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A long-running battle over coal-fired energy in Kansas continued Friday as the Sierra Club environmental group filed a legal challenge to the state's issuance of a permit intended to give a green light to a controversial new power plant. The complaint, filed in the Kansas Court of Appeals, names the Kansas Department of Health and Environment and its secretary, Robert Moser, as defendants, and claims the permit for the new power plant does not meet federal and state requirements.

Every summer millions of American families head for beaches, but few stop to think of the possibility that the water they swim in may harbor enough bacteria to cause stomach flu and a host of other illnesses. The Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC) found that 10 percent of water quality samples collected from nearly 3,500 coastal and Great Lakes beaches in 2013 contained levels of harmful bacteria that exceeded "safe to swim" thresholds recommended by the Environmental Protection Agency.

Home Depot and other U.S. companies are working to eliminate or limit use of a type of pesticide suspected of helping cause dramatic declines in honeybee populations needed to pollinate key American crops, officials said on Wednesday. The moves include requiring suppliers to label any plants treated with neonicotinoid, or neonic, pesticides sold through home and garden stores. Atlanta-based Home Depot, the world's largest home improvement retailer, is requiring its suppliers to start such labeling by the fourth quarter of this year, said Ron Jarvis, the company's vice president of merchandising/sustainability. Home Depot is also running tests in several states to see if suppliers can eliminate neonics in their plant production without hurting plant health, he said.

Monsanto Co reported a 6 percent drop in quarterly profit on Wednesday, but shares jumped more than 5 percent as the world's largest seed company beat forecasts, improved its near-term outlook and said it planned to double earnings over the next five years. The company, known for its genetically engineered corn, soybeans and other crops as well as the popular Roundup herbicide, also announced authorization of a $10 billion share repurchase and cited strong progress on a new farm data business platform.

Questions about Roundup, the world's most popular herbicide, are on the agenda at the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Tuesday when regulators meet with a group of mothers, scientists, environmentalists and others who say they are worried about Roundup residues found in breast milk. The meeting near Washington D.C., follows a five-day phone call blitz of EPA offices by a group called "Moms Across America" demanding that the EPA pay attention to their demands for a recall of Roundup.

Voters in a small Oregon county were considering on Tuesday a controversial measure that would ban cultivation of genetically engineered crops within their boundaries. The measure in Jackson County in southern Oregon, has drawn national attention and more than $1 million in campaign funding to the community, which has only 117,650 registered voters. "It is drawing a lot of attention," said Jackson County Clerk Chris Walker. "There is so much buzz about it." The ban is supported by a coalition of more than 180 farmers and community members, who have been pushing for the vote on the issue for more than two years.

Honey bees, crucial in the pollination of many U.S. crops, are still dying off at an worrisome rate, even though fewer were lost over the past winter, according to a government report issued on Thursday. Total losses of managed honey bee colonies was 23.2 percent nationwide for the 2013-2014 winter, according to the annual report issued by the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) and the "Bee Informed Partnership," a group of honeybee industry participants.

U.S. children are consuming more than 10 pounds (4.5 kgs) of sugar annually if they eat a typical morning bowl of cereal each day, contributing to obesity and other health problems, and cereal makers and regulators are doing little to address the issue, according to a study released on Thursday. The Environmental Working Group, a Washington, D.C.-based health information non-profit, said its report covers more than 1,500 cereals, including 181 marketed to children.

U.S. chemical maker DuPont and its agricultural seed unit, Pioneer, acted in bad faith in a long-running legal battle with rival Monsanto Co, according to a federal appeals court ruling on Friday that affirmed sanctions against DuPont. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit agreed with a lower court decision in Missouri that sided with Monsanto in a dispute over DuPont's use of Monsanto's patented seed technology that makes certain crops able to tolerate glyphosate-based herbicide.

Dow AgroSciences, a unit of Dow Chemical , said Friday it would start a "limited commercial introduction" in Canada of a new genetically engineered corn that tolerates a new herbicide developed by Dow that U.S. regulators are still examining. Dow said the new corn will be offered to only certain Canadian farmers under tight controls, with full commercialization planned for 2015 after all needed import approvals are in place. Planting starts next week, Dow said. Any harvested corn must be kept on the farm, Dow said. "It's hands on in a real field setting," said Dow spokeswoman Kenda Resler-Friend.