleaning chemicals seeped into West Virginia's biggest water supply in January, the city of Cincinnati had a decision to make 200 miles downstream."

"Imperial Metals describes substance spilled from dam as 'very close to drinking water.'"

"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."

"An email shows federal and provincial authorities allowed Canadian Natural Resources Limited, under investigation for a serious oilsands leak, to collect some evidence in the probe."

"The crisis may have eased in Toledo, but the toxic algae in Lake Erie that contaminated the water supply for 500,000 people in Ohio continues to plague lakes and rivers across the country, including here in Maryland."

"Toxic metal threatens marine life as it accumulates faster in shallow layers than in deep sea due to human activity"

"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."

"This year's low-oxygen "dead zone" along Louisiana coast covers 5,052 square miles, an area the size of the state of Connecticut but about 800 square miles less than the 2013 dead zone, according to a week-long survey released Monday."