Publication Items

Home Insurance Likely To Be a 2024 Climate Story Near You [1]

In the first of a two-parter for our 2024 Journalists’ Guide to Environment & Energy, TipSheet looks at what climate-driven disasters mean for the home insurance market. Storms, floods and fire rip through communities, yet a federal insurance program falls short, lawmakers shy away from real reform and insurers grow hesitant to cover the risks, while homeowners often attempt to rebuild in the same problematic locales. Plus, see part two [2] on extreme weather and insurance.

SEJ Publication Types:
TipSheet [3]
Topics on the Beat:
Climate Change [4]
Consumer [5]
Disasters [6]
Economy & Business [7]
Environmental Politics [8]
Government [9]
Journalism & Media [10]
Laws & Regulations [11]
People & Population [12]
Planning & Growth [13]
Policy [14]
Region:
National (U.S.) [15]
California [16]
Northeast (CT MA ME NH NJ NY RI VT) [17]
SE (AL AR FL GA KY LA MS NC PR SC TN) [18]
Visibility:
Public [19]
- Read more about Home Insurance Likely To Be a 2024 Climate Story Near You [1]
Funding To Replace Lead Pipes Is Just the Start of the Story [20]

Billions of dollars in federal funding to get rid of lead pipes is only the beginning — now the pipes have to be located, removed and replaced. And the latest TipSheet says that’s a story that’s found in many U.S. communities, so is ripe for local reporting. Here’s the backstory and why it matters, along with more than a dozen story ideas and reporting resources.

SEJ Publication Types:
TipSheet [3]
Topics on the Beat:
Consumer [5]
Disasters [6]
Environmental Justice [21]
Environmental Studies [22]
Government [9]
Health [23]
Infrastructure [24]
Journalism & Media [10]
Laws & Regulations [11]
Pollution [25]
Water & Oceans [26]
Region:
National (U.S.) [15]
Great Lakes (IL IN MI MN OH WI) [27]
Visibility:
Public [19]
- Read more about Funding To Replace Lead Pipes Is Just the Start of the Story [20]
Disabilities and Disasters — What Questions Should You Be Asking Planners? [28]

As hurricane season ramps up, how are the disaster planners considering those with disabilities in your community? Texas-based journalist Greg Harman shares the story of one group that sued their city over claims it failed to properly prepare. And he extracts some rules of thumb to help determine if emergency planners are taking those with disabilities into consideration where you are.

SEJ Publication Types:
Features [29]
Topics on the Beat:
Activism [30]
Climate Change [4]
Disasters [6]
Diversity [31]
Environmental Health [32]
Environmental Justice [21]
Environmental Politics [8]
Government [9]
Health [23]
Infrastructure [24]
Journalism & Media [10]
Laws & Regulations [11]
People & Population [12]
Policy [14]
Region:
National (U.S.) [15]
Northeast (CT MA ME NH NJ NY RI VT) [17]
Southwest (AZ NM OK TX) [33]
Visibility:
Public [19]
- Read more about Disabilities and Disasters — What Questions Should You Be Asking Planners? [28]
COP28 Will Be Earth-Shaping News in 2024 and Beyond [34]

When nations converge this fall for the latest round of annual talks on harnessing climate change, they meet at a crucial juncture. Will the increasingly dramatic impacts of global warming, and the prospects of worse, focus their attention enough to bring about progress? In this sweeping analysis, Backgrounder assesses the varied pressures at play at the coming COP28, along with tips for covering it, from up close or afar.

SEJ Publication Types:
Backgrounders [35]
Topics on the Beat:
Climate Change [4]
Energy & Fuel [36]
Environmental Health [32]
Environmental Politics [8]
Environmental Studies [22]
Government [9]
Journalism & Media [10]
Laws & Regulations [11]
Policy [14]
Science [37]
Region:
National (U.S.) [15]
International [38]
Canada [39]
Africa [40]
Asia [41]
Europe [42]
Middle East [43]
Visibility:
Public [19]
- Read more about COP28 Will Be Earth-Shaping News in 2024 and Beyond [34]
Waste Incineration May Put Toxics Into Local Air [44]

Sometimes on the environment beat, what seems like an old story is perpetually new again. That’s the case with waste incineration, finds the latest TipSheet. Rather than being reduced, incinerators are just being transformed, with the ongoing burning of plastics especially troubling for the environment and public health. Get the backstory on where the regulatory regime may have holes, plus key reporting angles and story ideas.

