Coal Ash: "When the Rivers Run Black" [3]
"America’s largest industrial accident tore apart the town of Kingston, Tennessee. Five years later, has the industry learned anything?"
The Environmental Journalism Gallery showcases the very best investigative series and special projects on environmental topics, including many prize-winners. For more exemplary stories, see EJToday [1] (our daily weekday digest of top environment/energy news) and winners of SEJ's Annual Awards for Reporting on the Environment. [2]
"America’s largest industrial accident tore apart the town of Kingston, Tennessee. Five years later, has the industry learned anything?"
"Below some of the world’s most expensive real estate, in the heart of Silicon Valley, pipes and pumps suck thousands of gallons of contaminated water every hour from vast underground toxic pools."
"The U.S. Department of Justice is investigating the company for evidence of criminal wrongdoing in a massive coal ash spill. But this comes too late for some North Carolina residents, who feel abandoned by regulators."
"In the Brazilian state of Pará, an army of 25,000 workers is building the world’s third largest hydroelectric plant, a controversial construction project –because of the dam’s low efficiency, its environmental impact and its effects."
"A crisis grips the Indian River Lagoon. Record numbers of manatees, dolphins and pelicans died in the past year — often from mysterious maladies. Sea grass flats are decimated. Unprecedented algae blooms have formed."
"NORMANBY ISLAND, Papua New Guinea -- Katharina Fabricius plunged from a dive boat into the Pacific Ocean of tomorrow."
Part 1: "Whose Interests Is Maine’s DEP Commissioner Serving?"
"For two years, public servant Patricia Aho has overseen Maine's environmental protection. But whom does she really serve? A seven-month investigation by the Telegram points to her former corporate clients. ... Overseen by a former chemical industry lobbyist, Maine’s Department of Environmental Protection resists regulations on substances that may be harmful to children and fetuses."
"To protect profits threatened by a lawsuit over its controversial herbicide atrazine, Syngenta Crop Protection launched an aggressive multi-million dollar campaign that included hiring a detective agency to investigate scientists on a federal advisory panel, looking into the personal life of a judge and commissioning a psychological profile of a leading scientist critical of atrazine."
"At least 800,000 people across the United States live near hundreds of sites that store large amounts of potentially explosive ammonium nitrate, which investigators are blaming as the source of last month's deadly blast at a fertilizer plant in West, Texas, a Reuters analysis shows."
"The people of Newtok, on the west coast of Alaska and about 400 miles south of the Bering Strait that separates the state from Russia, are living a slow-motion disaster that will end, very possibly within the next five years, with the entire village being washed away." ... "Climate change has accelerated the normal process of erosion along Alaska's rivers and coasts - especially near the shores of the Bering and Arctic seas."
"Cobalt in plastic building blocks and baby bibs. Ethylene glycol in dolls. Methyl ethyl ketone in clothing. Antimony in high chairs and booster seats. Parabens in baby wipes. D4 in baby creams. An Environmental Health News analysis of thousands of reports from America’s largest companies shows that toys and other children’s products contain low levels of dozens of industrial chemicals, including some unexpected ingredients that will surprise a public concerned about exposure."
"LANCASTER, Calif. — There are at least two things to know about this high desert city. One, the sun just keeps on shining. Two, the city’s mayor, a class-action lawyer named R. Rex Parris, just keeps on competing."
"Ohio State scientist Lonnie Thompson tests the limits of science -- and his health -- to unlock climate secrets frozen at the top of the world's highest mountain ranges."
"Newly found court documents from long ago are raising fresh questions about the safety of nuclear reactors made by General Electric."
"CHESTER, W.Va. -- The ground here is leaking. Several neighbors have moved away to escape seeps coming out of the hillside. They say the leaks have dampened their backyards and infested their homes with mold. ..."
