Publication Items

Battle Over Gas Power Facility Generates Months-Long Investigation [1]

A private social media message piqued Arizona Republic reporter Joan Meiners’ interest in rural retirees’ efforts to block construction of a gas-fired peaker plant next to their homes. Her year-long, grant-funded investigation in 2024 uncovered questionable local government actions and utility executive motives, and concluded with action against the facility. Read Meiners’ account of how rural Arizonans became unlikely climate activists, in the latest FEJ Storylog.

SEJ Publication Types:
FEJ StoryLog [2]
Topics on the Beat:
Activism [3]
Air [4]
Consumer [5]
Energy & Fuel [6]
Environmental Politics [7]
Government [8]
Health [9]
Journalism & Media [10]
People & Population [11]
Pollution [12]
Region:
National (U.S.) [13]
Southwest (AZ NM OK TX) [14]
Visibility:
Public [15]
- Read more about Battle Over Gas Power Facility Generates Months-Long Investigation [1]
Environmentalists Will Be Seeing Trump Forces in Court — Often [16]

The judiciary is looking to become a major environmental battleground for journalists to watch in the coming months and years, as activists confront the Trump administration over its deregulatory campaign. The new Issue Backgrounder maps out the action, explaining how key laws foster citizen suits, while numerous nonprofits are staffed up to sue. Plus, some ways to track the action.

SEJ Publication Types:
Backgrounders [17]
Topics on the Beat:
Activism [3]
Air [4]
Biodiversity [18]
Chemicals [19]
Climate Change [20]
Consumer [5]
Environmental Justice [21]
Environmental Politics [7]
Government [8]
Infrastructure [22]
Journalism & Media [10]
Laws & Regulations [23]
Natural Resources [24]
Policy [25]
Pollution [12]
Waste [26]
Water & Oceans [27]
Wildlife [28]
Region:
National (U.S.) [13]
Visibility:
Public [15]
- Read more about Environmentalists Will Be Seeing Trump Forces in Court — Often [16]
Desperately Seeking Data? OECD Has Loads [29]

If the possibility of a politically driven dearth of data for your climate and environment reporting has you on edge, the new Reporter’s Toolbox just may have something to soothe your nerves: A data source from beyond the grasp of the Trump administration and outside the boundaries of the United States. Take a quick tour of environmental data from the OECD.

SEJ Publication Types:
Reporters Toolbox [30]
Topics on the Beat:
Agriculture [31]
Air [4]
Biodiversity [18]
Chemicals [19]
Climate Change [20]
Energy & Fuel [6]
Environmental Studies [32]
Fish & Fisheries [33]
Health [9]
Journalism & Media [10]
Natural Resources [24]
Pollution [12]
Transportation [34]
Waste [26]
Water & Oceans [27]
Region:
National (U.S.) [13]
International [35]
Europe [36]
Visibility:
Public [15]
- Read more about Desperately Seeking Data? OECD Has Loads [29]
New Angle for Reporting on Oil and Gas Industry — Radioactive Waste [37]

Industry experts and government regulators have long known that radionuclides reside in oil and natural gas. Yet radioactive emissions and waste continue to threaten the lives of workers and community members across the country. Investigative journalist Justin Nobel on the opportunities and urgent need for reporters to drill into a story steeped in questions of accountability, health and justice.

SEJ Publication Types:
Features [38]
Topics on the Beat:
Activism [3]
Air [4]
Chemicals [19]
Climate Change [20]
Consumer [5]
Economy & Business [39]
Energy & Fuel [6]
Environmental Health [40]
Environmental Politics [7]
Environmental Studies [32]
Government [8]
Health [9]
Journalism & Media [10]
Laws & Regulations [23]
Natural Resources [24]
Nuclear Power & Radiation [41]
People & Population [11]
Policy [25]
Pollution [12]
Science [42]
Technology [43]
Waste [26]
Water & Oceans [27]
Region:
National (U.S.) [13]
Great Lakes (IL IN MI MN OH WI) [44]
Great Plains (IA KS ND NE MO SD) [45]
Mid-Atlantic (DC DE MD PA VA WV) [46]
Mountain West (CO ID MT NV UT WY) [47]
Northeast (CT MA ME NH NJ NY RI VT) [48]
SE (AL AR FL GA KY LA MS NC PR SC TN) [49]
Southwest (AZ NM OK TX) [14]
International [35]
Canada [50]
South America [51]
Visibility:
Public [15]
- Read more about New Angle for Reporting on Oil and Gas Industry — Radioactive Waste [37]
‘They’re Back’ — Veteran Journalists on Braving the Specter of Trump’s Return [52]

How can environmental reporters best cover the upheavals of a second Trump administration? SEJournal commissioned a special analysis to draw on the experience of reporters who were there to chronicle the first. Contributing editor Jennifer Weeks spoke to more than half a dozen news veterans of Trump’s earlier environmental and energy policy initiatives, with insights and tips on how to handle what’s ahead.

