Publication Items

Extremely Hot Weather Cooks Up Unusually Awful Air Pollution [1]

Summertime and the livin' is smoggy. American air may be clearer now than when the Clean Air Act was passed in 1970, but pollutants still abound. Heat and sunlight stoke chemical reactions that exacerbate health hazards. And worsening wildfires mix in harmful smoke. The latest TipSheet has more than a dozen story ideas and reporting resources.

SEJ Publication Types:
TipSheet [2]
Topics on the Beat:
Activism [3]
Air [4]
Chemicals [5]
Climate Change [6]
Energy & Fuel [7]
Environmental Health [8]
Government [9]
Health [10]
Journalism & Media [11]
Laws & Regulations [12]
Pollution [13]
Transportation [14]
Region:
National (U.S.) [15]
International [16]
Visibility:
Public [17]
- Read more about Extremely Hot Weather Cooks Up Unusually Awful Air Pollution [1]
Taming the Freight Beast [18]

The U.S. freight system delivers significant environmental impacts nationwide, especially in states that host major rail-and-road hubs and seaports. Meanwhile, new federal laws and policies are making it harder to curtail pollution generated by freight trucks, trains and warehouses. Journalist John Lippert looks at how the public, private and nonprofit sectors are rising to this challenge.

SEJ Publication Types:
Features [19]
Topics on the Beat:
Activism [3]
Air [4]
Climate Change [6]
Consumer [20]
Economy & Business [21]
Energy & Fuel [7]
Environmental Health [8]
Environmental Justice [22]
Environmental Politics [23]
Government [9]
Health [10]
Infrastructure [24]
Journalism & Media [11]
Laws & Regulations [12]
Policy [25]
Pollution [13]
Technology [26]
Transportation [14]
Region:
National (U.S.) [15]
California [27]
Great Lakes (IL IN MI MN OH WI) [28]
Visibility:
Public [17]
- Read more about Taming the Freight Beast [18]
Great Lakes Steelmaking at a Crossroads [29]

The Great Lakes region is a top steel producer, but its coal-fired steel mills are also a major source of planet-warming emissions and health-harming pollution. Climate advocates, community members and workers have been pushing to clean up these facilities for decades. Now, foreign funding offers new hope for revitalizing and decarbonizing the region’s steel industry. Canary Media’s Maria Gallucci explains.

SEJ Publication Types:
Features [19]
Topics on the Beat:
Activism [3]
Air [4]
Climate Change [6]
Economy & Business [21]
Energy & Fuel [7]
Environmental Politics [23]
Government [9]
Health [10]
Natural Resources [30]
Pollution [13]
Technology [26]
Water & Oceans [31]
Region:
National (U.S.) [15]
Great Lakes (IL IN MI MN OH WI) [28]
SE (AL AR FL GA KY LA MS NC PR SC TN) [32]
International [16]
Asia [33]
Visibility:
Public [17]
- Read more about Great Lakes Steelmaking at a Crossroads [29]
Risk Data Is There Despite Efforts To Hide It [34]

Hazmat risk data has long been subject to blackout efforts by industry. And now, Trump administration allies may change the rules to make existing information even harder to get. But Reporter’s Toolbox knows where journalists can still find the goods to support their reporting. Read on to learn about risks to the program in question — and Toolbox workarounds.

SEJ Publication Types:
Reporters Toolbox [35]
Topics on the Beat:
Air [4]
Chemicals [5]
Disasters [36]
Environmental Politics [23]
Government [9]
Journalism & Media [11]
Laws & Regulations [12]
Policy [25]
Pollution [13]
Region:
National (U.S.) [15]
Visibility:
Public [17]
- Read more about Risk Data Is There Despite Efforts To Hide It [34]
#SEJ2026 Live — Coverage of Conference Tours [37]

SEJournal is providing full coverage of all eight of the day-long tours from the annual Society of Environmental Journalists’ conference, April 15-18, in Chicago. In Part 2, contributors Meg Duff [38], Nathaniel Eisen [39], Nhung Nguyen [40] and Marlowe Starling [41] provide detailed reports from tours focused on the transitioning steel industry, microgrids, climate-friendly crop practices and evolving Midwestern agricultural systems.

Also check out the first round of tour coverage and read all the great work [37] from our team of early-career freelance journalists, part of SEJournal’s live #SEJ2026 Live conference reporting.

SEJ Publication Types:
SEJ News [42]
Topics on the Beat:
Activism [3]
Agriculture [43]
Air [4]
Biodiversity [44]
Chemicals [5]
Climate Change [6]
Consumer [20]
Economy & Business [21]
Energy & Fuel [7]
Environmental Health [8]
Environmental Justice [22]
Environmental Politics [23]
Environmental Studies [45]
Food [46]
Forests [47]
Government [9]
Health [10]
Infrastructure [24]
Journalism & Media [11]
Laws & Regulations [12]
Natural Resources [30]
People & Population [48]
Planning & Growth [49]
Policy [25]
Pollution [13]
Science [50]
Technology [26]
Transportation [14]
Waste [51]
Water & Oceans [31]
Wildlife [52]
Region:
National (U.S.) [15]
Great Lakes (IL IN MI MN OH WI) [28]
Visibility:
Public [17]
- Read more about #SEJ2026 Live — Coverage of Conference Tours [37]
War and Pizza — #SEJ2026 in Chicago [53]

Nearly as rejuvenating as attending the Society of Environmental Journalists’ annual gathering is perusing the après-conference spoof by contributing quipster David Helvarg. While it seemed he was mostly there unabashedly preselling his forthcoming book, he somehow found time to send up SEJ’s earnest sessions, lambast its blown-up tours and rib its beat dinners. Read his Chicago roast.

