SOUTH DAKOTA

CURRENT NEWS

KCUR

Farmers in the Plains are in ‘dire straits’ due to drought, wildfire conditions

By Elizabeth Rembert 05/09/22

Even with a few recent rains, much of the Great Plains are in a drought. Wildfires have swept across the grasslands and farmers are worried about how they’ll make it through the growing season.

Earth911

Which States Are the Most Environmentally Friendly?

By Sarah Lozanova 05/05/22

A majority of Americans see the effects of climate change in their own communities and believe the federal government should do more to stop them. Despite growing concern about the climate crisis, some states are…

South Dakota News Watch

Proposed co2 pipelines thrust south dakota into billion-dollar debate over carbon capture technology and climate change

By Bart Pfankuch 05/02/22

So far, most of the discussion about two proposed multibillion-dollar carbon dioxide pipelines that would cross hundreds of miles of eastern South Dakota has centered on opposition by landowners whose properties would be affected by…

Progressive Farmer

Ethanol Company Wants Action on E30

By Todd Neeley 05/02/22

A South Dakota ethanol company recently asked the state's congressional delegation to work toward creating a pathway to allow E30 to be sold nationally, as two Midwest governors reportedly are working on a policy to…

www.kfyrtv.com

8 Midwest states, including North Dakota, seek permanent waiver to sell E15 gas

By The Associated Press 05/01/22

Governors from eight Midwest states asked the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Thursday for a permanent waiver that will allow each state to continue selling ethanol-blended gas year-round without restriction.

Argus Leader

South Dakota farmers get two-week extension to intervene in Summit’s CO2 pipeline project

By Nicole Ki 04/19/22

Roughly 30 farmers and ag businesses seeking to fight a proposed CO2 sequestration pipeline have two more weeks, as of last Thursday, to register with the South Dakota Public Utilities Commission.

Dakota Free Press

Mayors Outside South Dakota Interested in Fighting Climate Change

By Cory Allen Heidelberger 04/18/22

Kate Wright, new exec of Climate Mayors, says the hundreds of mayors participating in the group’s effort to take local action to fight climate change are hoping to use the big Biden infrastructure program to…

PBS News Hour

Biden’s ‘cost of carbon’ policy survives court challenge

By Kevin Mcgill 04/14/22

In a victory for President Joe Biden, a federal appeals court Thursday refused to revisit its March decision reviving administration plans to account for potential damage from greenhouse gas emissions when creating rules for pollution-generating…

Utility Dive

MISO finds broad benefits to building $10.4B of transmission projects to support 53 GW of clean energy

By Ethan Howland 04/07/22

The Midcontinent Independent System Operator is advancing through its stakeholder process a $10.4 billion set of transmission lines that could support about 53 GW of wind, solar, hybrid and stand-alone battery projects.

Argus Leader

Sioux Falls city officials push sustainability plan to 2023 after ‘extensive’ feedback

By Trevor J. Mitchell 03/22/22

Sioux Falls officials are taking a step back from the proposed Sustainability and Climate Action Plan, which debuted just weeks ago, citing a "need to ask more questions and reach out to a wider group…

NOAA

Spring Outlook: Drought to expand amid warmer conditions

03/17/22

NOAA issued its U.S. Spring Outlook today and for the second year in a row, forecasters predict prolonged, persistent drought in the West where below-average precipitation is most likely. NOAA’s Climate Prediction Center — part…

KEY RESOURCES

South Dakota State Profile and Energy Estimates

10/26/21

South Dakota's vast prairie stretches from the lowlands in the state's east across the rolling hills, canyons, and buttes of the plains to the state's highest peaks, including Mount Rushmore, in the west. The Black…

Energy State Bill Tracking Database

09/10/21

The searchable Energy Storage Legislation Database displays information in interactive maps and charts, tracking state activity from 2017 to the present.

Environment and Natural Resources State Bill Tracking Database

09/01/21

The National Conference of State Legislatures tracks environment and natural resources bills that have been introduced in the 50 states, territories and Washington, D.C.

