Great Plains (IA KS ND NE MO SD)

"Facing staunch local opposition and federal roadblocks, a new wind project in Iowa is teetering on the brink, despite growing power demand."

"On paper, the public power district serving much of eastern Nebraska has been trying to quit coal at its North Omaha plant since 2014. That June, its board voted to retire three of the plant’s five coal units in 2016 and convert the final two to natural gas in 2023."

"The state’s environmental agency has the authority to investigate and issue fines for illegal spills, but lacks sufficient staff and resources."

"For over a century, a smelter and other plants polluted Omaha with 400 million pounds of lead. The city now has the largest residential lead cleanup site in the U.S."

'For the past few weeks, Oitancan “Oi” Zephier has labored among piles of vinyl records nearly 2 feet high. KILI-FM, the Porcupine, South Dakota-based tribal public broadcasting station Zephier manages, has gone digital and no longer needs the records. The station is selling the records, because what it needs is cash."

"A North Dakota judge has ordered Greenpeace to pay damages of $345 million, reducing an earlier jury award after it found the environmental group and related entities liable for defamation and other claims in connection with protests of an oil pipeline nearly a decade ago."

"Bison once moved across North America in herds that blackened the landscape in all directions, in numbers estimated not in the hundreds but in the tens of thousands."