Environment

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In this Dec. 15, 2011 photo, Michael Reed fills his gas tank at a station in Charlotte, N.C. The retail price of gasoline averaged more than $3.50 per gallon for the year, a record. Drivers cut back where they could, driving less and switching to more fuel efficient cars. (AP Photo/Chuck Burton)

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Commuters ride a crowded bus in July. Lima has a new rapid transit bus system powered by natural gas, but an older fleet of buses spewing air pollution hasn't gone out of service yet. Air pollution in the capital exceeds World Health Organization limits ninefold. (Associated Press)

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Soldiers and health workers carry the body of a flash-flood victim in preparation for a mass burial at a public cemetery on Monday in Iligan city, southern Philippines. Tropical storm Washi blew away Monday after devastating the southern Philippines with flash floods that killed hundreds of people as they slept and turned two coastal cities into a muddy wasteland filled with overturned cars and uprooted trees. (Associated Press)

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A National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration satellite image taken on Monday, Dec. 19, 2011, at 12:45 a.m. EST shows cloud cover over the Southwest as low pressure over the region kicks up a mix of rain, freezing rain and snow. (AP Photo/Weather Underground)

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Conservators examine a portion of the Dead Sea Scrolls containing the Ten Commandments before the scrolls' installation at Discovery Times Square in New York for a 10-day exhibition. (Associated Press)

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** FILE ** Dry cask units store nuclear fuel at the Vermont Yankee nuclear power plant in Vernon, Vt., in June 2009. (AP Photo/Toby Talbot, File)

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The oil-drilling platform Kolskaya is seen in the Sea of Okhotsk off Russia's Far East coast in an undated photograph. (AP Photo/Arktikmorneftegazrazvedka)

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Farmers work in a field outside the eastern coastal city of Wonsan, North Korea, on Saturday, Oct. 8, 2011. (AP Photo/David Guttenfelder)

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Police carry the body of a victim by a flash flood that hit Cagayan de Oro city, Philippines, Saturday, Dec. 17, 2011. A tropical storm triggered flash floods in the southern Philippines, killing scores of people and missing more. Mayor Lawrence Cruz of nearby Iligan said the coast guard and other rescuers were scouring the waters off his coastal city for survivors or bodies that may have been swept to the sea by a swollen river. (AP Photo/Froilan Gallardo)

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"Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows" stars Robert Downey Jr. (left) as Holmes, Jude Law (right) as Dr. Watson and Noomi Rapace in director Guy Ritchie's stylized reimagining of Arthur Conan Doyle's beloved sleuth. (Warner Bros. Pictures via Associated Press)

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A US Marine signs an Iraqi flag on his way to Tikrit in Northern Iraq Monday, April 14, 2003. ( J.M. Eddins Jr. / The Washington Times )

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US Marine Sgt. Rodney Tedder scouts out Highway 1 before a convoy he was in set out to resupply Marines fighting in Tikrit in Northern Iraq Monday, April 14, 2003. ( J.M. Eddins Jr. / The Washington Times )

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A US Marine walks through the rubble of the Iraqi Parliment Building in Saddam Hussein's Palace complex near the Tigris River Saturday, April 12, 2003. ( J.M. Eddins Jr. / The Washington Times )

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An Iraqi boy tries to pull down a statue of Saddam Hussein near burning government buildings in Baghdad, Iraq Friday, April 11, 2003. ( J.M. Eddins Jr. / The Washington Times )

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A dead Iraqi lies near a destroyed surface-to-air missle near where the1st Marine Division crossed into Baghdad over blown bridges crossing the Diyala River after 8th ESB spanned the damaged sections with bridging equipment in Baghdad, Iraq Tuesday, April 8, 2003. ( J.M. Eddins Jr. / The Washington Times )

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US Marine MP Lance Cpl. Joel Swenson attached to 1st Marines 4th Marine Division directs Baghdad citizens away from convoy routes near the Diyala River in Baghdad, Iraq Wednesday, April 9, 2003. ( J.M. Eddins Jr. / The Washington Times )

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US Marine convoys pass the burned out hulk of an Iraqi armored personnel carrier near the Diyala River in Baghdad, Iraq Wednesday, April 9, 2003. ( J.M. Eddins Jr. / The Washington Times )

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Iraqi citizens greet US Marine Col. J. J. Pomfret of CSSG 11 ( Combat Service Support Group 11 ) near one of Saddam Hussein's palaces on the east bank of the Tigris River in Baghdad, Iraq, Saturday, April 12, 2003. ( J.M. Eddins Jr. / The Washington Times )

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Tan Liang carries a PM2.5 detector toward a garbage-burning facility near his residential compound in Beijing. Residents are demanding the right to know what the government does not tell them: just how polluted their city is. (Associated Press)