July 19, 1996 - Midday guests New York Times Magazine writer John Tierney and Hennepin County Commissioner Randy Johnson answer listener questions about recycling.
August 14, 1996 - MPR’s Laura McCallum reports from Stearns County, the state's biggest dairy county and home to more feedlots than any other county. Stearns is now considering a county feedlot permitting process. It's a move the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency supports because of the high number of Stearns County feedlots without state permits and pollution concerns.
September 20, 1996 - Joanne Benson, Minnesota’s lieutenant governor, discusses plans for “Minnesota Clean-up Day” and ongoing efforts in addressing pollution of Minnesota River.
September 20, 1996 - MPR reporter Mary Losure interviews the U.S. Senate candidates on environmental issues and compiled their responses.
October 21, 1996 - Less than a century ago, millions of acres of North America were covered with prairie, vast grasslands that were home to bison, wolves, and prairie chickens. Today, less than one tenth of one per cent of that prairie remains. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is working on the Tallgrass Prairie Project, a plan to buy and protect some of what little prairie is left.
November 13, 1996 - Members of the Sierra Club say the Saint Croix River should be closed to boat traffic from the Mississippi, in order to prevent the further spread of the exotic zebra mussel.
November 16, 1996 - Hour 2 of Midmorning, featuring Voices of Minnesota with Ulysses S. Seal, conservationist and Larry Long on Smithsonian project.
December 4, 1996 - A mediation committee has failed to reach agreement on a plan to revise management of the Boundary Waters Canoe Area wilderness. The committee negotiating the best uses for the Boundary Waters Canoe Area struggled to find any consensus after a proposal once considered a possible compromise was rejected by some Ely area residents and those who want to expand the wilderness.
December 6, 1996 - Negotiations in the federal mediation of the Boundary Waters issue are taking some time off after 14 non-consecutive days of negotiations. After months of discussion it seems there are still large disagreements over basic issues. In fact, one of the participants, Bill Hansen, a second generation canoe outfitter, has proposed just sticking with the status quo.
December 16, 1996 - A Texas based company will plead guilty to charges it polluted the Blue Earth River with improperly treated wastewater from a rendering plant. Rendering plants convert dead animal carcasses and byproducts from slaughterhouses into animal feed and other products. The company has also admitted to falsifying water test results so regulators would not learn about the illegal discharges, which took place in 1991 and 1992.