Iowa is a complete joke when it comes to water pollution Attorneys for the polluter conspire with Iowa AG and DNR to keep settlement on the down low Wrist slap fine of $50k for years of violations, they don’t even need to stop polluting until end of 2026 (1) www.thegazette.com/crime-courts...

When one big problem was made into many more smaller problems.

The most insightful story you’ll read about yesterday’s missed deadline (i.e. the only one I’ve seen that actually talks to someone in the room!) @reviewjournal.com: www.reviewjournal.com/news/environ...

"As they scoured well records & years of data, they zeroed in on a significant clue: The purges were occurring near wells where companies were injecting oil field wastewater at excessively high pressure, high enough to crack rock deep underground & allow the waste to travel uncontrolled for miles."

Hey folks, as news of Watson's demise spreads, please don't set aside his weighty legacy of misogyny and racism. He was truly among the worst of us. www.vox.com/2019/1/15/18...

Every sample tested contained chemicals, whether from treated or untreated wastewater, surface runoff or agricultural chemicals. Antibiotics used to treat both humans + animals 'at concentrations high enough to suggest that antimicrobial resistance should be studied further in UK freshwaters'

Forrest Smith, the only National Park Service engineer cleaning up abandoned oil and gas wells, lost his contract, leaving 93 orphaned wells on park lands unmanaged. These leaking wells release methane and toxins, threatening human health and the environment.

This seems bad.

"The researchers found that a plastic concentration of just 0.4% by mass can change how quickly water flows through soil"

IMO, but I lose a lot of respect for people that use AI in a presentation.

@readfrontier.bsky.social and ProPublica found that in the past five years, toxic oil field waste has spewed out of the ground more than 150 times. Oklahoma’s regulatory agency, however, says it prefers “to lead with a handshake instead of a hammer.” Full story: propub.li/4nJRZxe

No trick or treating this year for us, but we did hand out candy after the little astronaut went to bed.

Candy was successfully handed out to small humans. Have a happy Halloween, everyone!

It's the weekend, baby.

By studying the process through which a soil bacterium naturally produces a well-known drug, scientists have discovered a powerful antibiotic that could help to fight drug-resistant infections go.nature.com/4oQ8bxO

"Certain chemicals used on farms, including pesticides and herbicides, have been linked to increased cancer rates. There’s also some evidence that nitrates, which can seep into drinking water from crop fields, are linked to some forms of cancer." minnesotareformer.com/briefs/repor...

For no particular reason at all, here is the five minute radio address from former President Reagan talking about his general opposition to tariffs. Before the one minute mark, he says that tariffs hurt American workers and consumers. youtu.be/5t5QK03KXPc?...

Clean tech firms have scrapped $24 billion in planned projects across the U.S. this year, from solar farms to battery plants to EV factories. The canceled projects would have created more than 20,000 jobs, most of them in Republican districts.

The 2nd highest risk factor for dying early, after high blood pressure, is high air pollution. A key step in reducing air pollution is to stop burning stuff: wood, fossil fuels - whether it's in a car engine, a wood burner, or a power station. Better public transport, walking + cycling routes vital.

What could possibly go wrong with drilling a large tunnel through a very active karst landscape... Oh, right. A lot. Karstic bedrock is pretty susceptible to sinkholes and other fun things happening, so building a tunnel for a few Tesla cars is an odd choice. www.npr.org/2025/10/22/n...

Narrator: "The other counties would, in fact, not mirror the decision of Polk County to fund the water quality monitoring network in the state of Iowa."

I would have been surprised if a sample had NOT found microplastics "Microplastics were found in every sample tested from 40 lakes, rivers & streams across Minnesota, according to a report recently released by Environment Minnesota Research and Policy Center." minnesotareformer.com/briefs/repor...

If passed, this bill would help warn people that drink water from public sources and from private wells of a potential exposure to polluted water. Alert would also be for PFAS. Honestly, it's a great idea, and more states should do this. wisconsinexaminer.com/briefs/bipar...

This week on Climate Cast from @mprnews.org, EWG's @anneschech.bsky.social tells us why a corn-corn crop rotation is bad for the environment. The short of it is that corn requires a lot of fertilizer, and that fertilizer requires a lot of energy to make. one.npr.org/i/fis-414685...

Microplastics are released from plastic when exposed to heat, including leaching from tea bags into hot tea and plastic containers releasing nanoplastics when microwaved. While health effects are still unclear, minimizing heating plastic is a simple way to reduce exposure.

💧Calling all hydrologists💧Montana State University is hiring an assistant professor of water systems science, broadly defined but with connections to groundwater/subsurface processes. Please spread the word! jobs.montana.edu/postings/48829

From Dr Chris Jones @theswinerepublic.bsky.social "The waste produced by livestock [beef cattle, dairy cows, hogs, chickens & turkeys] in the St. Croix River watershed is equivalent to 3.25 million more people living in the region." wisconsinexaminer.com/2025/07/31/r...

