Publication Items

Tainted Water, Tainted Power — Inside a Hog-Farm Empire [1]

A powerful politician and his family’s groundwater-polluting agricultural business were the focus of an award-winning series that delved into the intersection of politics, power, privilege and regulatory capture. In the latest Inside Story Q&A, journalist Yanqi Xu discusses how the reporting uncovered deep and unexpected impacts on small town economies, water quality and the living conditions of the hog farms’ neighbors.

SEJ Publication Types:
Inside Story [2]
Topics on the Beat:
Agriculture [3]
Chemicals [4]
Economy & Business [5]
Environmental Health [6]
Environmental Justice [7]
Environmental Politics [8]
Health [9]
Journalism & Media [10]
People & Population [11]
Pollution [12]
Waste [13]
Water & Oceans [14]
Region:
National (U.S.) [15]
Great Plains (IA KS ND NE MO SD) [16]
Visibility:
Public [17]
- Read more about Tainted Water, Tainted Power — Inside a Hog-Farm Empire [1]
Battle Over Gas Power Facility Generates Months-Long Investigation [18]

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 [19]
Topics on the Beat:
Activism [20]
Air [21]
Consumer [22]
Energy & Fuel [23]
Environmental Politics [8]
Government [24]
Health [9]
Journalism & Media [10]
People & Population [11]
Pollution [12]
Region:
National (U.S.) [15]
Southwest (AZ NM OK TX) [25]
Visibility:
Public [17]
- Read more about Battle Over Gas Power Facility Generates Months-Long Investigation [18]
Analysis: Trump Administration Attacks Science, As Environment Suffers [26]

It’s not just scientists who are being lost to the new administration’s extensive firings of federal workers. A Backgrounder Analysis argues it’s the science itself. It’s happening at the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, but also across agencies that conduct research to protect health and the environment, whether around toxic chemicals or on the battleground of climate change science. A frank look at the reality and what’s being lost for journalists and the communities they serve.

SEJ Publication Types:
Backgrounders [27]
Topics on the Beat:
Chemicals [4]
Climate Change [28]
Economy & Business [5]
Environmental Politics [8]
Environmental Studies [29]
Government [24]
Health [9]
Journalism & Media [10]
Laws & Regulations [30]
Policy [31]
Science [32]
Region:
National (U.S.) [15]
Visibility:
Public [17]
- Read more about Analysis: Trump Administration Attacks Science, As Environment Suffers [26]
Mapping Out Local PFAS Risk, As Federal Rules Waver [33]

As the Trump administration rolls back Biden-era rules limiting the presence of “forever chemicals” in drinking water, an updated data mapping tool helps pinpoint local angles on the PFAS story. The latest TipSheet outlines the basics on this class of widely used chemicals, their risks to humans and the challenges of regulating them, plus provides a half-dozen story ideas and questions to ask.

SEJ Publication Types:
TipSheet [34]
Topics on the Beat:
Chemicals [4]
Consumer [22]
Health [9]
Journalism & Media [10]
Laws & Regulations [30]
Policy [31]
Pollution [12]
Science [32]
Water & Oceans [14]
Region:
National (U.S.) [15]
Visibility:
Public [17]
- Read more about Mapping Out Local PFAS Risk, As Federal Rules Waver [33]
Environmental Justice Grants Disappear. Environmental Injustice Does Not [35]

Decades of effort to tackle the often-intractable problems of environmental injustice, supported in recent years by billions in funding, are now facing the knife under the Trump administration. The latest TipSheet provides a thumbnail history of government initiatives and why it matters, then offers a dozen story ideas and reporting resources to tell the story in your community.

SEJ Publication Types:
TipSheet [34]
Topics on the Beat:
Environmental Justice [7]
Environmental Politics [8]
Government [24]
Health [9]
Journalism & Media [10]
Laws & Regulations [30]
People & Population [11]
Policy [31]
Pollution [12]
Region:
National (U.S.) [15]
Visibility:
Public [17]
- Read more about Environmental Justice Grants Disappear. Environmental Injustice Does Not [35]
Covering Wildfire — Expert Advice on Emerging Issues, Recurring Risks [36]

With wildfires becoming more extreme in every way, reporters covering them face new challenges along with familiar hazards. A pair of experienced wildfire journalists and others on the front lines offer advice on dealing with access restrictions, on-the-ground dangers, toxic exposure risks and traumatized survivors — as climate change speeds up the news cycle and misinformation muddies the reporting landscape.

