Residents of contaminated town wary of government efforts
By MARTHA WAGGONER In the little town of Navassa, work has always been hard and dirty. From antebellum rice plantations to Jim Crow-era fertilizer factories and more recently, a massive…
Water environment
South Carolina still on edge from floods; 2 die in truck
By ADAM BEAM and MEG KINNARD It could take until the weekend for the threat of flooding to ease in storm-tattered South Carolina, where a senator warned of a potential…
Drinking water systems imperiled by failing infrastructure
By RYAN J. FOLEY Deep inside a 70-year-old water-treatment plant, drinking water for Iowa’s capital city is cleansed of harmful nitrates that come from the state’s famously rich farmland. Without…
Fired regulator: Brown pushed to waive oil safeguards.
By ELLEN KNICKMEYER California’s top oil and gas regulators repeatedly warned Gov. Jerry Brown’s senior aides in 2011 that the governor’s orders to override key safeguards in granting oil industry…
Far below South Dakota, a cave holds pure, promising water
By KEVIN BURBACH Hundreds of feet beneath the Black Hills, a team of scientists and researchers snake through dark, narrow and silent corridors of ancient rock to reach their goal:…
Sailing body to test for viruses in Rio Olympic venue
By STEPHEN WADE The governing body of world sailing says it will start doing its own independent testing for viruses in Rio’s Olympic waters after an Associated Press investigation showed…
Pope’s stance leaks; calls for urgent action on environment
By NICOLE WINFIELD A draft copy of Pope Francis’ eagerly awaited encyclical on the environment calls for urgent action to protect the Earth and fight global warming, which the pope…
W.Va. oil train derailment was 1 of 3 with safer tank cars
By JOHN RABY and JONATHAN MATTISE The fiery derailment of a train carrying crude oil in West Virginia is one of three in the past year involving tank cars that…