"Workers at the Philadelphia Energy Solutions refinery in South Philadelphia began neutralizing tens of thousands of barrels of a highly toxic chemical this week. The refinery is shutting down after an explosion and fire destroyed part of the plant. The company has entered Chapter 11 bankruptcy."
August 8, 2019 — I'm a Washington, D.C.-based, award-winning energy and environment reporter. As a staff writer for InsideClimate News, my groundbreaking dispatches from Kalamazoo, Mich., "The Dilbit Disaster: Inside the Biggest Oil Spill You Never Heard Of," won a Pulitzer Prize for National Reporting. As well, an e-book version of the narrative won the 2013 Rachel Carson Book Award from the Society of Environmental Journalists.
"Around Lake Hopatcong, New Jersey’s largest lake, workers have been laid off, sailing lessons canceled and summers ruined. The reason: clouds of blue-green algae in the water, blooming in quantities never before recorded."
"Beer is mostly water — more than 90 percent, in some cases. Which is why the craft brewing industry is increasingly concerned about the Trump administration’s attempt to deregulate the 1972 Clean Water Act."
"The state of Texas is suing Exxon Mobil for environmental violations, including releasing millions of gallons of firefighting wastewater into the Houston Ship Channel after the petrochemical giant’s most recent fire and explosion in Baytown."
"House Democrats are pushing for an investigation into a Trump administration decision to roll back offshore drilling safety measures put in place after the Deepwater Horizon oil spill."
The latest Inside Story column takes a look at how one reporter turned a series of complex policy stories on renewable energy and pollution into an accessible, localized narrative — and in the process won a Society of Environmental Journalists’ explanatory reporting award. A Q&A about the project with Baltimore Sun’s Scott Dance.
"Pollution has plagued this Birmingham, Alabama, neighborhood for decades. Will anything ever change?"
"A forthcoming EPA overhaul of standards for lead in drinking water will essentially ban partial lead pipe replacement, in which part of a lead pipe is removed but another part is allowed to remain, Bloomberg Environment has learned."
"The Environmental Protection Agency on Aug. 1 proposed changes to the Clean Air Act’s New Source Review permitting program, which currently requires industrial facilities to install new pollution controls each time a company adds a new facility or expands existing operations."
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