Great Plains (IA KS ND NE MO SD)

"North Dakota took on the oversight of a multibillion-dollar oil industry with a regulatory system built on trust, warnings and second chances."

"BISMARCK, N.D. -- One year after a pipeline rupture flooded a wheat field in northwestern North Dakota with more than 20,000 barrels of crude, Tesoro Corp. is still working around the clock cleaning up the oil spill -- one of the largest to happen onshore in U.S. history."

"Iowa voted for Barack Obama in the last two presidential elections, but now it is seriously considering electing a United States Senate candidate with a hard-right proposal that is truly radical: abolishing the Environmental Protection Agency."

"NELIGH, Neb. — Music legends Willie Nelson and Neil Young delivered Saturday on a promise to comfort opponents of the Keystone XL pipeline while also pleasing a few project supporters who ventured into a crowded Nebraska farm field."

"North Dakota’s oil rush brings cash and promise to reservation, along with drug-fueled crime"

"As a Texas energy company seeks approval for its plan to build a 1,100-mile pipeline carrying North Dakota crude oil across 17 Iowa counties, documents show the state's pipeline safety record has been less than spotless."

"CASPER, Wyo. — In a new oil field among the rolling hills near here, Chesapeake Energy limits truck traffic to avoid disturbing the breeding and nesting of a finicky bird called the greater sage grouse. To the west, on a gas field near Yellowstone National Park, Shell Oil is sowing its own special seed mix to grow plants that nourish the birds and hide their chicks from predators."

"Frank and Wanda Leppell once lived on a quiet cattle ranch in the middle of a rolling prairie, the lowing of cattle and the chirping of sparrows forming a pleasant soundtrack to their mornings. No more."

"Regulators look at raising the limit for radiation amid a rash of illegal dumping."

"MANDAREE, N.D. — Growing up, Ruth Anna Buffalo would follow the dirt track behind her house into the rugged North Dakota badlands, swimming in creeks picketed with beaver dams, finding artifacts and climbing bluffs overlooking Lake Sakakawea. For the young, the lake and the land around it were a wonderland."