Critical List: Floods herald largest Gulf dead zone on record; the Senate hearts ethanol

Louisiana fishermen can't catch a break. Flooding on the Mississippi River could create the largest dead zone in the Gulf of Mexico on record.

Louisiana, in general, can't catch a break. A plant that blends chemicals used in oilfields exploded on Tuesday.

The Senate decided against ending subsidies for corn-based ethanol in a vote that split, not just along party lines, but also between Big Ag states and everyone else.

Google's newest clean energy investment hands $280 million to a solar company that leases panels to customers.

And Japan's richest man is promising to invest some of his telecommunications company's profits in solar power stations. Maybe the tide will turn from rich people being really into oil to rich people being really into solar energy.

The Department of Defense, which ships tanks all over the world, blows things up, and contains agencies like the NSA which mysteriously use more power than anyone can imagine, has a plan to be more energy efficient.

If the world's going to demand more protein-rich flesh to eat, let it be farmed fish, Conservation International says. It's not perfect, but it has less of an impact than cattle, pork, or poultry farming, according to the group.

Republicans who believe in climate change: no longer an oxymoron.