Respiratory risks are high on the public health agenda these days amid the COVID-19 pandemic. So when Reporter’s Toolbox noticed some exemplary reporting on how West Coast wildfires were polluting the air, it took a look under the hood to see how other environmental journalists might use the same data sets for localized stories.
"Canada's oil patch has nearly 100,000 suspended wells, neither active nor capped, and they're a worrying source of planet-warming methane."
"President Trump on Friday approved a bipartisan bill that funds several popular conservation grants."
"The United States is using more plastic than ever, and waste exported for recycling is often mishandled, according to a new study."
"A pair of wind-driven wildfires actively burning in Orange County and a couple of nearly extinguished blazes in Los Angeles and San Bernardino counties have spawned the worst air quality in the nation, according to the government’s air quality monitoring agency."
"The cleanup of thousands of lead-contaminated homes, child-care centers, schools and parks surrounding the closed Exide battery recycling facility in Vernon is running behind schedule and over budget due to poor management by California regulators and has left children at continued risk of poisoning, according to a state audit released Tuesday."
"Scientists at two of America's biggest automakers knew as early as the 1960s that car emissions caused climate change, a monthslong investigation by E&E News has found."
"The deadly virus adds new uncertainties, while a growing body of research shows significant and enduring health risks from wildfire smoke."
"Theresa Landrum lives in southwest Detroit, where residents complain frequently about dirty air. Tree-shaded neighborhoods with schools, churches and parks lie on either side of an interstate highway and in the shadow of a sprawling oil refinery that belches soot and fumes."
"The Michigan Public Service Commission has some authority over Enbridge’s plans to build an oil pipeline tunnel beneath the channel that connects two of the Great Lakes, a state administrative law judge ruled Friday."