SEJ Publication Types:
TipSheet [3]
Topics on the Beat:
Activism [30]
Air [45]
Chemicals [46]
Energy & Fuel [36]
Environmental Health [32]
Environmental Justice [21]
Environmental Politics [8]
Health [23]
Journalism & Media [10]
Laws & Regulations [11]
Pollution [25]
Waste [47]
Region:
National (U.S.) [15]
Visibility:
Public [19]
- Read more about Waste Incineration May Put Toxics Into Local Air [44]
Data on Pesticide Incidents Openly Available for First Time [48]

A decade’s worth of government pesticide data — only available before through FOIA — has been made newly available. And, explains the latest Reporter’s Toolbox, it can lead to revealing environmental, public health and environmental justice stories. More on how the data came to be compiled and advice on using it smartly, along with some caveats.

SEJ Publication Types:
Reporters Toolbox [49]
Topics on the Beat:
Agriculture [50]
Chemicals [46]
Environmental Health [32]
Environmental Justice [21]
Food [51]
Health [23]
Journalism & Media [10]
Laws & Regulations [11]
Pollution [25]
Region:
National (U.S.) [15]
Visibility:
Public [19]
- Read more about Data on Pesticide Incidents Openly Available for First Time [48]
Painful Process Underway of Regulating PFAS in Drinking Water [52]

Long-growing concern over dangerous “forever” chemicals has drawn the attention of federal and state policymakers, local communities and the utilities that provide their drinking water. But little about regulating PFAS will be quick or easy, making it a major environmental and public health story for years to come. Issue Backgrounder unfolds the regulatory moves, the politics and the larger implications of PFAS policy.

SEJ Publication Types:
Backgrounders [35]
Topics on the Beat:
Chemicals [46]
Consumer [5]
Environmental Health [32]
Environmental Politics [8]
Government [9]
Health [23]
Infrastructure [24]
Journalism & Media [10]
Laws & Regulations [11]
Pollution [25]
Water & Oceans [26]
Region:
National (U.S.) [15]
Visibility:
Public [19]
- Read more about Painful Process Underway of Regulating PFAS in Drinking Water [52]
Both Sides Now — How Permitting Reform May Affect Fossil Fuel, Clean Energy Industries [53]

It’s a political knot with the potential to tangle the fossil energy industry, the clean energy industry … or both. Environmental journalists looking to better report on the impacts of permitting reform can start with our latest Backgrounder, which explores the issue’s recent history and the competing visions that have stalled changes. There’s also the “backroom problem.” Plus, get a rundown of key actors.

SEJ Publication Types:
Backgrounders [35]
Topics on the Beat:
Activism [30]
Climate Change [4]
Energy & Fuel [36]
Environmental Politics [8]
Government [9]
Infrastructure [24]
Journalism & Media [10]
Laws & Regulations [11]
Natural Resources [54]
Policy [14]
Region:
National (U.S.) [15]
Alaska and Hawaii [55]
Great Plains (IA KS ND NE MO SD) [56]
Mid-Atlantic (DC DE MD PA VA WV) [57]
International [38]
Canada [39]
Visibility:
Public [19]
- Read more about Both Sides Now — How Permitting Reform May Affect Fossil Fuel, Clean Energy Industries [53]
Watching the Watchers: How Journalistic Teamwork Uncovered Years of Regulatory Failure in Texas [58]

After a massive fire at a Texas petrochemical storage facility, reporters from Public Health Watch and The Texas Tribune worked together to shed light on who was responsible for this disaster and what health threats had been hidden from the public. This behind-the-scenes report from Public Health Watch’s David Leffler and Savanna Strott looks at the challenges the team faced and how they overcame them.

SEJ Publication Types:
Features [29]
Topics on the Beat:
Air [45]
Chemicals [46]
Disasters [6]
Economy & Business [7]
Energy & Fuel [36]
Environmental Health [32]
Environmental Justice [21]
Environmental Politics [8]
Government [9]
Health [23]
Journalism & Media [10]
Laws & Regulations [11]
Pollution [25]
Region:
National (U.S.) [15]
Southwest (AZ NM OK TX) [33]
Visibility:
Public [19]
- Read more about Watching the Watchers: How Journalistic Teamwork Uncovered Years of Regulatory Failure in Texas [58]
Threats to Press Come in Many Forms. Some Are Violent. [59]

Attacks of all kinds on U.S. journalists clearly hamper a free press. And environmental journalists are not spared such aggressions, especially when covering contested places like pipeline construction sites. WatchDog Opinion outlines the problem and explores how journalists might be spared from such violations, including with a prospective law explicitly protecting journalists from assault.

SEJ Publication Types:
WatchDog [60]
Topics on the Beat:
Activism [30]
Energy & Fuel [36]
Environmental Politics [8]
Journalism & Media [10]
Laws & Regulations [11]
Policy [14]
Region:
National (U.S.) [15]
Mountain West (CO ID MT NV UT WY) [61]
SE (AL AR FL GA KY LA MS NC PR SC TN) [18]
International [38]
Canada [39]
South America [62]
Visibility:
Public [19]
- Read more about Threats to Press Come in Many Forms. Some Are Violent. [59]

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