I wrote several papers about how bad corn ethanol was going to be around 2010, so I am not surprised. We should always remind ourselves that biofuels are complements not substitutes for fossil fuels, b/c they are used in ICEs and have limited scalability. They are a big ag and big oil PR mechanism.

Great work from the folks ag EWG! From thr report... "We found that adopting the four best conservation practices on just 1% of continuous corn acres each in the four states would reduce total greenhouse gas emissions at an amount that would be like taking over 850,000 cars off the road."

New @ewgofficial.bsky.social analysis released today from me and @albine14.bsky.social. We found that just under 15 million cropland acres across Illinois, Iowa, Minnesota and Wisconsin are used for continuous corn, representing 20% of the total harvested cropland. 1/4 www.ewg.org/research/fer...

This was a well-done radio segment from @mprnews.org. They highlighted how the Rapidan Dam failure negatively impacted the water quality of the Blue Earth River over the short term & long term. Rivers have slowly improved as a result of regulations of ag pollution. www.mprnews.org/story/2025/1...

September climate warming stripes. It's as if something has changed. 🤔

This story is absolutely bonkers. “There is a “crazy hole in our food safety system” that prevents the FDA from entering Confined Animal Feeding Operations (CAFOs) to sample for pathogens that have caused an outbreak in people”. Let the stewards of the land poison us galore.

🧪 NEW STUDY: Pregnant women with higher levels of microplastics in their placenta are at increased risk of miscarriage. Also: Microplastics were found in all placentas tested. Also: Miscarriages are involuntary abortions. 1/5 www.ehn.org/miscarriage-...

What a new study reveals about 'forever chemicals,' lead, more in New Orleans-area tap water. Read the full article by Emily Woodruff (Nola.com) here: www.nola.com/news/environ...

"Walk up the damn stairs!"

That’s because the lake is deceptively shallow... That keeps the lake warm, allowing aquatic plants & algae to flourish. It also makes Itasca more susceptible to increasing air temperatures [due to climate change]” Smoke from forest fires provides the nutrients www.startribune.com/lake-itasca-...

That’s because the lake is deceptively shallow... That keeps the lake warm, allowing aquatic plants & algae to flourish. It also makes Itasca more susceptible to increasing air temperatures [due to climate change]” Smoke from forest fires provides the nutrients www.startribune.com/lake-itasca-...

It's spooky pumpkin season! www.mprnews.org/story/2025/0...

"...while the percentage who support adopting more conservation practices declined." "...a 72% to 63% decrease in respondents saying they would like to improve conservation practices on the land they farm to help meet the Nutrient Reduction Strategy’s goals." www.iowapublicradio.org/agriculture/...

"two data centers... in Ozaukee and Racine counties will consume enough energy to power 4.3 million homes... the Foxconn site in Mount Pleasant was already at the center of a controversial plan to divert 7 million gallons of water per day from Lake Michigan." wisconsinexaminer.com/2025/09/16/e...

It will be really great to hear Clay on the radio during the afternoons during 'All Things Considered'.

Way at the very bottom they mention "To reduce environmental impact and improve crop efficiency elsewhere, the MDA reminds farmers to apply NH3 only when soil temperatures average 50°F or cooler." Nothing about not applying in the fall or limit application. content.govdelivery.com/accounts/MNM...

Well, this is good news! "After four straight months of testing raw milk samples from Minnesota cow dairy farms for the avian influenza A (H5N1) virus without any detections, the USDA has changed Minnesota’s status from Affected to Unaffected..." content.govdelivery.com/accounts/MNM...

This house is a proud heat pump supporter! We are almost a year into owning a heat pump, & it has been great! It is much quieter than the old AC, & much more efficient). In the winter, we use it for all our heating needs until it gets really cold. Then it supplements the gas furnace.

In the 1st half of 2025, @climate.noaa.gov 's staff were terminated, shutting down daily operations. Now, former members have joined w/ nonprofit partners to launch Climate.us, where climate info can be safeguarded from politics. Check out our website and join the effort today.

This is a great piece by @kennytorrella.bsky.social - and not just because I am quoted and my work is mentioned! It’s critical to dismantle the false narratives that big ag puts out with great fanfare to hide the reality of consolidation. The “small farm” is a central deception in that narrative.

Finally! 🤩 Our position piece: Against the Uncritical Adoption of 'AI' Technologies in Academia: doi.org/10.5281/zeno... We unpick the tech industry’s marketing, hype, & harm; and we argue for safeguarding higher education, critical thinking, expertise, academic freedom, & scientific integrity. 1/n

"Like much of agricultural rural America, Remsen is saturated with pollution from pesticides, hanging in the air as aerosolized particulates or lurking in the dust kicked up by thundering combines. Many, such as glyphosate... the active ingredient in Roundup, are suspected of causing cancer"

A very nice thread on why Iowa has really bad water quality.