SEJ Publication Types:
SEJ News [42]
Topics on the Beat:
Agriculture [43]
Air [4]
Chemicals [5]
Climate Change [6]
Economy & Business [21]
Energy & Fuel [7]
Environmental Health [8]
Environmental Justice [22]
Environmental Politics [23]
Fish & Fisheries [54]
Government [9]
Health [10]
Journalism & Media [11]
Natural Resources [30]
Policy [25]
Pollution [13]
Science [50]
Waste [51]
Water & Oceans [31]
Region:
National (U.S.) [15]
Great Lakes (IL IN MI MN OH WI) [28]
Visibility:
Public [17]
- Read more about War and Pizza — #SEJ2026 in Chicago [53]
EPA Enforcement Falls to Record Low Under Trump 2.0 [55]

The enforcement of environmental laws suffered a dramatic collapse during the Trump administration’s first year, several studies have found. Even the most serious violations, typically referred to the Department of Justice, are left unpursued because of DOJ staffing declines. The latest Backgrounder has the details, a look at the administration’s rationale for the decline and the implications for the environment and public health.

SEJ Publication Types:
Backgrounders [56]
Topics on the Beat:
Air [4]
Chemicals [5]
Climate Change [6]
Economy & Business [21]
Environmental Health [8]
Environmental Politics [23]
Environmental Studies [45]
Government [9]
Health [10]
Journalism & Media [11]
Laws & Regulations [12]
Policy [25]
Pollution [13]
Waste [51]
Water & Oceans [31]
Region:
National (U.S.) [15]
Visibility:
Public [17]
- Read more about EPA Enforcement Falls to Record Low Under Trump 2.0 [55]
Database Details Planetary Asset — Canada’s Forests [57]

They’re a carbon sink, a playground and a major market, but also a source of smoke pollution and pest infestation. Millions of acres of Canadian forest are a big North American story, and the latest Reporter’s Toolbox points you to a central data source that can help quantify, analyze and visualize the numbers and see the proverbial forest for the trees.

SEJ Publication Types:
Reporters Toolbox [35]
Topics on the Beat:
Agriculture [43]
Air [4]
Climate Change [6]
Economy & Business [21]
Energy & Fuel [7]
Environmental Health [8]
Environmental Politics [23]
Forests [47]
Natural Resources [30]
Policy [25]
Pollution [13]
Region:
National (U.S.) [15]
International [16]
Canada [58]
Visibility:
Public [17]
- Read more about Database Details Planetary Asset — Canada’s Forests [57]
A Town Derailed, a Trust Obtained [59]

The devastating 2023 East Palestine, Ohio, toxic train derailment left a legacy of illness and a town torn by competing understandings of the contamination’s aftereffects. A yearlong reporting initiative with photojournalist Rebecca Kiger and Time magazine writer Alejandro de la Garza worked to gain the community’s confidence and tell its story. Their prize-winning feature, in the latest Inside Story Q&A.

SEJ Publication Types:
Inside Story [60]
Topics on the Beat:
Air [4]
Chemicals [5]
Disasters [36]
Environmental Health [8]
Environmental Justice [22]
Health [10]
Journalism & Media [11]
People & Population [48]
Pollution [13]
Science [50]
Transportation [14]
Water & Oceans [31]
Region:
National (U.S.) [15]
Great Lakes (IL IN MI MN OH WI) [28]
Visibility:
Public [17]
- Read more about A Town Derailed, a Trust Obtained [59]
Top Environment and Energy Topics To Watch in 2026 [61]

Explore our 10th annual Journalists’ Guide to Environment + Energy, as we scour the beat to identify 15 top stories to put on your radar for 2026. Our updated format for the special report provides a quick read and a broad scope — with insights on climate change and environmental justice, bird and insect declines, data centers and deep sea mining, deregulation and PFAS and much more. Get started here [61].

SEJ Publication Types:
SEJ News [42]
Topics on the Beat:
Activism [3]
Agriculture [43]
Air [4]
Biodiversity [44]
Chemicals [5]
Climate Change [6]
Disasters [36]
Economy & Business [21]
Energy & Fuel [7]
Environmental Health [8]
Environmental Justice [22]
Environmental Politics [23]
Environmental Studies [45]
Fish & Fisheries [54]
Forests [47]
Government [9]
Health [10]
Infrastructure [24]
Journalism & Media [11]
Laws & Regulations [12]
Military [62]
Natural Resources [30]
Policy [25]
Pollution [13]
Science [50]
Technology [26]
Waste [51]
Water & Oceans [31]
Wildlife [52]
Region:
National (U.S.) [15]
Alaska and Hawaii [63]
California [27]
Great Lakes (IL IN MI MN OH WI) [28]
Great Plains (IA KS ND NE MO SD) [64]
Mid-Atlantic (DC DE MD PA VA WV) [65]
Mountain West (CO ID MT NV UT WY) [66]
Northeast (CT MA ME NH NJ NY RI VT) [67]
Northwest (OR WA) [68]
SE (AL AR FL GA KY LA MS NC PR SC TN) [32]
Southwest (AZ NM OK TX) [69]
International [16]
Visibility:
Public [17]
- Read more about Top Environment and Energy Topics To Watch in 2026 [61]

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