The First National Flood Risk Assessment

10/06/20

The First Street Foundation Flood Model represents the culmination of decades of research and development made possible by building upon existing knowledge and frameworks regularly referenced in the identification of flood risk.

The Impacts of Climate Change and the Trump Administration’s Anti-Environmental Agenda in South Dakota

09/19/20

Between 2017 and 2019, South Dakota experienced one severe flood and one intense drought. The damages of these events led to losses of at least $1 billion.

State-by-State: Climate Change in South Dakota

08/06/20

South Dakota climate and energy facts

10-year Plan For Major Generation And Transmission Facilities

04/30/20

SOUTH DAKOTA PUBLIC UTILITIES COMMISSION.

South Dakota’s Climate Threats

04/30/20

Explore graphics, interactives and news about South Dakota's climate threats.

South Dakota’s Climate Change Deniers

04/30/20

Meet South Dakota's climate change deniers.

South Dakota’s agriculture industry is vulnerable to climate change

04/30/20

South Dakota’s climate is already changing. In the past century, most of the state has warmed by 1-2 degrees Fahrenheit. Rainstorms are becoming more intense, and annual rainfall is increasing. In the future, South Dakota…

What Climate Change Means for South Dakota

04/30/20

South Dakota’s climate is changing. In the past century, most of the state has warmed by one to two degrees (F). Rainstorms are becoming more intense, and annual rainfall is increasing. In the coming decades,…

Pay Now, Pay Later: South Dakota

04/30/20

Admittedly, the effects of climate change, a complex and intri- cate phenomenon, are difficult to predict with precision. Informed scientific and economic projections, however, allow us to see that South Dakota faces significant losses to…

Climate Change & South Dakota Wildlife Action Plan Revision

04/30/20

The South Dakota Wildlife Action Plan assesses the health of South Dakota's fish and wildlife and associated habitats, evaluates the problems they face, and outlines actions to help conserve them for the long term.

Preparing for Climate Change in South Dakota

04/30/20

South Dakota has not developed a statewide adaptation plan. Other resources from the Adaptation Clearinghouse, which have been developed by the state and localities to help communities prepare for climate change, are highlighted below.

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MORE NEWS

Mitchell Daily Republic

South Dakota losing public reservoirs, one torrential rain after another

By Christopher Vondracek 01/14/22

The South Dakota Legislature has a menu of infrastructure fixes this year, including some state-owned spillways damaged in flooding and record rainfall in 2018 and '19. But few lawmakers will invoke the words "climate change,"…

Argus Leader

44,000-acre Xcel Energy South Dakota wind farm begins powering over 150,000 homes

By Makenzie Huber 01/12/22

Xcel Energy announced Wednesday that its new eastern South Dakota wind farm is now in service and is powering more than 150,000 homes to customers in the Upper Midwest, according to a news release.

KCP

USDA accepts more than 2.5 million acres in grassland CRP, double last year’s signup

09/10/21

The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) has accepted offers for more than 2.5 million acres from agricultural producers and private landowners for enrollment through this year's Grassland Conservation Reserve Program (CRP) Signup

Yahoo Finance

Gevo Files for Environmental Permits in South Dakota for the Net-Zero 1 Project

By Gevo Inc 08/26/21

Gevo, Inc. (NASDAQ: GEVO) is pleased to announce that the air quality and wastewater permit applications for the company’s Net-Zero 1 project have been filed with the South Dakota Department of Agriculture & Natural Resources.

The South Dakota Standard

There’s smoke in the air above the Black Hills, where climate change has created the ravages of the fire season

By Jay Davis 08/25/21

Black Hills realtors and conservative politicians have been touting for months the arrival of refugees from the east and west coasts. Apparently thousands of migrants, many of whom are now free to work remotely from…

SDBP

From Floods To Drought: Ranchers Reflect On Extreme South Dakota Weather

By Meghan Fieghery 08/24/21

The state is so deep into a drought that it’s easy to forget the situation was much different two years ago. In 2019, widespread floods damaged farmland, roads, and infrastructure.