SEJ Publication Types:
Features [37]
Topics on the Beat:
Climate Change [28]
Disasters [38]
Forests [39]
Government [24]
Health [9]
Infrastructure [40]
Journalism & Media [10]
Laws & Regulations [30]
People & Population [11]
Region:
National (U.S.) [15]
Alaska and Hawaii [41]
California [42]
Mountain West (CO ID MT NV UT WY) [43]
Northwest (OR WA) [44]
Southwest (AZ NM OK TX) [25]
Visibility:
Public [17]
- Read more about Covering Wildfire — Expert Advice on Emerging Issues, Recurring Risks [36]
Trump 2.0 Cuts Hit FOIA Offices at Federal Agencies [45]

The Freedom of Information Act is a key tool for environmental journalists, but firings at many federal agencies’ FOIA offices threaten to seriously undermine it. That’s the warning from WatchDog Opinion, which points to dire implications for the free flow of information on public health and environmental health threats. A look at what’s at stake and what some are doing to keep FOIA alive.

SEJ Publication Types:
WatchDog [46]
Topics on the Beat:
Environmental Politics [8]
Government [24]
Health [9]
Laws & Regulations [30]
People & Population [11]
Policy [31]
Region:
National (U.S.) [15]
Visibility:
Public [17]
- Read more about Trump 2.0 Cuts Hit FOIA Offices at Federal Agencies [45]
#SEJ2025 — Confronting the Past, Surviving the Future [47]

Next week, hundreds of environmental journalists are expected to gather in Arizona for #SEJ2025, the Society of Environmental Journalists’ expansive annual conference. Co-chair Kendal Blust has highlights of the four-day event, plus how the challenges facing the Southwest are those of communities across the United States, and why now is a critical time for journalists to come together. Read her rundown [47] and register now [48], before the April 16 midnight deadline.

SEJ Publication Types:
SEJ News [49]
Topics on the Beat:
Agriculture [3]
Biodiversity [50]
Climate Change [28]
Energy & Fuel [23]
Environmental Health [6]
Environmental Justice [7]
Environmental Politics [8]
Fish & Fisheries [51]
Food [52]
Government [24]
Health [9]
Journalism & Media [10]
Natural Resources [53]
People & Population [11]
Planning & Growth [54]
Policy [31]
Pollution [12]
Science [32]
Water & Oceans [14]
Wildlife [55]
Region:
National (U.S.) [15]
Southwest (AZ NM OK TX) [25]
International [56]
Mexico [57]
Visibility:
Public [17]
- Read more about #SEJ2025 — Confronting the Past, Surviving the Future [47]
With Scientific Research Under Attack, Journalists Must Up Their Game [58]

The Trump administration’s offensive against evidence-based research is making clear, accurate reporting on science more important than ever — because people who understand how scientific research works and what it tells us are less likely to be duped by misinformation or pseudoscience. SciLine director Matt DeRienzo on the challenges of the time and new resources to help journalists understand and explain evidence-based research.

SEJ Publication Types:
Features [37]
Topics on the Beat:
Climate Change [28]
Consumer [22]
Environmental Studies [29]
Government [24]
Health [9]
Journalism & Media [10]
Laws & Regulations [30]
Pollution [12]
Science [32]
Region:
National (U.S.) [15]
Visibility:
Public [17]
- Read more about With Scientific Research Under Attack, Journalists Must Up Their Game [58]
Hazardous Risk Reporting Resource at Risk of Trump Blackout [59]

Hazardous sites around the United States are supposed to have disaster plans, which make for a localizable story environmental journalists can tell to help protect their communities. The problem, reports TipSheet, is that a key federal database of these plans may be shut down by the Trump administration. More on the Risk Management Program, efforts to protect the data and how reporters can use it.

SEJ Publication Types:
TipSheet [34]
Topics on the Beat:
Chemicals [4]
Disasters [38]
Environmental Health [6]
Environmental Politics [8]
Government [24]
Health [9]
Journalism & Media [10]
Laws & Regulations [30]
Pollution [12]
Waste [13]
Region:
National (U.S.) [15]
Visibility:
Public [17]
- Read more about Hazardous Risk Reporting Resource at Risk of Trump Blackout [59]

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