Water pollution

Big Sioux River floodwaters flow over farm fields, sending sediment downstream toward Lake Kampeska and beyond on April 13, 2023. (Brad Johnson/For South Dakota Searchlight)

State’s $3 million Big Sioux cleanup project is slow to catch on

BY: - November 24, 2023

A $3 million program created by the state in 2021 to reduce agricultural pollution in the Big Sioux River has attracted two sign-ups, while drawing criticism for duplicating existing local projects. Meanwhile, the state has doubled the financial incentives for landowners in an effort to attract more interest. Rep. Chris Karr, R-Sioux Falls, introduced the […]

Big Sioux River tributary floodwaters wash through cattle yards in the upper reaches of the river basin on April 13, 2023. (Brad Johnson/For South Dakota Searchlight)

Less rain results in a cleaner Big Sioux River, report says

BY: - November 10, 2023

SIOUX FALLS — Less precipitation means less pollution is running into the Big Sioux River, according to a 2023 water quality report.  “We had a significantly less amount of rain than 2022, and that has resulted in better numbers,” said Rachel Kloos, with Friends of the Big Sioux River.  The organization shared the report Wednesday […]

A farmhand connects milking equipment to dairy cow udders inside the parlor building at Boadwine Farms in Baltic. (Makenzie Huber, South Dakota Searchlight)

Not all livestock operations in South Dakota have to manage waste equally

BY: - September 4, 2023

A large feedlot near Watertown with about 10,000 cattle was recently disciplined for not properly managing its manure.  But not by the state. It was the Codington County Board of Adjustment that responded to public complaints. The board found the operation violated 25 zoning ordinances or permit requirements. As a result, the board decided to […]

A lesser golden plover sits in a section of wetland June 4, 2006, in Barrow, Alaska. (Justin Sullivan/Getty Images)

New federal water pollution rule draws mixed reaction

BY: - August 30, 2023

A federal rule limiting agencies’ power to regulate water pollution will severely restrict protections for waters and wetlands throughout the country, but could also be subject to challenges from conservative groups that maintain the new rule exerts more federal jurisdiction than the U.S. Supreme Court intended in a May decision. With the rule published Tuesday […]

A May 2023 aerial view of the former Gilt Edge Mine, an EPA Superfund cleanup site near Lead. (Courtesy of EcoFlight)

Cleanup of abandoned Black Hills mine on hold for potential re-mining

BY: - July 17, 2023

Aspects of a two-decade-long cleanup at an abandoned Black Hills gold mine are pausing because a company might want to re-mine it. The Gilt Edge Mine was abandoned in 1999 when its operator, Brohm Mining, went bankrupt. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency took over the site the next year. The EPA’s Joy Jenkins, of Denver, […]

A wetland area in the Chesapeake Bay. (Courtesy EPA)

U.S. House Dems want data on impact of Supreme Court ruling on wetlands protection

BY: - July 10, 2023

Top Democrats on the U.S. House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee asked federal agencies Monday to track possible negative effects from a recent U.S. Supreme Court ruling that limited federal authority to regulate clean water. Washington’s Rick Larsen, the ranking Democrat on the committee, and Water Resources and Environment Subcommittee ranking member Grace Napolitano of California, […]

Firefighting foam, used at airports and military bases, has been identified as a source of toxic PFAS chemicals. (Photo courtesy of the U.S. Fire Administration)

Federal study detects ‘forever chemicals’ in three SD private wells

BY: - July 6, 2023

Rural water systems across the United States are less likely than urban areas to be contaminated with “forever chemicals” that may lead to health problems such as cancer, thyroid disease and high cholesterol, according to a study from the U.S. Geological Survey released Tuesday. But the same study detected those chemicals in rural private wells […]

Firefighting foam, used at airports and military bases, has been identified as a source of toxic PFAS chemicals. (Photo courtesy of the U.S. Fire Administration)

Proposed EPA ‘forever chemicals’ regulation could cost SD millions for testing, cleanup

BY: - April 21, 2023

Nearly 100 families living in Box Elder have been drinking bottled water provided by the military for the past five years. That’s because their water system was contaminated with chemicals used in firefighting foam at nearby Ellsworth Air Force Base. And Sioux Falls has had 21 wells — a significant amount of its water production […]

An oil well, detention pond, treatment tank and other equipment at a Citation Oil & Gas Corp. well in northwest South Dakota. (Images from SD DANR permit file)

State regulators propose, then roll back, stricter environmental requirements for oil wells

BY: - April 21, 2023

State regulators proposed stricter environmental requirements for three oil wells in South Dakota but are poised to roll back some of the requirements after the affected company objected. The company is Citation Oil & Gas Corp. of Houston, Texas. It’s attempting to renew an expiring surface-water discharge permit for three wells – including one that’s […]

COMMENTARY
Big Sioux River tributary floodwaters wash through cattle yards in the upper reaches of the river basin on April 13, 2023. (Brad Johnson/For South Dakota Searchlight)

Pollution carried by major floods is killing our lakes

BY: - April 20, 2023

The state of South Dakota’s lackadaisical, careless approach to protecting its lakes and streams from agricultural pollution is glaringly apparent when floods are viewed from an airplane.  Hundreds of acres of plowed fields sent tons of black soil down the Big Sioux River during the week of April 8-15. Significant amounts of mud ended up […]

A stock dam reflects the clear blue sky of spring and rolling grasslands of the Great Plains near White River, South Dakota. (Makenzie Huber/South Dakota Searchlight)

U.S. House fails to override Biden veto of WOTUS legislation

BY: - April 18, 2023

The U.S. House on Tuesday failed to override a President Joe Biden veto, which means the administration’s regulation stays in place expanding which waters and wetlands can be regulated under the federal Clean Water Act. The House did not clear the two-thirds mark needed to overturn Biden’s veto of a resolution that would have blocked […]

A stock dam reflects the clear blue sky of spring and rolling grasslands of the Great Plains near White River, South Dakota. (Makenzie Huber/South Dakota Searchlight)

Federal judge temporarily blocks new Biden WOTUS rule in two dozen states

BY: - April 12, 2023

A federal judge in North Dakota on Wednesday blocked in 24 states — including South Dakota — the Biden administration’s newly effective definition of waters that can be regulated under the Clean Water Act. U.S. District Judge Daniel Hovland, a George W. Bush appointee on retired status in the North Dakota District, issued a preliminary […]