Environment

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Montreal skyline, with Old Montreal in the foreground, as seen from the Parc olympique de Montréal across the St. Joseph River. (The Washington Times)

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Washington Attorney General Bob Ferguson, left, speaks as Gov. Jay Inslee looks on during a news conference, Thursday, Dec. 8, 2016, in Seattle, where Ferguson announced a lawsuit against agrochemical giant Monsanto over pollution from PCBs, Washington says it's the first U.S. state to sue Monsanto over pollution from PCBs. The chemicals, polychlorinated biphenyls, were used in many industrial and commercial applications, including in paint, coolants, sealants and hydraulic fluids. PCB contamination impairs rivers, lakes and bays around the country. (AP Photo/Elaine Thompson)

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FILE - In this Sept. 7, 2016 file photo, Alaska Marijuana Control Office Director Cynthia Franklin, left, listens as the agency's chief enforcement officer, James Hoelscher, testifies before the Alaska Marijuana Control Board during a meeting in Anchorage, Alaska. Franklin, who helped guide Alaska's work in setting up the state's legal marijuana industry, is resigning as director of the Alcohol and Marijuana Control Office. (AP Photo/Mark Thiessen, File)

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FILE- In this Jan. 7, 2016 file photo, a tourist watches a manatee being rehabilitated at Miami Seaquarium in Miami. Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission stated in a preliminary report, Thursday, Dec. 8, 2016, that 98 manatees died by watercraft strikes between Jan. 1 and Dec. 2. The previous record was 97 in 2009. (AP Photo/Wilfredo Lee, File)

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In this Thursday, Nov. 10, 2016 photo, Tim Dobbins, manager of grower training and support, shows off a raft of lettuce grown with an aquaponics system, in Montello, Wis. Water to grow plants is the same water used to grow fish, that are raised in separate tanks, in part to prevent fish from eating away at the roots of the plants. The entire operation is enclosed in a greenhouse for year round production regardless of climate. (Barry Adams /Wisconsin State Journal via AP)

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Hardee’s and Carl’s Jr. restaurants have regularly been criticized by activists groups over ads with scantily clad models eating hamburgers. (Facebook, Carl's Jr.)

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FILE - This June 24, 2010, file photo shows the Palisades nuclear power plant in Covert Township, Mich. New Orleans-based Entergy Corp says it plans to permanently close the nuclear power plant in southwestern Michigan in 2018. Entergy Corp. and Michigan-based utility, Consumers Energy, say they've agreed to end a power purchase agreement for the plant that year. (John Madill/The Herald-Palladium via AP, File)

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The Eiffel Tower is seen from the Montparnasse Tower, as Paris suffers a pollution spike, Wednesday, Dec. 7, 2016. Paris' Police authority is again cracking down on the city's rocketing air pollution with a 24-hour traffic-regulating scheme that aims to halve the day's emissions from road vehicles. (AP Photo/Francois Mori)

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Drying out: Shifting climate norms and interference by China are wreaking havoc on Vietnam's crucial rice harvests. (Associated Press)

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The unpredictability of floods, chronic pollution issues, shifting climate norms and interference caused by Chinese dams are creating severe woes for Vietnamese farmers growing rice, a staple crop of the Southeast Asian country's diet. (Associated Press)

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He's talking to Taiwan! (Illustration by Dana Summers of the Tribune Media Services)

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The U.S. Capitol Christmas Tree is lit up during a ceremony on the West Front of the Capitol in Washington, Tuesday, Dec. 6, 2016. The Capitol Christmas Tree is an 80-foot Engelmann Spruce from the Payette National Forest in Idaho. (AP Photo/Manuel Balce Ceneta)

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FILE - In this Oct. 14, 2016, file photo pedestrians carry umbrellas as they cross Powell Street and cable car tracks in San Francisco. State officials said Tuesday, Dec. 6 that Californians did a good job of saving water in October, a month of heavy rain falling amid ongoing drought. State regulators say cities improved water conservation by nearly 20 percent compared to 2013, before the declaration of a drought emergency. (Paul Chinn /San Francisco Chronicle via AP)

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This Nov. 4, 2016 photo shows a massive Christmas tree covered in lights outside The Biltmore House in Asheville, N.C. Lonely Planet has named Asheville the No. 1 destination on its 10 best in the U.S. list for 2017.(LeeAnn Donnelly/The Biltmore via AP)

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FILE- In this April 29, 2011, file photo, Huston Walters, a sophomore at the University of Alabama from Navarre, Fla., takes a break from cleaning up at his home in the Forest Lake neighborhood after a tornado struck the area. For college administrators, extreme weather is yet another hazard to prepare and practice for on a list that includes infectious disease outbreaks, active shooters and technological outages. (Michelle Lepianka Carter/The Tuscaloosa News via AP, File)

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James Logan, a Northern Arapaho Native American from Wyoming and pipeline protester, warms himself by a fire. Activists have vowed to stay in the camps, even after the Obama administration blocked the pipeline, and the chairman of the Standing Rock Sioux tribe has asked non-native protestors to leave. (Associated Press)

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This Nov. 10, 2016 photo shows trailers in the Hartsel Springs Ranches area near Hartsel, Colo. A wave of recent settlers have transformed the outskirts of this gritty mountain outpost 65 miles west of Colorado Springs. RVs, Tuff Sheds and nylon tents where they live without electricity or running water have come to dominate the mountain-capped vistas that surround the unincorporated area. (Stacie Scott/The Gazette via AP)

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ADVANCE FOR USE SATURDAY, DEC. 3 - In this Wednesday, Nov. 23, 2016 photo, Aspen Skiing Company's management co-director Brad Hardman poses in his office in Aspen, Colo., Hardman he has helped to reduce potable water use by hundreds of thousands of gallons at the company's four ski resorts. The skiing company's model for water conservation at on-mountain facilities could help the town of Aspen, Colo., avoid the construction of dams in the future. (Anna Stonehouse/The Aspen Times via AP)

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Crews work to clear a fallen tree off a teachers' car outside Orange High School in Orange, Calif., Friday, Dec. 2, 2016. Cold Santa Ana winds swept across Southern California on Friday, raising danger of wildfires and toppling trees onto cars, at least one home and onto a busy freeway just ahead of rush hour. (Kevin Sullivan/The Orange County Register via AP)

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Smoke billows from the remains of a home on the northern outskirts of Gatlinburg, Tenn., Thursday, Dec. 1, 2016. A devastating wildfire destroyed numerous homes and buildings on Monday. (Andrew Nelles/The Tennessean via AP)