Pollution

"The 'dead zone' in the Gulf of Mexico, an area choked by low oxygen levels that threatens marine life, is smaller than expected this year but more deadly, the government said on Monday."

"For decades, one of the nation's most widely used dry cleaning solvents was billed as a marvel of modern chemistry that could safely remove dirt and stains from clothing. ...But over the years, with little if any notice to the public, the often sloppy use of perchloroethylene has poisoned hundreds of sites in Illinois."

"Sewage spills that have contributed to water pollution in San Francisco Bay will be reduced under two settlements reached last week between the nonprofit San Francisco Baykeeper and the Town of Hillsborough and the neighborhood of Burlingame Hills."

Fumes from long-ago industrial activity are still seeping into the homes of some Baltimore-area residents. Those fumes include cancer-causing chemicals like trichloroethylene and perchloroethylene. The site was one of the first Superfund cleanups, but the cleanup was not thorough enough.

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

An abandoned river -- the Trinity -- runs through Dallas. Storms wash old industrial poisons into it via ditches. As poisons accumulated in its sediments, fish became dangerous to eat. "So people stayed away, and over time, it no longer mattered which came first -- the toxic fish or the abandoned river."

"The Environmental Protection Agency, complying with a court order, will develop a rule to guarantee companies that mine everything from copper to uranium will pay for needed environmental cleanup, not taxpayers."

It took a lawsuit by residents of Sunburst, Montana, to start cleanup of an underground spill of gasoline that took place 50 years earlier.