SDBP

SD Intertribal Wind Project Gets Boost From Apple

By Arielle zionts 08/17/21

The Oceti Sakowin Power Authority (OSPA) is one of 15 businesses selected for Apple’s inaugural Impact Accelerator program. Apple will provide training and networking for Black, Hispanic and Native American-owned, eco-friendly businesses.

Keloland

How drought conditions are impacting South Dakota

By Sarah McDonald 07/29/21

You don’t have to look far to find dry conditions in KELOLAND – just a few weeks ago we talked with people across the state dealing with the the drought.

The National Geographic

Climate change goals and oil production are clashing in the U.S.

By Joel K. Bourne , Jr. 07/19/21

On his first day in office, President Joe Biden rejoined the Paris Agreement, temporarily banned all new oil and gas leases on federal land, and canceled permits for the controversial Keystone XL pipeline.

Sciencedaily

Disparities of climate change mapped

By Monetory Bay Aquarium 07/14/21

"One of the dirty tricks of climate change is that local pollution has far-reaching consequences," says former Aquarium Chief Scientist Dr. Kyle Van Houtan, who led the study during his tenure. "When we burn fossil…

Center For American Progress

The Impacts Of Climate Change And The Trump Administration’s Anti-environmental Agenda In Washington, D.c.

06/26/21

Just in the past three years, the Trump administration has attempted to roll back at least 95 environmental rules and regulations to the detriment of the environment and Americans’ public health. Moreover, the administration refuses…

Yahoo News

South Dakota rocked again as a wind turbine plant shuts its doors

By Salena Zito 06/14/21

Green Biz

Will climate change cause another dust bowl?

By Nathaniel Scharping 06/10/21

Growing up in rural Iowa in the 1990s, Isaac Larsen remembers a unique herald of springtime. The snowbanks piled along roads, once white or gray, would turn black. The culprit was windblown dust, stirred from…

South Dakota’s Noem launches legal strategy to take on Biden

By Stephen Groves 05/25/21

South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem catapulted onto the list of conservative politicians favored by former President Donald Trump with her libertarian approach to the pandemic. With the virus waning, she may be seeking to stay…

Duluth News Tribune

Biden revokes Keystone XL pipeline permit, tipping scales in decade-old fight in western South Dakota

By Christopher Vondracek 01/20/21

PIERRE, S.D. — Within hours of taking the Oval Office on Wednesday, Jan. 20, President Joe Biden followed through on a campaign promise to yank the Keystone XL permit that President Trump issued just four years…

RE News.biz

Avangrid unleashes 155MW of South Dakota wind

01/19/21

Avangrid Renewables and WEC Energy have begun commercial operation of the 155MW Tatanka Ridge wind farm in South Dakota, US.

Prnewswire

Tatanka Ridge Wind Farm Achieves Commercial Operation

By Dairyland Power Co-operative 01/19/21

LA CROSSE, Wis., Jan. 19, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Avangrid Renewables, LLC, a subsidiary of AVANGRID, Inc. (NYSE: AGR) completed commissioning of the 154.8 megawatt (MW) Tatanka Ridge Wind Farm on January 5, 2021. The facility's 56 wind turbines are located in Deuel County,…

Proactive

Gevo Inc unveils Net-Zero 1 project to turn renewable energy into liquid hydrocarbons

By Andrew Kessel 01/11/21

Gevo Inc (NASDAQ:GEVO) has announced the first project in its new Net-Zero series, which is designed to create energy dense liquid hydrocarbons that deliver net-zero greenhouse gas emissions when burned.

Public News Service

Tight Grid Capacity Limits SD Wind-Energy Growth

12/30/20

PIERRE, S.D. - The renewable-energy industry is happy to be included in the COVID-19 relief bill signed this week by President Donald Trump. However, South Dakota regulators say that to see more growth for wind…

USA Today

Climate change: Many of the states most at risk are also the least prepared

By Megan Latshaw , Jon Links and Matt McKillop 12/09/20

Climate change is often seen as a problem for the future, a calamity that looms over the coming decades. In fact, it is already here, and wreaking havoc.

