Midwest Update

A group of Illinois landowners have waged a legal battle against a fracking company to protect their agricultural community.

Peabody Energy’s recent filing could change how the country funds mining messes.

A sneaky provision in this year’s defense act loosens regulations on ballast water—and all its stowaways. If it passes, the Great Lakes could suffer serious consequences.

The strong, erratic currents of the Straits of Mackinac could make an oil spill disastrous for two lakes and a whole lot of coastline.

To keep an invasive plant from poisoning amphibians, Illinois conservationists are cutting and burning the dreaded buckthorn.

This spring elk from Kentucky will be migrating (by truck) to Wisconsin.

Flame retardants are winding up everywhere—like in some of the Great Lakes’ greatest wildlife.

Doing just a little to curb fertilizer pollution in the Mississippi could go a long way to breathing life back into the Gulf.

Chicago is trying to limit how much petcoke the tar sands industry moves (and spreads) around town.

The frac sand business is booming in Wisconsin. Too bad the state can’t get a handle on the industry’s water pollution.