House Republicans want to defund all kinds of environmental activity — the EPA, the Department of the Interior, the Forest Service. You know, just anything having to do with the outside.

And the USDA thinks that bioengineered bluegrass doesn't fall within its regulatory sphere, which means companies could grow the stuff without any regulation.

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Exposing mice to air pollution makes them dumber and more depressed.

So it's probably good for everyone that the EPA is putting new regulations on coal-fired power plants that should reduced emissions of sulfur dioxide by 73 percent and nitrogen oxides by 54 percent from 2005 levels. Should Republicans succeed in cutting the agency’s budget yet again, this action could be little more than an empty gesture, though.

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California community groups say that the EPA is not concerned enough about toxic waste dumps in low-income communities. Man, they get it going and coming.

Chinese miners are trapped or missing after a fire, a cave-in, and flooding in a few mines across the country. And Chinese authorities first kept quiet, then played down, the existence of an oil spill covering an area half the size of London.

After a series of anti-logging activists were assassinated, Brazil decided that maybe it should provide some sort of protection to the rest of them.

Virginia's senators have oil spill envy.

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Don't touch this plant! Its sap will blind you.