The Weather Channel

Will Extreme Weather Keep Getting Worse? Scientists Say Yes.

By Jan Wesner Childs 11/15/20

One by one, climate and disaster records and milestones have been shattered in 2020. The stories of the extremes make daily headlines: Nine cities see their earliest snowfall ever.

Mooresville Tribune

States that have lost the most farms the last 100 years

By Liz Barrett Foster 10/23/20

Agriculture is an integral part of the American economy. Stacker examines which states have lost the most farms over the last 100 years, with data from the 1920 Agriculture Census and 2019 Census State Agriculture Summaries.

KXLG

Public Utilities Chairman says South Dakota seeing Boom in Renewable Energy Projects

By Troy VanDusen 10/06/20

Power production is changing rapidly across the country and regulators are sometimes scrambling to keep up.

Grand Forks Herald

Solar and wind energy continue to grow in Midwest

By Andrew Weeks 10/06/20

Everybody needs it – energy to power businesses and homes, to give light when it is dark, to help keep people cool in the summer and warm during the cold months.

Globenewswire

SAGE Development Authority Launches Crowdfunding Initiative

10/02/20

Project Will Utilize Renewable Energy Resources to Advance Economic Development for a Tribal Nation and Provide a Replicable Model for Other Native Communities

The Washington Post

Climate change is killing the farm belt. With a little help, farmers can fix it

By Art Cullen 09/19/20

They call the storm a derecho, and it blasted through Tim Gannon’s central Iowa farm at 100 mph on Aug. 10, wrecking a machine shed and burying his equipment. Fourteen million acres of Iowa crops…

Woodtv

Which State Gets the Highest Percentage of its Electricity from Wind Turbines?

09/11/20

The answer is Iowa. In the month of June, Iowa got 54.4% of it’s electricity from the wind. Second place went to Kansas with 47.0%, followed by Oklahoma with 37.3%, S. Dakota with 33.1% and…

NEWSWEEK

Cities With the Highest Flood Risk in Every State

By Andrew Lisa 08/23/20

Floods accounted for three of the 14 natural disasters that caused at least $1 billion in damage in the United States in 2019. In total, flooding impacted 14 million Americans last year and put another…

The Business Journal

WEC Energy Group invests $235M in South Dakota wind farm

By Todd Bragstad 07/28/20

WEC Energy Group, parent company of Milwaukee utility We Energies, is investing about $235 million to acquire 85% ownership interest in Tatanka Ridge Wind Farm, which is currently under construction in Deuel County, South Dakota.

Kotatv

One plant in Rapid City is excited to start operating with renewable energy

By Connor Matteson 05/12/20

Including customers like GCC in Rapid City. They are partnering with the energy company to provide the cement plant with 50% renewable energy for the next 15 years.

Kota Tv

GCC cement plant partners with Black Hills Energy, moving to wind energy

05/08/20

Black Hills Energy will build a wind-power generating facility in 2020 to supply the energy. Located near Cheyenne, Wyoming, the Corriedale Wind Energy Project is anticipated to produce energy by the first quarter of 2021…

Energy company announces plans to build solar farm in Pennington County

04/30/20

A Minnesota energy company plans to build what it says will be the largest solar farm in the state near New Underwood in Pennington County.

Avangrid Renewables to sell South Dakota wind farm output to Google

04/30/20

Avangrid Renewables, a unit of Avangrid, Inc. signed its first major wind contracts with Google for 196 MW of new South Dakota wind power.

