Environment

A former industrial site in Franklin that's heavily contaminated from decades-old manufacturing activity is getting new attention from the federal government.

Framingham-based Ameresco reported financial gains in its fourth-quarter and full-year 2014 results.

The U.S. Green Building Council says in a new report that Massachusetts does the fifth-best job in the nation in sustainable building design, construction and transformation.

Solar installations on city apartment buildings and strategies to reduce energy bills top the priorities of new state Energy and Environmental Affairs Secretary Matthew Beaton, who listened to environmental advocates on Tuesday morning and discussed his focus on "energy justice." A News Service story on Tuesday about state energy and environmental policy mischaracterized the financial relationship between Cape Wind and the utilities National Grid and Northeast Utilities. After Cape Wind failed to meet deadlines, the utilities canceled their agreements to purchase power from the planned wind farm. Cape Wind has disputed the validity of the contract termination.

St. Mark's School in Southborough has been assessed a $5,500 penalty by the state Department of Environmental Protection as a result of groundwater discharge violations.

Wind River Environmental, a group of septic services companies based in Hudson, has bought a similar company in Pennsylvania that will boost business about 30 percent, Wind River's co-founder and top executive said Friday.

A NASA grant to study the effects of melting Arctic Ocean ice has been awarded to a research group that includes a Clark University professor who will oversee $614,000 in funding for the project.

The Southbridge Recycling and Disposal Park (SRDP) landfill will pay nearly $220,000 to settle claims a large soil stockpile partially collapsed and damaged adjacent wetlands

Boston-based solar energy provider Nexamp has opened a 2.3-megawatt project in Winchendon that it says will generate “tens of thousands” of dollars in new tax revenue for the town over the next 20 years.

Beacon Hill lawmakers have been unable to reach a compromise for a bottle bill update as a deadline draws near, and groups opposed to the expansion and pro-update activists who are seeking to put the issue on the November ballot are inching closer to a potentially expensive fight in the fall.