Environment News
Rescuers comb Oklahoma tornado rubble for buried survivors
MOORE, Oklahoma - Rescue workers with sniffer dogs and searchlights combed through the wreckage of a massive tornado to ensure no survivors remained buried in the rubble of primary schools, homes and buildings in an Oklahoma City suburb. | Video
Showers to slow U.S. corn seedings from blistering pace
CHICAGO - Occasional rainfall over the next week to 10 days will slow seedings of the U.S. corn crop, which was planted at a record fast pace last week, an agricultural meteorologist said on Tuesday.
Shell feared disaster days before Alaska rig grounding: official
ANCHORAGE, Alaska - Days before a Shell drillship went aground in the storm-tossed Gulf of Alaska, it was clear that towing failures could spell disaster for the vessel, the crew and the marine environment, a company official told a U.S. Coast Guard panel on Monday.
China says its legal ivory trade not to blame for poaching
BEIJING - China's small traditional trade in carving uses ivory acquired through legal auctions and in no way encourages or worsens the problem of elephant poaching in Africa, a senior Chinese official said on Tuesday.
U.S. pesticide makers seek answers as bee losses sting agriculture
- Monsanto Co is hosting a "Bee Summit." Bayer AG is breaking ground on a "Bee Care Center." And Sygenta AG is funding grants for research into the accelerating demise of honeybees in the United States, where the insects pollinate fruits and vegetables that make up roughly a quarter of the American diet.
Drop in U.S. underground water levels has accelerated: USGS
WASHINGTON - Water levels in U.S. aquifers, the vast underground storage areas tapped for agriculture, energy and human consumption, between 2000 and 2008 dropped at a rate that was almost three times as great as any time during the 20th century, U.S. officials said on Monday.
Insight: The road to a greener America is littered with road-kill
LOS ANGELES - In October 2004, then California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger rolled up to a pioneering fueling station at Los Angeles International Airport in a hydrogen-powered metallic blue Hummer loaned to him by General Motors Corp.
Insight: The fight for North Dakota's fracking-water market
WATFORD CITY, North Dakota - In towns across North Dakota, the wellhead of the North American energy boom, the locals have taken to quoting the adage: "Whiskey is for drinking, and water is for fighting." | Video
Powerful tornadoes strike in four central U.S. states
- A massive storm front swept north through the central United States on Sunday, hammering the region with fist-sized hail, blinding rain and tornadoes, including a half-mile wide twister that struck near Oklahoma City. News reports said at least one person had died. | Video
Analysis: At margins of shale oil boom, a tempered euphoria
HOUSTON/NEW YORK - For the past three years, the boom in the U.S. shale oil industry has outstripped all expectations. Production surged far faster than any forecasts; drillers raced to secure space in new pipelines to get their crude to market.

