Geography in the News: The Gulf of Mexicos Dead Zone By Neal Lineback and Mandy Lineback Gritzner, Geography in the NewsTM30 March 2014The Gulf’s Growing Dead Zone With rising demand over the past decade for the corn-based fuel additive ethanol, American farmers have grown more corn than at any time since World War II. Unfortunately, [...]

Mississippi Basin Water Quality Declining Despite Conservation By Brian Clark Howard, National Geographic11 April 2014 Canals crisscross the Mississippi River Delta near Golden Meadow, Louisiana, where nutrient pollution remains a problem.  PHOTOGRAPH BY JOEL SARTORE, NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC. U.S. federal scientists say water quality has declined in the massive Mississippi River Basin in recent years due [...]

E.P.A.s Proposed Rules on Water Worry Farmers By Ron Nixon, The New York Times12 March 2014Water rarely flows in one of the streambeds — it really seems to be little more than a small ditch — that Dean Lemke points out to a visitor on his 800-acre farm in Dows, Iowa. “I wouldn’t even call [...]

Portman hopes bill floats in House By Tom Jackson, Sandusky Register1 April 2014   U.S. Sen. Rob Portman, R-Ohio, hopes to convince the U.S. House that his water bill holds water.   The Senate has approved Portman’s bill to combat harmful algal blooms. The measure has now advanced to the House. “There is no companion bill in the [...]

Wal-Mart pushes plan to reduce fertilizer By Jonathan Ellis, USA Today16 March 2014Retail giant Wal-Mart could hold a key to reducing water pollution while making agriculture production more efficient in a program that conservationists and agricultural groups are touting as a "win-win." Wal-Mart, which embarked in 2009 to develop sustainability measurements of products it sells, [...]

Portman algae bill waiting for House By Heather Rutz, civitasmedia.com27 February 2014WASHINGTON — A bill that would put more federal money into combating algae blooms has passed the Senate and been introduced in the House. Sen. Rob Portman, R-Cincinnati, and Sen. Bill Nelson, a Democrat from Florida, co-sponsored the Harmful Algal Blooms and Hypoxia Research [...]

Portman Bill to Combat Harmful Algal Blooms and Hypoxia Passes Senate By PoliticalNews.me21 February 2014Washington, D.C. – Bipartisan legislation introduced by U.S. Senators Rob Portman (R-Ohio) and Bill Nelson (D-Fla.), the Harmful Algal Blooms and Hypoxia Research and Control Amendments Act of 2013, passed the United States Senate. The Harmful Algal Blooms and Hypoxia Research [...]

$1-million contest for solution to 'dead zones' By Bill Capo, WWLTV Eyewitness News17 February 2014      Many summers a so called "Dead Zone" appears in the Gulf of Mexico, an area with oxygen levels in the water so low marine life can't survive. It can be a huge problem for Louisiana. "The overall impact [...]

Trading System Tackles Waste By Mark Peters, The Wall Street Journal19 February 2014NEW MADISON, Ohio— Kevin Hollinger planted radishes and oats last fall in his corn and soybean fields, but he isn't planning to harvest them. Instead, he is letting the crops die over the winter to improve the soil and keep fertilizer and other [...]

Senate reauthorizes algae act By Tom Henry, The Blade15 February 2014Further congressional support for battling scum toxic enough to be classified as harmful algae in western Lake Erie and other U.S. bodies of water is now up to the U.S. House of Representatives. The U.S. Senate on Wednesday agreed to reauthorize the federal government’s Harmful [...]