Environmental News

A federal judge has temporarily blocked plans by American Transmission Company, ITC Midwest and Dairyland Power Cooperative to build a high-voltage power line across a Mississippi River wildlife refuge.

This season, the last of the ice that typically persists on the upper Mississippi River through the start of spring had melted and was floating downstream at the end of February. Many described the winter conditions as something they’d never experienced before. But as climate change continues to progress, it could become familiar.

Changing winter conditions are forcing producers to adapt their processes and products for making maple syrup. One northeast Iowa maple syrup producer tapped his trees in January, 22 days earlier than ever before.

Changes made by Summit Carbon Solutions to its pipeline route in North Dakota include avoiding areas where landslides are likely to occur.

Landfills in two Minnesota counties are experimenting with methods of containing “forever chemicals” in an effort to keep them out of groundwater and lakes.

A DNR fisheries biologist who evaluated sections of about 50 river miles over the course of four days following the southwest Iowa fertilizer spill, reported that he found no living fish. He also noted there were numerous dead frogs, snakes, mussels and earthworms.

Many of these beloved public spaces aren’t accessible to people with disabilities. In some cases, it’s because the parks were built decades before federal accessibility standards were enacted. But even some new state park features are not fully accessible, a former state official said.

More than half of Iowa’s assessed streams and rivers had impairments and 63 percent of lake or reservoir segments were impaired in the 2024 draft list