"Outside Alicia Barksdale’s living room, high above Upper Manhattan, the brick chimney atop the building next door belches black smoke all winter long, and even into the spring."
"A North Carolina judge on Friday denied Duke Energy's motion seeking to shield records related to groundwater pollution leaching from 33 coal ash dumps in the state while a separate federal criminal investigation is ongoing."
"Owners of at least two dozen nuclear reactors across the United States, including the operator of Indian Point 2, in Buchanan, N.Y., have told the Nuclear Regulatory Commission that they cannot show that their reactors would withstand the most severe earthquake that revised estimates say they might face, according to industry experts."
"The [March 31] incident at Williams Co Inc's massive gas storage site is a rare safety-record blemish among the dozens of U.S. LNG plants and storage sites, including towering tanks in packed neighborhoods of New York City, and near Boston.
Energy industry experts and opponents of new LNG plants alike said it may spur debate about safe handling of gas for cities increasingly reliant on the clean-burning fuel. At least a dozen new U.S. LNG export facilities are seeking government approval, and some have faced opposition on safety grounds.
People care about the information they get. But the public isn’t getting what it needs from federal and state agencies where, during crisis events and day-to-day operations, agencies work harder at controlling the information that reaches the public than they do at gathering and making it available. Read more from SEJ President Don Hopey.
"Inside Story" editor Beth Daley interviews Charleston (WV) Gazette reporter Ken Ward Jr. — who is recognized nationally for his reporting on coal mining, the environment and workplace safety — about his unique work on the Freedom Industries spill story. Photo: The FI tank which leaked a coal-cleaning chemical into the river on Jan. 9, 2014, contaminating the drinking water of 300,000 West Virginians for weeks. Credit: Commercial Photography Services of WV via USCSB.
In this issue: SEJ prez Hopey on access issues; ways climate will make news in 2014; Ken Ward Jr. on the art of covering the WV MCHM spill; local meetups bring networking home; getting the most from conferences; teaching news innovation; how good audio gives life to your enviro storytelling; Q&A with "Last Ocean" author John Weller; book reviews; and the annual Sundance Festival review.
As a rising ocean eats away at North Carolina, a GOP legislature that seems to be driven by politics and profit is also washing away hard science.
"Jim Yong Kim urges campaigners and scientists to work together to form a coherent plan in the fight against climate change."
"Exxon Mobil Corp, the world's largest publicly traded oil company, has agreed to disclose more information about the environmental risks of hydraulic fracturing, the process known as fracking."
