Environment

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Lawyers for environmental groups and the state of Iowa tangled before the state’s Supreme Court Wednesday over whether environmental groups should be allowed to proceed with their case challenging Iowa’s voluntary Nutrient Reduction Strategy.

A first-of-its kind study will pull together massive amounts of USDA farm data to assess the impact of conservation practices, and the department is separately considering a new crop insurance product designed to encourage growers to limit nitrogen usage.

Draft guidance implementing a Supreme Court decision finding EPA can regulate pollution that is discharged into waters of the U.S. after traveling through groundwater is likely to get a close look from the Biden administration.

The Iowa Supreme Court will hear arguments Wednesday in a lawsuit that seeks to require the state to adopt a mandatory nutrient reduction program in the Raccoon River watershed, which supplies drinking water for half a million Iowans.

Despite steep declines in its numbers, the Fish and Wildlife Service has decided not to list the monarch butterfly under the Endangered Species Act, concluding it must first work on other, higher priority species.

British supermarket giant Tesco has committed the equivalent of about $13 million to help protect the ecologically fragile grasslands of Brazil — known locally as the Cerrado — from destruction.

Tom Vilsack pledged to act quickly to tackle racial issues at the Agriculture Department and joined President-elect Joe Biden in promising that climate change would be a top policy priority for USDA.

Environmental groups and attorneys general from 11 states are opposing EPA’s request to keep the registration of the insecticide sulfoxaflor in place until the agency can comply with Endangered Species Act requirements.

While the total damage amounts from California’s 2020 wildfire season is not yet known and several fires continue to burn, rural businesses such as farms, ranches, and others in the agricultural industry are faced with the continued threat of losing the insurance policies that protect the financial aspects of daily operations.