Phosphorus, mined primarily from phosphate rock, is a key fertilizer ingredient that maintains U.S. farm productivity. But once it runs off into lakes and streams it can be too much of a good thing.
"Federal pollution authorities have quietly stepped in to help Minnesota force a huge sugar beet processor near Renville to end its long history of fouling streams that lead to the state's most troubled river."
"A proposal to build a large water tunnel under the Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta is incomplete, confused and plagued by a number of scientific gaps despite years of study, according to a National Research Council report."
Depletion of the Ogallala Aquifer, which has supported life on the U.S. High Plains for decades, poses as much of a threat to the region as drought, depression, or depopulation.
"Less than a week after the wedding of his son William to Kate Middleton, Prince Charles was in Washington on Wednesday to, among other things, speak at a Georgetown University conference on the future of food and sustainable agriculture, a pet issue of his for nearly 30 years."
"Just months into his first term, Rep. Bob Gibbs admits he has much to learn. But the Ohio Republican holds strong reservations about environmental regulation in general."
"Missouri Gov. Jay Nixon vetoed legislation Monday aimed at limiting nuisance lawsuits against large hog farms that produce foul odors, but he indicated a willingness to work with lawmakers on a revised version."
"A few momentary blasts, flashes of orange light, and the Mississippi River began pouring through a wide hole in a Missouri levee, intentionally blown open by the Army Corps of Engineers in the hope of saving a small Illinois town."
Incessant rains have delayed spring planting of corn from Minnesota to Indiana to Nebraska.
