Pollution

The Obama White House issued a strong statement Wednesday opposing a bill by Rep. David McKinley (R-WV) that would prevent the Environmental Protection Agency from regulating the disposal of coal ash. A 2008 failure of a TVA coal-ash in Kingston, Tennessee, caused major property and environmental damage. EPA administrator Lisa Jackson took office vowing to regulate coal-ash pollution, but has delayed action under White House and industry pressure.

EPA's official investigation of a massive 2009 fish kill in West Virginia's Dunkard Creek ended by blaming the pollution squarely on Consol Energy's Blacksville No. 2 mine. But an EPA biologist said that coal mine drainage alone was not enough to explain the problem -- and that contamination of mine pools by methane and water from the Marcellus Shale formation was possibly an additional cause.

"LANCASTER COUNTY, Pa. -- An Amish farmer examines young trees and shrubs he planted last fall along the stream running through his farm. A few trees are starting to peak from shelters built to protect them from pests and 'green death,' when new trees are swallowed up by old growth. When the trees and shrubs are fully grown, they'll form a buffer to keep grazing animals and stormwater carrying manure fertilizers out of the water."

"For more than half a century, International Molasses Corp. has sold its product to bakeries and manufacturers that use the sticky syrup in cookies and candy.  But recently, the Saddle Brook company found a new and unexpected market — at contaminated industrial sites, where the molasses literally gets pumped into the soil."

"DETROIT -- At a time when many government programs are fighting for survival, there's one place the money is still flowing for now: the Great Lakes."

"The controversial proposed path of the TransCanada Keystone XL oil pipeline across Nebraska is unlikely to change, company officials said Tuesday."

"WASHINGTON — With the formal debate over on Friday, a decision on an oil pipeline that will cross America's heartland and open up a greater market for Canada's oil sands now rests with Secretary of State Hillary Clinton."

"TRAVERSE CITY, Mich. -- A one-two punch of excessive nutrients and ravenous mussels is causing a sharp drop-off in Great Lakes fish populations and the worst outbreak of algae blooms in decades, says a report released Tuesday."

"Several environmental groups sued Arizona Public Service Co. and the other owners of the Four Corners Power Plant in New Mexico on Tuesday, seeking to shut down the power plant if they won't add additional pollution controls to the facility."

"An environmental group accused Republican Rep. Steve Pearce of New Mexico of inciting a county in his district to flout federal environmental laws by bulldozing 47 road crossings through a stretch of the San Francisco River in the Gila National Forest."