Links
[1] https://www.sej.org/headlines/list
[2] https://www.sej.org/initiatives/awards-fellowships/sej-annual-awards-reporting-environment#winners
[3] https://www.sej.org/headlines/coal-ash-when-rivers-run-black
[4] https://www.sej.org/category/topics-beat/disaster
[5] https://www.sej.org/category/topics-beat/energy
[6] https://www.sej.org/category/topics-beat/government
[7] https://www.sej.org/category/topics-beat/laws
[8] https://www.sej.org/category/topics-beat/pollution
[9] https://www.sej.org/taxonomy/term/81
[10] https://www.sej.org/category/region/national
[11] https://medium.com/matter/ff09374db13b
[12] https://www.sej.org/headlines/cleanup-silicon-valley-superfund-site-takes-environmental-toll
[13] http://cironline.org/reports/cleanup-silicon-valley-superfund-site-takes-environmental-toll-6149
[14] https://www.sej.org/headlines/duke-energy%E2%80%99s-dirty-water
[15] https://www.sej.org/category/topics-beat/environmental-politics
[16] https://www.sej.org/category/region/national/southeast
[17] http://america.aljazeera.com/features/2014/3/nc-coal-ash-sparksdistrustofpublicofficials.html
[18] https://www.sej.org/headlines/battle-belo-monte
[19] https://www.sej.org/category/topics-beat/water
[20] https://www.sej.org/category/region/international/south-america
[21] http://arte.folha.uol.com.br/especiais/2013/12/16/belo-monte/en/
[22] https://www.sej.org/headlines/troubled-water-indian-river-lagoon-peril
[23] http://creative.news-journalonline.com/troubledwater/
[24] https://www.sej.org/headlines/sea-change-pacifics-perilous-turn
[25] https://www.sej.org/category/topics-beat/climate-change
[26] https://www.sej.org/category/region/international
[27] http://apps.seattletimes.com/reports/sea-change/2013/sep/11/pacific-ocean-perilous-turn-overview/
[28] https://www.sej.org/headlines/special-investigation-lobbyist-henhouse
[29] https://www.sej.org/category/topics-beat/environmental-health
[30] https://www.sej.org/category/region/national/northeast
[31] http://www.pressherald.com/news/Whose-interests-is-Maines-DEP-commissioner-serving.html
[32] https://www.sej.org/headlines/documents-syngentas-campaign-protect-atrazine-discredit-critics
[33] https://www.sej.org/category/topics-beat/journalism/media
[34] https://www.sej.org/category/topics-beat/chemicals/toxics
[35] http://www.environmentalhealthnews.org/ehs/news/2013/atrazine
[36] https://www.sej.org/headlines/schools-hospitals-and-people-near-ammonium-nitrate-storage
[37] https://www.sej.org/category/topics-beat/people-population
[38] http://www.reuters.com/article/interactive/idUSBRE94L19620130522?view=large&type=domesticNews
[39] https://www.sej.org/headlines/americas-climate-refugees
[40] https://www.sej.org/category/region/national/alaska-and-hawaii
[41] http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/interactive/2013/may/13/newtok-alaska-climate-change-refugees
[42] https://www.sej.org/headlines/chemicals-high-concern-found-thousands-childrens-products
[43] https://www.sej.org/category/topics-beat/consumer
[44] http://www.environmentalhealthnews.org/ehs/news/2013/childrens-products
[45] https://www.sej.org/headlines/help-nature-town-aims-be-solar-capital
[46] https://www.sej.org/category/topics-beat/business
[47] http://www.nytimes.com/2013/04/09/us/lancaster-calif-focuses-on-becoming-solar-capital-of-universe.html?ref=energy-environment
[48] https://www.sej.org/headlines/high-altitude-ice-reveals-climate-rocks
[49] https://www.sej.org/category/topics-beat/science
[50] http://wwwp.dailyclimate.org/tdc-newsroom/2013/04/lonnie-thompson-climate-ice
[51] https://www.sej.org/headlines/long-tragic-trail-failed-general-electric-nuclear-plants
[52] https://www.sej.org/category/topics-beat/nuclear-power/radiation
[53] http://times.org/2013/04/03/from-the-pacific-northwest-to-fukushima-the-long-tragic-trail-of-failed-general-electric-nuclear-plants/
[54] https://www.sej.org/headlines/battle-lines-form-coal-ash-dump-leaks-wva-neighborhood
[55] http://www.eenews.net/public/Greenwire/2013/01/14/3
[56] https://www.sej.org/initiatives/gallery/overview
[57] https://www.sej.org/initiatives/gallery/overview?page=3
[58] https://www.sej.org/initiatives/gallery/overview?page=1
[59] https://www.sej.org/initiatives/gallery/overview?page=2
[60] https://www.sej.org/initiatives/gallery/overview?page=5