Feds to fund Mississippi clean up from Minnesota to the Gulf By TOM MEERSMAN , Minneapolis Star Tribune The federal effort involving 12 states is aimed at shrinking Gulf of Mexico's "dead zone" The river that begins as a trickle in Itasca State Park and ends 2,350 miles later at the Gulf of Mexico will [...]
Guest column: Iowa must take responsibility for the Dead Zone By SUSAN HEATHCOTE, heathcote@iaenviornment.org or MATT ROTA, matt@healthygulf.org September 23, 2009Farm and lawn fertilizer, livestock manure, human sewage and other sources from Iowa and 30 other states in the Mississippi River Basin are flowing into the Gulf of Mexico and creating havoc with marine life [...]
Plan to fight Gulf 'dead zone' will target agricultural polluters By Chris Kirkham September 26, 2009, 9:22PM, Times-PicayuneAlmost a decade after states along the Mississippi River pledged to reduce pollution that leads to the perennial "dead zone" in the Gulf of Mexico, the federal government has announced the first program to specifically target and reduce [...]
Algae prompt Des Moines to switch drinking-water rivers By JASON PULLIAM, jpulliam@dmreg.com September 23, 2009, Des Moines RegisterRecord levels of potentially toxic algae in the Raccoon River have once again forced the Des Moines Water Works to draw from the Des Moines River to keep drinking water free of poor tastes, bad smells and health [...]
Delta Farm Conservation EffortsSeptember 10, 2009, Associated PressCLARKSDALE, Miss. (AP) — Soybean farmer Mason Dunn uses an irrigation system that recycles leftover water in an effort to conserve what is a precious commodity in the Delta region. Dunn also uses numerous other methods to conserve water and limit the impact on the environment on his [...]
Clean on paper: EPAs duel over nitrogen By PAUL DAILING pdailing@scn1.comSeptember 15, 2009 , The Fox Valley Villages SunA grasshopper rests a moment on some algae on the Fox River in Montgomery recently. Nitrogen can help algae overrun bodies of water, killing fish and upsetting ecosystems in the process. Yet, the state EPA removed nitrogen [...]
Gulf of Mexico 'dead zone' to grow dramatically due to federal biofuel mandate By Bryan Nelson, MotherNatureNetwork.comWed, Sep 16 2009 at 10:47 PM ESTDEAD ZONE: Nutrient-rich sendiment flowing out of the Mississippi River and into the Gulf of Mexico can be seen from space. (Photo: AP News/NASA) Every year copious amounts of fertilizer and nutrient-rich [...]
Crabbers forge unique partnership with scientists09/18/2009Several Oregon crabbers have forged a unique, mutually beneficial partnership with researchers at Oregon State University. The crabbers install temperature and disssolved oxygen recorders right from their crab pots, providing the researchers with a low-cost way to collect data. The crabbers, in turn, will contribute to a scientific understanding of what [...]
NewsGulf of Mexico hypoxia By Dennis Keeney, Earth WatchFriday, September 18, 2009 9:20 AM CDT, Ames TribuneNearly 10 millennia ago the great glaciers retreated from mid-America, and plant and animal successions adjusted to the warmer wetter periods. Water from rain and snowmelt sought its way to the oceans carving drainage basins from the glacial and [...]
EPA shouldnt rely on states to reduce nutrient pollution, new report states By Kim McGuire08.27.2009 4:38 pm, St. Louis Post-DispatchA new report from EPA’s Office of Inspector General says the federal agency needs to get serious about reducing nutrients that wash off farm fields and lawns. For too long, the federal agency has been relying [...]