Environment

DOHA.jpg

Qatar's Deputy Prime Minister Abdullah bin Hamad Al-Attiyah speaks at the opening session of the United Nations Climate Change conference in Doha, Qatar, Monday, Nov. 26, 2012. (AP Photo/Osama Faisal)

20121126-201634-pic-295298288.jpg

The most notable instance in the ongoing public relations war centers on the upcoming Matt Damon movie “Promised Land,” which tells the story of small American towns ruined by fracking. (Associated Press)

20121126-201634-pic-956733580.jpg

Actor Mark Ruffalo holds a bottle of well water from Dimock, Pa., during a rally in Albany, N.Y., last spring. The group is one of many calling on Gov. Andrew Cuomo to ban hydraulic fracturing, for gas in the Marcellus Shale region. (Associated Press)

20121126-182359-pic-297120109.jpg

Organizers gather at the opening of the 18th United Nations climate change conference in Doha, Qatar, on Monday. (Associated Press)

TREE_6598_20121126

A 9,000-pound, 74-year-old, 73-foot Engelmann spruce, driven 5,500 miles from White River National Forest in Meeker, Colo., is moved into position on the West Lawn of the U.S. Capitol as this year's Capitol Christmas Tree, in Washington on Monday, Nov. 26, 2012. (Andrew Harnik/The Washington Times)

TREE_6596_20121126

Workers begin to unhook a 9,000-pound, 74-year-old, 73-foot Engelmann spruce, driven 5,500 miles from White River National Forest in Meeker, Colo., on the West Lawn of the U.S. Capitol as this year's Capitol Christmas Tree, in Washington on Monday, Nov. 26, 2012. (Andrew Harnik/The Washington Times)

TREE_6593_20121126

A 9,000-pound, 74-year-old, 73-foot Engelmann spruce, driven 5,500 miles from White River National Forest in Meeker, Colo., is moved into position on the West Lawn of the U.S. Capitol as this year's Capitol Christmas Tree, in Washington on Monday, Nov. 26, 2012. (Andrew Harnik/The Washington Times)

TREE_6591_20121126

A 9,000-pound, 74-year-old, 73-foot Engelmann spruce, driven 5,500 miles from White River National Forest in Meeker, Colo., is moved into position on the West Lawn of the U.S. Capitol as this year's Capitol Christmas Tree, in Washington on Monday, Nov. 26, 2012. (Andrew Harnik/The Washington Times)

TREE_6590_20121126

A 9,000-pound, 74-year-old, 73-foot Engelmann spruce, driven 5,500 miles from White River National Forest in Meeker, Colo., is moved into position on the West Lawn of the U.S. Capitol as this year's Capitol Christmas Tree, in Washington on Monday, Nov. 26, 2012. (Andrew Harnik/The Washington Times)

POW_6568_20121119

Construction crews start work on the 1,000-yard outer fence that will run along the perimeter of the Washington Monument in Washington on Monday, Nov. 19, 2012. The monument has been closed since Aug. 25, 2011, when a 5.8-magnitude earthquake occurred less than 100 miles southwest of the city. The repairs will occur in conjunction with the Mall Renovation Project that was already scheduled. The scaffolding and construction work will start soon after the fence is in place. (Craig Bisacre/The Washington Times)

Mideast Qatar Climate_Lea.jpg

South African Foreign Minister Maite Nkoana-Mashabane speaks at the opening session of the U.N. Climate Change conference in Doha, Qatar, on Monday, Nov. 26, 2012. (AP Photo/Osama Faisal)

20121125-183750-pic-937869353.jpg

Inspectors stand in debris on Saturday at the site of a gas explosion that leveled a strip club in Springfield, Mass., on Friday. Probers were trying to figure out what caused the blast where the building housing Scores Gentleman’s Club once stood. (Associated Press)

20121125-175917-pic-724609486.jpg

Concrete slabs that once supported a boardwalk lie exposed after the wrath of Superstorm Sandy, which washed away millions of tons of sand and devastated beaches along the New Jersey coastline. (Associated Press)

20121125-174356-pic-535213260.jpg

Thomas Pietsch, site manager for Nukem Technologies, a firm contracted for decommissioning projects for Lithuania’s Soviet-era nuclear power plant, points to the unfinished nuclear fuel storage facility near the power plant in Visaginas. There is still fuel inside one of the reactors. (Associated Press)