Oil and gas basins in North Dakota and East Texas leaked around 10 percent of natural gas they produced to the atmosphere between 2006 and 2011. Natural gas is composed primarily of methane, a potent greenhouse gas that exacerbates climate change. The leakage rate in the study is the largest reported so far for the energy industry, and it challenged the industry's and U.S. EPA's perception of operations as relatively clean.

A majority of U.S. insurance companies neglect to consider the broad impacts that climate change might have on their business, from threatening investment portfolios to toppling homes, according to an analysis of the industry released today.

BERLIN -- The cold, dreary winters in Germany's capital are taxing, even to a lifelong Berliner like Boris Stanarius.

MORGANTOWN, W.Va. -- The infectious energy the Democratic candidate for West Virginia's open Senate seat, Natalie Tennant, brings to her campaign is mired in the politics of coal, where state Republicans characterize the presidency of Barack Obama as singularly responsible for Appalachia's declining coal fields and the nation's shifting energy portfolio. It's in this arena where Tennant faces an almost impossible uphill climb toward the Nov. 4 election. Ideas about expanding economic growth outside the coal business are overwhelmed by the deluge of debate about which candidate supports coal miners the most. The state has bled jobs in its southern coal-producing counties.

With memories of rotating power outages still fresh in parts of Texas, the state's main grid operator is seeking to temper the effects of a generator's plan to send electricity to Mexico.

U.S. EPA's 2012 designations for what parts of the country meet air quality standards for ozone came under fire in court today, with various states and environmental groups challenging the agency's classifications.

PICEANCE CREEK, Colo. -- When Bill Wille went hunting in the Piceance Basin in the 1980s, it wasn't long before he bagged a trophy buck. Mule deer then were plentiful in the Piceance Creek Basin between Rangely, Meeker and Rifle, numbering upward of 30,000 animals. A license to hunt deer in these rugged mountains of pinyon and juniper trees could be purchased over the counter. But these days, mule deer numbers are only half as large, and hunters wait years to draw a tag to shoot one.

ODESSA, Texas -- Elaine Beadle initially thought the odor creeping into her home on this city's west side was a sewer leak. It started about the time she moved in four years ago -- a smell like rotten eggs. Sometimes it got so bad her eyes burned. She soon learned the real source: a tank battery that collects oil and gas from wells scattered throughout the vacant land and small homes near the intersection of University Drive and Loop 338.