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Policies that allow small producers of alternative energy to sell it to utilities at or above market rates art catching on in the U.S. They could help revolutionize energy production.

"Back in the 1980s and 90s, dozens of communities across the US built incinerators to get rid of their trash. Many of them financed the massive furnaces with bonds they're just now paying off. And now that those debts are off their books, some cities are re-thinking whether burning trash makes environmental and economic sense."

"The environmental damage caused by mountaintop removal mining across Appalachia has been well documented. But scientists are now beginning to understand that the mining operations’ most lasting damage may be caused by the massive amounts of debris dumped into valley streams."

With a push from EPA and some stimulus money, two contaminated Alaskan mines will be cleaned up.

"Imported insects have been deployed as foot soldiers in the fight against invasive bugs and plants that cause billions of dollars in damage each year. But some of those imports are proving to be pests themselves that upset the balance of nature and threaten native species."

"Tops and tails are becoming much more than garbage at Gills Onions, an onion processor in Oxnard, Calif. Today marks the unveiling of the company's onion-powered electrical system, a first-of-its-kind initiative to turn onion waste into energy."

"The Colorado River system -- which 30 million people depend on for drinking and irrigation water -- could fully deplete all of its reservoir storage by the middle of the century, a new University of Colorado study shows."

"Fruit and nut orchards in the Central Valley rely on winter chilling hours, but those are in decline, according to a UC Davis study."

"World climate negotiators will gather in Bonn next month to edit an 'indigestible' set of proposals into a manageable document for international consideration, the head of a key U.N. panel said on Tuesday."

Having learned from past efforts to pass climate legislation, Senate Environment Committee Chairwoman Barbara Boxer (D-CA) is trying to increase buy-in by encouraging six other committees to stake a claim on the bill.