National (U.S.)

"When people urge the removal of dams they say are strangling rivers in the West, it’s usually fish they’re worried about. Studies of dam-removal projects show that migratory species like salmon respond quickly to improved conditions once a dam is removed. But the removal of a dam on the Elwha River in northern Washington State — the largest such project in the United States — is demonstrating that there can be another beneficiary: the beach."

"Blasting the Environmental Protection Agency for "egregious" delay in the face of an acknowledged threat to human health, a U.S. appeals court has given the agency an Oct. 31 deadline to issue a full and final response to environmentalists' 2007 petition to take the neurotoxin chlorpyrifos off the market."

"The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is planning to fix by this spring the problem that caused the Supreme Court to rule against its major air pollution regulation in July."

"The Federal Railroad Administration plans to impose big penalties on railroads that fail to meet a year-end deadline to install a new collision avoidance system, including more than 70 percent of the nation’s commuter railroads."

"Ohio Gov. John Kasich suggested that man-made climate change may not be real and that action to fight it could kill jobs during an interview on NBC's Meet the Press on Sunday."

"Keena Kimmel's bookshop occupies a cozy curve along the Animas River, a place of wild sunflowers and lilacs where fisherman try their luck and kayakers glide under iron bridges. But this weekend the river was empty and Kimmel's heart broken."

"Coca-Cola, the world’s largest producer of sugary beverages, is backing a new 'science-based' solution to the obesity crisis: To maintain a healthy weight, get more exercise and worry less about cutting calories."

"When the Ocean View school district in Orange County, Calif., began to modernize its facilities last year, school officials and taxpayers got an unwelcome surprise."

"Heat-trapping pollution from U.S. power plants hit a 27-year low in April, the Department of Energy announced Wednesday."

"SALISBURY, Md. — The floors are spotless in Hatchery 3 on the sprawling Perdue compound here. Doors have been rehung to open out, and temperature control and ventilation systems have been upgraded, all to minimize the potential for airborne contamination."