Senate Bill 1 includes a number of new rules designed to reduce the phosphorus runoff that has resulted in toxic algal blooms in Lake Erie's western basin in recent years.

A nearly $100 billion-a-year compromise farm bill cleared the House Wednesday that eliminates a $4.5 billion-a-year farm subsidy called direct payments, but continues to heavily subsidize corn, soybeans, wheat, rice and cotton.

The only national carbon trading market in the U.S. will close its doors next month, due to stalled legislation in Congress and Republican gains in the midterm elections.

Aging locks, inadequate lock size, increasing channel dredging needs, critical repair needs, chronic budget shortfalls and concerns in coordinating overseas shipments with restricted river availability are major worries on most of our nation's rivers. Built to last 50 years, many of the Upper Mississippi River locks are already more than 70 years old. As a result, the American Society of Civil Engineers has given a D-minus grade to the deteriorating physical condition of the Mississippi River navigable waterways.

Deere & Co. has quietly dropped out of a coalition of large companies that has supported a cap-and-trade program for reducing carbon dioxide emissions.

Farmers enrolled in a program that rewards them for reducing greenhouse gasses are finding the market for their carbon credits has shrunk amid the recession and uncertainty about climate legislation being crafted by Congress.