"Michigan legislators on Wednesday finalized a plan to borrow $600 million to finance the state’s proposed settlement with the residents of Flint, whose water was contaminated with elevated levels of the neurotoxin lead."
The surging racial justice movement has reenergized aspirations to correct the environmental injustices that blemish countless underprivileged U.S. communities. The new TipSheet, another part of our 2021 Guide, scans the landscape of trouble spots, from urban to rural, industrial zones to Superfund sites. Plus, story ideas and reporting resources.
"Minnesota regulators approved the final permit Monday for Enbridge Energy’s Line 3 crude oil pipeline replacement across northern Minnesota, giving the company the green light to begin construction on the $2.6 billion project."
"Enbridge filed a legal challenge Tuesday to Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer’s recent demand that the company shut down its oil pipeline that crosses the waterway connecting Lake Huron and Lake Michigan."
"A citizen advisory group at the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency (MPCA) has collapsed following the regulator’s decision to issue a water-quality permit to Enbridge Energy for its Line 3 oil pipeline cutting through Minnesota."
"The city of Flint and two other defendants have joined a $600-million Flint water crisis settlement the state of Michigan announced in August, bringing the total value of the settlement in the lead poisoning case to $641.2 million, attorneys announced late Tuesday."
The toxic compounds known as PFAS are causing a crisis in the waste and recycling industry, which faces mounting regulation and litigation over handling its presence in the waste stream. One reporter on the PFAS front lines explains the industry’s dilemma, as well as the challenges of covering the story and how a financial prism led to important insights into industry’s response.
"Gov. Gretchen Whitmer is moving to shut down Line 5 by revoking and ending a 1953 easement that allows Enbridge Energy to run the dual pipeline through the Straits of Mackinac."
With wildfire exploding across the West this season, it may not be long before insurance companies worried about houses built along the wildland-urban interface try to raise premiums or drop policies altogether. It’s already happening in California, which is pushing back. Will it happen in your region as well? TipSheet has the backstory, plus a range of reporting resources.
"Chicago is facing scrutiny from federal housing officials, who are investigating why the city is allowing a chronic polluter to move from the wealthy, largely white North Side to a low-income, predominantly Latino neighborhood near the Indiana border."
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