California’s dust bowl. Ridgecrest, Calif. is the first city downwind of Owens Lake, a 110-square-mile dry lake covered in PM-10 dust. [News Source]

Not worth the price. The proposed importation of liquefied natural gas by an Australian firm, BHP Billiton, to a giant floating platform 12 nautical miles off of our coast, between Oxnard and Malibu, is a cause for concern. [News Source]

The problem, my friend, is blowin’ … Air conditioning accounts for 16 percent of the average U.S. household's electricity consumption, the Energy Department says -- the same as all lighting, music systems, televisions, videotape and DVD players, desktop computers and printers combined. [News Source]

These lows too high. The summer sun finally goes down. But the cool of the evening never comes in Phoenix, AZ. [News Source]

Austin, can you hear us? As proposals to build 16 coal-fired power plants speed through the permitting process, questions are mounting. [News Source]

People don’t flock to the beaches like they used to. Madison beach attendance has dropped steadily for decades, with most beaches down about 50 percent from seven years ago. [News Source]

Huntington C.A.R.E. opposes plan for biofuels plant. Those involved with C.A.R.E. have different motivations but articulate the same goal: protecting Huntington County from what they see as environmental and economic threats from the proposed biofuels plant. [News Source]

Chemical plant banks on new product line. Owners of a north side chemical plant in Hammond, Indiana hope a new product line will make money and retain jobs at the facility, but the toxic nature of the substances involved requires special approval from the city. [News Source]

Myriad reports pointed to Big Dig’s problems. It was heralded as a jewel of engineering and vision: a network of tunnels eliminating traffic gridlock, reducing air pollution and ushering an economic rebirth for Boston. But itt went awry despite repeated warnings. [News Source]

Soaring temperatures prompt record power use, scattered outages. Triple digit temperatures smashed records across California Saturday, straining thermometers and air conditioners and prompting dozens of scattered electricity outages that left residents sizzling. [News Source]

State’s power supply starting to feel strain from record heat wave. California basted Saturday in a heat wave described by meteorologists as unprecedented, breaking temperature records and pushing the state within a hair's breadth of a power crisis. [News Source]