The Mitchell Republic

Report: South Dakota led nation in 2019 wind energy growth

By Ellen Bardash 04/21/20

The state had 50 percent more wind energy resources in 2019 than in 2018, the American Wind Energy Association’s Wind Powers America 2019 annual report indicated, and South Dakota now generates 23.9 percent of its…

medium

Three states have quietly criminalized environmental protest during covid chaos

By Shilpa Jindia 04/19/20

Kentucky, South Dakota and West Virginia have all passed laws in March designating oil and gas pipelines as critical infrastructure to stamp out fossil fuel protests. In Kentucky and South Dakota, tampering with or damaging…

cjr

Silence of the climate watchdogs

By Mark Hertsgaard 04/08/20

AN ABSENT DOG DOES NOT BARK, says an African proverb. The US press has hardly been absent during the coronavirus outbreak; many outlets have run stories about little else. But the focus on the virus…

ecowatch

3 States Pass Anti-Pipeline Protest Bills in Two Weeks

By Olivia Rosane 03/30/20

In just two weeks, three states have passed laws criminalizing protests against fossil fuel infrastructure. Between March 16 and March 25, the governors of Kentucky, South Dakota and West Virginia all signed laws designating oil…

huffpost

States Quietly Pass Laws Criminalizing Fossil Fuel Protests Amid Coronavirus Chaos

By Alexander C. Kaufman 03/28/20

At least three states passed laws putting new criminal penalties on protests against fossil fuel infrastructure in just the past two weeks amid the chaos of the coronavirus pandemic.

InsideClimate News

A Federal Court Delivers a Victory for Sioux Tribe, Another Blow for the Dakota Access Pipeline

By Phil Mckenna 03/25/20

n a major victory for opponents of the controversial Dakota Access Pipeline, a federal judge ruled on Wednesday that prior environmental assessments failed to fully consider the impact of the project. The Army Corps of…

KCUR

With Their Boots On The Ground, South Dakota Farmers Weather Changing Climate

By Cara Hetland 03/24/20

While top scientists from around the world point to data that says the drier rangeland climate found west of the 100th Meridian has shifted east in the last three decades, those living and farming in…

Cleantechnica

Solar Energy Kicks Carbon Capture Butt In Wild Renewable Energy Rampage

By Tina Casey 02/28/20

South Dakota was once a quiet backwater for solar activity in the US, but no more. A major electricity wholesaler just inked its first ever solar energy deal to create the largest ever solar farm…

Argus leader

From manure to natural gas: Calif. company eyes South Dakota dairy farms for cleaner energy

By Nick Lowrey 02/17/20

California-based renewable energy company Brightmark Energy announced plans on Feb. 5 to capture, refine and sell methane gas rising off the decaying manure produced at three dairy farms in Minnehaha County near Sioux Falls. The…

KELO

Combating climate change with agriculture and biofuels

By Kelli Volk 01/21/20

Farmers are key to putting food on our tables, but a South Dakota-based ethanol producer says they can be critical to something else as well.

sdpb radio

Increased Precipitation in South Dakota in Line With Climate Change Models

By David Scott 07/30/19

Seven months in to 2019 has seen near record levels of precipitation across South Dakota. Officials say with more wet weather forecast it is likely a record-breaking year. The increased precipitation is in line with…

the volante

Global climate change impacts South Dakota communities

By Lexi Kerzman 04/01/19

Over Earth’s history, the climate has experienced significant changes, even in the local communities of South Dakota. These changes, including ice ages and warmer periods of temperature, happened naturally over the course of millions of…

the New York Times

States, flooding: The Fight to Tame a Swelling River With Dams That May Be Outmatched by Climate Change

By Tyler J. Kelley 03/21/19

Along the Missouri, John Remus controls a network of Dams that dictates the fate of millions. 'It was not designed to handle this.'

Dakota free press

Climate Change Real, Damaging Economy; Inaction More Costly Than Active Response

By Cory Allen Heidelberger 11/25/18

Climate change is costing us money and lives right now. The humans causing that change need to do something about it right now. Such are the undeniable conclusions of the United States Global Change Research…

vox

What bison in South Dakota can teach us about fighting climate change

By Umair Irfan 09/14/18

The Weather Channel earlier this year launched a fantastic package on the impacts of climate change across the United States, with 50 stories about how rising temperatures will affect all 50 states.

rapid city journal

How climate change will affect South Dakota: more weed growth, 100-degree days

By Daniel Simmons-Ritchie 06/22/14

Over the next century, if the earth warms as forecast, the Southwest will increasingly be plagued by droughts and wildfires; New England will be deluged with rain; and stretches of Florida's coast will erode as…