Environment

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The El Sol Market in Brawley, Calif., was hit hard by an earthquake swarm on Sunday, Aug. 26, 2012. (AP Photo/Imperial Valley Press, Brandy Ronek)

A policeman looks at a burned double-decker sleeper bus on Aug. 26, 2012, after it collided with a tanker loaded with highly-flammable methanol on an expressway in Yan'an in northwest China's Shaanxi province, causing both vehicles to burst into flames and killing 36 people, state media said. (Associated Press)

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A family walks on a street as flames rise in the distance from an explosion at the Amuay refinery near Punto Fijo, Venezuela. Residents near the country’s biggest oil refinery said they smelled a strong odor of sulfur hours before a gas leak led to an explosion on Saturday. The fire was still burning on Sunday (below). The blast damaged 209 homes and 11 businesses. (Associated Press)

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Three cars that were hit by bombs as they carried Iranian scientists are displayed outside a conference hall hosting the meeting of the Non-Aligned Movement in Tehran on Sunday, Aug. 26, 2012. (AP Photo/Vahid Salemi)

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In this photo released by MINUSTAH, the U.N. mission in Haiti, a woman swims through floodwaters in a low-lying area affected by Tropical Storm Isaac in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, on Saturday, Aug. 25, 2012. (AP Photo/MINUSTAH, Logan Abassi)

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National Mall and Memorial Parks Superintendent Bob Vogel on Thursday said the Washington Monument’s structure would require full scaffolding as part of the restoration process after last August’s earthquake. The 555-foot-tall structure has been closed since the day of the quake. A separate project to fix its elevator has been completed. (Rod Lamkey Jr./The Washington Times)

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Drought-damaged corn is seen in a field near Nickerson, Neb. Plains farmers have begun harvesting what corn managed to survive, although many cut their fields weeks ago, chalking the year up as a loss. Some ranchers have sold livestock because they had no grass for grazing or money to buy feed, the price of which has soared. Nearly all of Nebraska, Kansas, Missouri and Illinois are in extreme or exceptional drought. (Associated Press)

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A wooden bridge crosses over the Kok River in northern Thailand’s Chiang Rai province, where minority hill tribes live in villages where their culture is not undiscovered but also is not corrupted by tourism. (Associated Press)

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This July 21, 2012, file photo shows terraced rice paddies outside a Lahu hill tribe village high above Thailand’s Mae Kok River. The region known as the Golden Triangle was once one of the world’s most prolific regions for growing the opium poppy, but government programs and aggressive eradication efforts have succeeding in wiping out most of the illegal crop. (Associated Press) ** FILE **

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Brookfield Homes is building more than 1,000 single-family homes and town homes at Snowden Bridge in the planned community of Stephenson. The Andover model, with 1,506 square feet, is priced from $199,990.

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Colorado Agriculture Secretary John Salazar (right) holds up a Rocky Ford cantaloupe and declares it “the sweetest, best melon in the country” at the Arkansas Valley Fair in Rocky Ford, Colo., on Saturday, Aug. 18, 2012. A year earlier, melons from southeast Colorado were the source of a nationwide listeria outbreak that killed 30 and sickened hundreds. (AP Photo/Kristen Wyatt)