Environment

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New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, pictured in his office at the Statehouse in Trenton, N.J., on Friday, Jan. 4, 2013, has earned nearly universal praise for his handling of Superstorm Sandy, the state's worst natural disaster. (AP Photo/Mel Evans)

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A giant portrait of former South African President Nelson Mandela adorns a cooling tower of a now-defunct power station in Soweto, South Africa, on Monday, Dec 31, 2012. Mr. Mandela is recovering at his Johannesburg home since being hospitalized for a lung infection and undergoing gallstone surgery. (AP Photo/Denis Farrell)

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**FILE** The Sunland Inc. peanut butter and nut processing plant in eastern New Mexico, near Portales, is seen here on Nov. 27, 2012. The plant has been shuttered since late September due to a salmonella outbreak that sickened dozens. (Associated Press)

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An elephant holds a Christmas tree on Jan. 4, 2013, at the Berlin Zoo at the launch of the annual feeding of Christmas trees. (Associated Press)

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** FILE ** Tucked into the “fiscal cliff” tax package approved by Congress this week were billions of dollars in tax breaks, including a tax credit for the production of wind, solar and other renewable energy. (Associated Press)

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Chinese paramilitary policemen build a fence Dec. 8 across from North Korea, seen in the background from the Chinese border town of Tumen. In recent months, North Korean strongman Kim Jong Un has intensified a border crackdown that has sought to seal the once-porous 880-mile frontier with China, smugglers and analysts alike say. (Associated Press)

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**FILE** Scott Alford (center), a soil conservationist for the Natural Resources Conservation Service, points out features of a man-made marsh to Harris Sherman (right), undersecretary for natural resources and the environment at the U.S. Department of Agriculture, and Julie Grogan-Brown (left), also with the USDA, near Baytown, Texas. The marsh is part of a project to restore lost wetlands and islands off the Texas coast. (Associated Press)

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Madison Homes is building 12 single-family homes in McLean’s Chesterbrook Manor. The homes will be built on lots of 9,313 to 19,009 square feet and will be priced from the upper $1,500,000s to $1,700,000.

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This aerial image provided by the U.S. Coast Guard shows the Royal Dutch Shell drilling rig Kulluk aground off a small island near Kodiak Island on Jan. 1, 2013. Officials said no leak has been seen from the drilling ship, which grounded off the island during a storm. (Associated Press/U.S. Coast Guard)