Environment

Land that was once purchased for a nuclear power plant is now 6,000 acres of restored prairie at the Neal Smith National Wildlife Refuge in Jasper County. One day, it hopes to reach 8,650 acres.

Dr. Jones has a new book out Friday on Ice Cube Press called “The Swine Republic: Struggles with the Truth about Agriculture and Water Quality.” The book is largely a collection of essays that first appeared on his University of Iowa blog. Jones says it’s an effort to explain to a general audience how Iowa’s politics, economics and culture affect Iowa’s water quality.

Three companies are proposing pipelines across the Midwest that would carry carbon dioxide captured from ethanol plants to underground sequestration sites. The plan is to inject the CO2 deep into rock formations under Illinois and North Dakota, but some landowners are pushing back.

Polk County Judge Scott Rosenberg said the DNR used “illogical interpretations and applications to approve a nutrient management plan for the feedlot" when approving Supreme Beef's manure management plan near the headwaters of a prized trout stream.

Bioreactors work; the question is whether Polk County’s promising new approach to an old problem can be expanded enough to finally address nitrate pollution.

Three companies want to capture carbon dioxide from Midwestern ethanol plants, transport it by pipeline and store it underground. Many in the ethanol industry claim it’s essential to the industry’s survival. Environmentalists and even farmers argue the pipelines are a boon for the industry — not a real solution for climate change.

A new report from the Environmental Working Group found targeting the U.S. Department of Agriculture's conservation funding to the Mississippi River region would have huge benefits to water quality and the climate.

Towns along the Mississippi River are no strangers to severe storms and flooding. But 2019 flooding took Davenport by surprise. Cars floated. People were evacuated. Is it ready for the next flood?

Water utilities in Iowa and across the country would be required to monitor their treated drinking water for six “forever chemicals" under a proposal from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.

Iowa environmentalists and landowners are advocating for Iowa lawmakers to address three proposed carbon pipelines and ban the use of eminent domain for the projects.