Great Plains (IA KS ND NE MO SD)

Right now, America's Bread Basket relies on an aquifer that's nearly drained. And, many say, it will dry up if farmers keep pumping water from it at the current rate. The Environment Report's Devin Browne reports the government plans to pay farmers as one way to get them to cut water use.

"A state board voted unanimously Thursday to approve an air quality permit for a $10 billion oil refinery that Hyperion Resources wants to build in southeastern South Dakota."

"Iowa’s three largest public universities have determined that their coal ash disposal method does not pose a risk to the public health, a decision some say was made without sufficient evidence or regard for experiences with contamination in neighboring states."

"Missouri Attorney General Chris Koster is investigating whether a state agency violated the law by not releasing data showing E. coli bacteria above safe levels in the Lake of the Ozarks."

"For generations, people in Leadwood have lived near huge piles of dangerous, lead-contaminated mining waste. Now the EPA has decided the answer to the problem is to pile on more lead-tainted earth. To many folks, that makes no sense at all."

Kansas Governor Mark Parkinson revived a Sunflower Electric coal-fired power plant when he replaced Katherine Sibelius. Now that deal may be unraveling.

The century of mining that built Treece, Kansas, has left it a toxic ghost town. EPA says the residential areas have been cleaned up, but Sen. Pat Roberts is poised to file a bill to buy out residents if EPA does not spend stimulus money to do so.

"Iowa's largest utility companies are ramping up their opposition to proposed state rules that would require them to monitor the mercury being emitted from their power plants, public records obtained by The Des Moines Register show."

"The air across Iowa is so polluted that the state is perilously close to violating new federal limits aimed at protecting human health."