Warmer- and drier-than-average conditions dominated much of the United States during the first half of 2007, according to scientists at NOAA’s National Climatic Data Center in Asheville, N.C. The lack of precipitation led to widespread drought, which triggered an early start to the wildfire season, mounting crop losses and local drought emergencies.

Influential senators from both parties, backed by unions and some large electrical utilities, will unveil a new global warming proposal on Wednesday that could form the basis of a climate change compromise that has so far eluded Congress.

Despite a vibrant local economy, Atlanta homeowners are falling behind on mortgage payments and losing their homes at one of the highest rates in the nation, offering a troubling glimpse of what experts fear may be in store for other parts of the country.

On a one-acre site alongside a string of shrimp boats docked on the Brownsville ship channel stands a $2.2 million assembly of pipes, sheds, and humming machinery - Texas' entree into global efforts to make sea water suitable to drink.

A U.S. Senate panel Wednesday began drawing up a sweeping law that would put mandatory caps on greenhouse gas emissions after a key Republican endorsed the idea.

The Senate's passage of an energy bill this week shows that elections matter -- even a slight Democratic majority, with the help of some Republicans, has begun shifting the nation's energy policy from a focus on drilling to conservation and using renewable fuels.

The U.S. Energy Department said on Tuesday it will invest up to $375 million in three new research centers that will develop cellulosic ethanol and other biofuels that will help reduce America's gasoline demand.