Environment

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Donald Moncayo (left) and Pablo Fajardo extract mud that contains oil from the yard of Mercedes Jimenez in Lago Agrio, Ecuador, in 2008. Ecuadorean President Rafael Correa has sided squarely with the 30,000 plaintiffs, Indians and colonists in a class-action lawsuit, dubbed an Amazon Chernobyl by environmentalists, over the slow poisoning of a Rhode Island-sized expanse of rain forest. (Associated Press)

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Dan Feldheim (left), Scott Hoffenberg (center) and John Smart pass sandbags as residents reinforce the dam in Boulder, Colo., on Sunday. "We've got a lot of broken roads and broken bridges, but we don't have any broken spirits," Gov. John Hickenlooper said. President Obama issued a disaster declaration Sunday.

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Railroad tracks were flooded in Longmont, Colo., during the weekend. The Colorado Transportation Department reported that 30 bridges have been destroyed and damage has not been assessed on several roads. (Associated Press Photographs)

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DISASTER DEEPENS: Dean Beacom works to save his home in Boulder, Colo., on Sunday. The National Weather Service said 1 to 3 inches of rain created a risk of more flooding and mudslides. The disaster has hit 15 counties along the Rocky Mountains. (Associated Press)

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A road crew works on a stretch of highway washed out by flooding along the South Platte River in Weld County, Colorado, near Greeley, on Saturday, Sept. 14, 2013. (AP Photo/John Wark)

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** FILE ** People form a human chain in Barcelona, Spain Wednesday Sept. 11, 2013. Several hundred thousand people demanding an independent Catalonia have joined hands to form a 400-kilometer (250-mile) human chain across the northeastern region of Spain. (Associated Press)

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Suffering from dehydration, local resident Fred Rob gets help from emergency responders after floods left homes and infrastructure in a shambles, in Lyons, Colo., Friday Sept. 13, 2013. (AP Photo/Brennan Linsley)

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New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie (left) signs a hat reading "New Jersey stronger than the storm" worn by Linda Batcho, of Seaside Park, N.J., on Sept. 13, 2013, as the governor visited the are where a day earlier a massive fire burned a large portion of the Seaside Park boardwalk in Seaside Park, N.J. The fire, which apparently started in an ice cream shop and spread several blocks, hit the recently repaired boardwalk, which was damaged last year by Superstorm Sandy. (Associated Press)

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**FILE** Workers load large containers of nectarines for sorting at Eastern ProPak Farmers Cooperative in Glassboro, N.J., on Aug. 27, 2013. (Associated Press)

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** FILE ** In this June 7, 2012, file photo, Steve Cahillane, president of Coca-Cola Americas, makes a point during an interview with The Associated Press while attending the Clinton Global Initiative America gathering in Chicago. Cahillane is scheduled to be at at the Midewin National Tallgrass Prairie in Wilmington, Ill., on Friday, Sept. 13, 2013, to sign a five-year partnership with U.S. Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack to restore watersheds that have been damaged or altered by development, wildfires and agriculture. (AP Photo/M. Spencer Green, File)