Environment

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**FILE** Clothing lying in heaps at the site of a neighborhood in Rikuzentakata, Japan, destroyed by the 2011 earthquake and tsunami is seen Feb. 21, 2012. (Associated Press)

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In this Feb. 8, 2012 photo, Laurie Schmald Moncrieff president of Schmald Tool and Die in Burton, Mich., sits in her shop. Moncrieff says she began shifting from autos to the green energy, aerospace and defense industries when demand collapsed. (AP Photo/Carlos Osorio)

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People camp in protest next to ruins on the outskirts of Amecameca, Mexico. The protesters have filed complaints with state and federal officials to demand that a highway under construction be rerouted after pre-Hispanic ruins were detected. (Associated Press)

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Firefighters from the Landover Hills Fire Department check out a fire-damaged house in Riverdale on Sunday The blaze seriously injured two firefighters with the Bladensburg Volunteer Fire Department. The cause of the Friday fire is under investigation. (Barbara L. Salisbury/The Washington Times)

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Six months after the Aug. 23 earthquake and the Washington Monument is still closed, awaiting repair. What's up with that? "There's plenty of people out of work, but maybe they need specialized people to do [the repairs]." Josh Sher, 42, Miami, mortgage

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Six months after the Aug. 23 earthquake and the Washington Monument is still closed, awaiting repair. What's up with that? "I don't think it will affect tourism. D.C. has a lot of other stuff like museums, and the White House. [A year's worth of repairs] I think is pretty long." Christy Chen, 28, Miami, hotel industry

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Fire boat response crews spray water on the burning remnants of BP's Deepwater Horizon offshore oil rig on Aprll 21, 2010.

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Jorge Garcia Gomez-Tejedor, head of conservation at Reina Sofia Museum in Madrid, examines Pablo Picasso's "Guernica" as a camera mounted on a mobile robotlike structure moves across the painting to inspect it for damage. (Associated Press)

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** FILE ** Fire-boat response crews spray water on the burning remnants of BP's Deepwater Horizon offshore oil rig on April 21, 2010. (AP Photo/U.S. Coast Guard)

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Large drums containing a yellow-brown gooey substance could lead to an environmental mess at a property leased and abandoned by Solyndra. Items contaminated with lead are also at the site. A large structure outside the facility has the words "Argon Refrigerated Liquid" on its side. (U.S. Bankruptcy Court)

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Maryland Gov. Martin O'Malley testifies on his offshore wind energy bill Thursday in Annapolis. Mr. O'Malley said the proposal would create jobs and lower reliance on fossil fuels while causing only a modest increase in energy prices. (Rod Lamkey Jr./The Washington Times)

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Chesapeake Energy Corporation owns a natural gas drilling site in Leroy Township, Pa. A drilling boom that began five years ago has tapered off because of a glut of gas on the market. In 2008, natural gas costs reached about $8 per thousand cubic feet. As more rigs went up in Pennsylvania, West Virginia and elsewhere in the ensuing years, the price began to dip its current 10-year low. (Associated Press)

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Toll Bros. is planning 225 single-family homes at Regency at Chancellorsville in Fredericksburg, Va. The Harrison model, with 2,026 finished square feet, is base-priced from $290,995 to $302,995.

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Flames rise from a house in the Baba Amr neighborhood in Homs, Syria, on Wednesday, Feb. 22, 2012, after shelling by government troops. This photo was taken by a citizen journalist and supplied by the Local Coordination Committees activist group. (AP Photo/Local Coordination Committees in Syria)

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Alex Ovechkin (8) of the Washington Capitals has the puck poked away by the Carolina Hurricanes' Brandon Sutter (16), with the Hurricanes' Tim Gleason nearby, during the first period of an NHL hockey game in Raleigh, N.C., on Monday, Feb. 20, 2012. (AP Photo/Karl B. DeBlaker)

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Greek Finance Minister Evangelos Venizelos speaks Feb. 21, 2012, during a news conference in Athens. (Associated Press)

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Among the sights and sounds of New York's Times Square, a new and provocative billboard stands out courtesy of the Media Research Center. The conservative watchdog expects 1.3 million onlookers to see its message during the next month. (Media Research Center)