SEJ Publication Types:
Features [38]
Topics on the Beat:
Air [4]
Chemicals [19]
Climate Change [20]
Disasters [53]
Energy & Fuel [6]
Environmental Justice [21]
Environmental Politics [7]
Government [8]
Journalism & Media [10]
Laws & Regulations [23]
Natural Resources [24]
Policy [25]
Pollution [12]
Water & Oceans [27]
Visibility:
Public [15]
- Read more about ‘They’re Back’ — Veteran Journalists on Braving the Specter of Trump’s Return [52]
Open Door to Industry for Trump Environmental Agency Appointees [54]

It’s not just the heads of Trump administration environmental agencies who come from the industries they now are entrusted to regulate. The latest TipSheet explains that it’s also the political appointees below them — officials responsible for overseeing air, water, toxic chemicals, Superfund, forests and drilling — who are now likely examples of regulatory capture. A short list. Plus, more from our new Trump 2.0 EJWatch special section [55].

SEJ Publication Types:
TipSheet [56]
Topics on the Beat:
Agriculture [31]
Air [4]
Chemicals [19]
Climate Change [20]
Economy & Business [39]
Energy & Fuel [6]
Environmental Politics [7]
Forests [57]
Government [8]
Journalism & Media [10]
Laws & Regulations [23]
Natural Resources [24]
Policy [25]
Pollution [12]
Waste [26]
Water & Oceans [27]
Region:
National (U.S.) [13]
Visibility:
Public [15]
- Read more about Open Door to Industry for Trump Environmental Agency Appointees [54]
Telling the Stories of the Silent Sentinels [58]

To many, plants are a merely green backdrop, indistinguishable and inconsequential. But, freelancer Karen Mockler says that such “plant blindness” belies an urgent need for our notice. More than a third of the world’s trees and thousands of other plant species face extinction. Their plight — and their many blessings — offer perceptive journalists a wealth of reporting and storytelling opportunities. Mockler on why to write about plants.

SEJ Publication Types:
Features [38]
Topics on the Beat:
Agriculture [31]
Air [4]
Biodiversity [18]
Climate Change [20]
Environmental Health [40]
Environmental Justice [21]
Environmental Politics [7]
Environmental Studies [32]
Food [59]
Forests [57]
Government [8]
Health [9]
Journalism & Media [10]
Laws & Regulations [23]
Natural Resources [24]
Pollution [12]
Religion, Faith and Spirituality [60]
Science [42]
Water & Oceans [27]
Wildlife [28]
Region:
National (U.S.) [13]
California [61]
Northwest (OR WA) [62]
Southwest (AZ NM OK TX) [14]
International [35]
Canada [50]
Visibility:
Public [15]
- Read more about Telling the Stories of the Silent Sentinels [58]
What Biden Rules Could Congress Unplug With Review Act? [63]

As the Biden White House rushes to enact environment and energy policy before Inauguration Day, an obscure law leaves room for the incoming administration to claw them back. At risk: strengthened emissions standards for vehicles and power, tougher energy efficiency standards and plans to replace lead pipes. The latest EJ TransitionWatch explains how the reversal works — and why it might not.

SEJ Publication Types:
EJ TransitionWatch [64]
Topics on the Beat:
Air [4]
Climate Change [20]
Economy & Business [39]
Energy & Fuel [6]
Environmental Politics [7]
Government [8]
Infrastructure [22]
Laws & Regulations [23]
Policy [25]
Pollution [12]
Technology [43]
Transportation [34]
Water & Oceans [27]
Region:
National (U.S.) [13]
Visibility:
Public [15]
- Read more about What Biden Rules Could Congress Unplug With Review Act? [63]
What Will a Second Trump Term Mean for Environmental Justice? [65]

An incoming Trump administration hostile to the very idea of environmental justice likely means the rollback of numerous policies and regulations designed to protect disadvantaged communities, cuts to an important “whole-of-government” initiative and downsizing of key federal environmental justice offices. The latest EJ TransitionWatch examines what’s at stake. And for more, see our Topics on the Beat page on environmental justice [66].

SEJ Publication Types:
EJ TransitionWatch [64]
Topics on the Beat:
Air [4]
Climate Change [20]
Environmental Justice [21]
Environmental Politics [7]
Government [8]
Health [9]
Infrastructure [22]
Laws & Regulations [23]
People & Population [11]
Policy [25]
Pollution [12]
Waste [26]
Water & Oceans [27]
Region:
National (U.S.) [13]
Visibility:
Public [15]
- Read more about What Will a Second Trump Term Mean for Environmental Justice? [65]
Future of Justice40 Program Hangs in Balance [67]

A Biden administration initiative that commits to allocating 40% of federal investments to disadvantaged communities plagued by overpollution is an environmental justice breakthrough, writes columnist Yessenia Funes. But it’s also a program with weaknesses, such as how it factors in race or keeps track of impacts. What is Justice40, what has it missed and what is its future?

SEJ Publication Types:
Voices of Environmental Justice [68]
Topics on the Beat:
Activism [3]
Air [4]
Chemicals [19]
Climate Change [20]
Environmental Justice [21]
Environmental Politics [7]
Government [8]
Health [9]
Infrastructure [22]
Laws & Regulations [23]
People & Population [11]
Policy [25]
Pollution [12]
Waste [26]
Water & Oceans [27]
Region:
National (U.S.) [13]
Visibility:
Public [15]
- Read more about Future of Justice40 Program Hangs in Balance [67]

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