agricultural runoff
Minnesota: ‘We can’t spend our way’ to cleaner water
The state pollution control agency in Minnesota spent nearly $125 million - half of its budget - to clean lakes and waterways contaminated by farming, says the Minneapolis Star-Tribune.
Groups ask Supreme Court to review Chesapeake Bay pollution rules
The largest U.S. farm group asked for Supreme Court review of the EPA's "pollution diet" designed to reduce nutrient and sediment runoff into the Chesapeake Bay.
Nitrate levels remain high in U.S. rivers
Long-term monitoring of nitrate levels in 22 large rivers shows no widespread evidence of improvement, although nitrogen from fertilizer and livestock sources has been fairly stable since the 1980s, says the U.S. Geological Survey.
Company uses methane from cow manure to make plastic
A small company in Costa Mesa, California, says it has found a cost-competitive way to make plastic from methane in cow manure, reports the Los Angeles Times.
Pennsylvania vows to boost Chesapeake Bay clean-up efforts
Two Pennsylvania officials said the state will work harder to reduce pollution runoff into the Susquehanna River, which flows into the Chesapeake Bay, reports Lancaster Online. The river is the main source of fresh water for the bay.
Head of largest U.S. farm group to retire in January
Cattle and rice producer Bob Stallman will retire as president of the American Farm Bureau Federation in January, after 16 years as leader of the organization.
Ag chemicals in tap water – “that’s just the way it is”
When state officials said many rivers and streams around Edgerton in southwestern Minnesota were unsafe for swimming and fishing because of agricultural run-off, it wasn't news in the local paper.
U.S. appeals court upholds Chesapeake Bay “pollution diet”
The Third U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, in Philadelphia, upheld the EPA's "pollution diet" intended to restore the health of the Chesapeake Bay, affirming a 2013 ruling by a U.S. district judge.
Plan for biggest hog farm in Wisconsin draws criticism
An Iowa company wants to build the largest hog farm in Wisconsin, which also would be the first megafarm in the Lake Superior basin, says the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.
Nutrient compliance, pay-for-gain mooted for conservation
Researchers know that a comparatively small share of cropland accounts for a disproportionate amount of erosion and nutrient runoff, writes economist Marc Ribaudo in Choices, the ag econ journal.
Ohio lawmakers aim to reduce nutrient runoff from farms
The Ohio House and Senate are expected to vote this week on legislation intended to reduce toxic algae blooms in Lake Erie by reducing farm runoff, says the Associated Press.
“You have never seen the sea but in an oyster on the shell”
"The future of Maryland seafood was born aground, in a hand-made aquarium rigged with a couple of five-gallon buckets from Lowe's," begins Madeleine Thomas, in a special report at Grist on the potential for aquaculture to...
Virginia nutrient-trading program is praised and panned
A nutrient trading program has saved the state of Virginia more than $1 million while constraining runoff of phosphorus, a fertilizer, into the Chesapeake Bay, said EPA.
USDA funds $370 million in projects from dead zones to birds
Swamped by proposals, USDA selected 115 "high impact" projects to receive $370 million in funding in the initial awards through the Regional Conservation Partnership Program. The projects range from improving habitat for endangered birds to preventing a "dead zone" in Long Island Sound and reducing runoff in the lush wheat-growing Palouse regionof the Pacific Northwest. Federal funds will be matched by $400 million from "partners" that include governmental units and conservation groups such as Ducks Unlimited.
Des Moines Water Works board votes to sue over farm runoff
Trustees of the Des Moines Water Works "affirmed the utility's intent to sue three northwestern Iowa counties over high nitrate levels in the Raccoon River," which supplies water to the state capital, says the Des Moines Register.
Cost to reduce Gulf of Mexico “dead zone”- $2.7 billion a year
It would cost $2.7 billion a year to reduce by two-thirds the size of the "dead zone" in the Gulf of Mexico through reductions in nutrient runoff, says a study published in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
Des Moines water board plans to sue over nitrate runoff
The Des Moines Water Works trustees are expected to vote today to sue three farming counties in northwestern Iowa for high nitrate levels in the Raccoon River, one of two watersheds tapped for drinking water in Iowa's capital city.
Toledo mayor asks federal action to prevent algae blooms
The government should give priority to protecting water quality in Lake Erie's watershed including a standard on blooms of toxic algae, said Toledo Mayor Michael Collins, four months after explosive growth of algae shut down his city's water supply. "If we continue to delay, the harm may be irreparable," Collins said during a Senate Agriculture Committee hearing on voluntary work by farmers to control soil erosion and protect water purity.