"More than 100 coal ash waste sites, many unregulated, sit just feet from the Great Lakes, raising concerns for nearby communities and the 30 million people who rely on the lakes for drinking water."
"A rail operator on Monday released toxic fumes from several derailed train cars that it said were at risk of exploding in East Palestine, Ohio, after the authorities ordered residents on both sides of the state’s border with Pennsylvania to evacuate to avoid a deadly threat."
"A freight train derailment in Ohio near the Pennsylvania state line left a mangled and charred mass of boxcars and flames Saturday as authorities launched a federal investigation and monitored air quality from the various hazardous chemicals in the train."
"The Doug Ford government says its vision for its second term is to get desperately needed homes built in Ontario. In York Region, the key to that vision is a massive pipeline that transfers water from one Great Lake region to another."
"The Biden administration on Thursday said it will establish a 20-year moratorium on mining upstream from Minnesota’s Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness, a vast preserve of lakes and woods that has been at the center of a fierce dispute over a proposed copper and nickel mine."
When the global pandemic interfered with independent journalist Gabriel Popkin’s plans for a grant-funded biodiversity reporting project on the emerald ash borer, an invasive pest threatening ash forests, he came up with a surprising solution. In this FEJ StoryLog, Popkin shares how he worked around travel shutdowns and subsequent story pitch rejections to ultimately discover an alternative storytelling option to keep his project alive.
Prolific author-environmentalist Dave Dempsey’s new book, “Half Wild: People, Dogs, and Environmental Policy,” examines the complex boundaries between humans, wildlife and wilderness in a brief volume that includes vignettes of bears scouring trash heaps and of bourbon-fueled debates over the gap between conservationists and environmentalists. Not to mention bonus observations about his relationship with dogs. Contributor Gary Wilson has a review for our latest BookShelf.
The complex legal obstacles that face U.S. energy projects prompted political machinations over permitting reform in the last Congress and likely will again in the new one. The latest Backgrounder explores how the energy permitting system works (or doesn’t), why Democratic Sen. Joe Manchin may really be pushing for its reform and the reason some environmentalists concede reform may have green benefits.
"A large plume of toxic chemicals produced by a plant that manufactures firefighting foam has seeped through groundwater to Lake Michigan’s Green Bay, scientists said Tuesday."
"Alarmed by the threats to public health, Minnesota officials pressured 3M to dramatically reduce pollution released into the Mississippi River at its manufacturing plant southeast of Minneapolis-St. Paul, where the global conglomerate pioneered the highly toxic, almost indestructible chemicals after World War II."
