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]
Environmentalists Will Be Seeing Trump Forces in Court — Often [18]

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 [19]
Topics on the Beat:
Activism [20]
Air [21]
Biodiversity [22]
Chemicals [4]
Climate Change [23]
Consumer [24]
Environmental Justice [7]
Environmental Politics [8]
Government [25]
Infrastructure [26]
Journalism & Media [10]
Laws & Regulations [27]
Natural Resources [28]
Policy [29]
Pollution [12]
Waste [13]
Water & Oceans [14]
Wildlife [30]
Region:
National (U.S.) [15]
Visibility:
Public [17]
- Read more about Environmentalists Will Be Seeing Trump Forces in Court — Often [18]
Hazardous Risk Reporting Resource at Risk of Trump Blackout [31]

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 [32]
Topics on the Beat:
Chemicals [4]
Disasters [33]
Environmental Health [6]
Environmental Politics [8]
Government [25]
Health [9]
Journalism & Media [10]
Laws & Regulations [27]
Pollution [12]
Waste [13]
Region:
National (U.S.) [15]
Visibility:
Public [17]
- Read more about Hazardous Risk Reporting Resource at Risk of Trump Blackout [31]
Desperately Seeking Data? OECD Has Loads [34]

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 [35]
Topics on the Beat:
Agriculture [3]
Air [21]
Biodiversity [22]
Chemicals [4]
Climate Change [23]
Energy & Fuel [36]
Environmental Studies [37]
Fish & Fisheries [38]
Health [9]
Journalism & Media [10]
Natural Resources [28]
Pollution [12]
Transportation [39]
Waste [13]
Water & Oceans [14]
Region:
National (U.S.) [15]
International [40]
Europe [41]
Visibility:
Public [17]
- Read more about Desperately Seeking Data? OECD Has Loads [34]
New Angle for Reporting on Oil and Gas Industry — Radioactive Waste [42]

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 [43]
Topics on the Beat:
Activism [20]
Air [21]
Chemicals [4]
Climate Change [23]
Consumer [24]
Economy & Business [5]
Energy & Fuel [36]
Environmental Health [6]
Environmental Politics [8]
Environmental Studies [37]
Government [25]
Health [9]
Journalism & Media [10]
Laws & Regulations [27]
Natural Resources [28]
Nuclear Power & Radiation [44]
People & Population [11]
Policy [29]
Pollution [12]
Science [45]
Technology [46]
Waste [13]
Water & Oceans [14]
Region:
National (U.S.) [15]
Great Lakes (IL IN MI MN OH WI) [47]
Great Plains (IA KS ND NE MO SD) [16]
Mid-Atlantic (DC DE MD PA VA WV) [48]
Mountain West (CO ID MT NV UT WY) [49]
Northeast (CT MA ME NH NJ NY RI VT) [50]
SE (AL AR FL GA KY LA MS NC PR SC TN) [51]
Southwest (AZ NM OK TX) [52]
International [40]
Canada [53]
South America [54]
Visibility:
Public [17]
- Read more about New Angle for Reporting on Oil and Gas Industry — Radioactive Waste [42]
Open Door to Industry for Trump Environmental Agency Appointees [55]

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 [56].

SEJ Publication Types:
TipSheet [32]
Topics on the Beat:
Agriculture [3]
Air [21]
Chemicals [4]
Climate Change [23]
Economy & Business [5]
Energy & Fuel [36]
Environmental Politics [8]
Forests [57]
Government [25]
Journalism & Media [10]
Laws & Regulations [27]
Natural Resources [28]
Policy [29]
Pollution [12]
Waste [13]
Water & Oceans [14]
Region:
National (U.S.) [15]
Visibility:
Public [17]
- Read more about Open Door to Industry for Trump Environmental Agency Appointees [55]
The Forgotten Victims of Hidalgo [58]

Contaminated water sickened thousands of residents near Mexico City for 40 years — even as officials knew they were being poisoned. Then, an investigative news team turned its attention to the polluted region, and produced multiple video and text versions of an award-winning feature focused on the residents’ health, poverty and more. Read a revealing Q&A with investigative producer Carlos Carabaña in the new Inside Story.

SEJ Publication Types:
Inside Story [2]
Topics on the Beat:
Chemicals [4]
Environmental Justice [7]
Government [25]
Health [9]
Journalism & Media [10]
People & Population [11]
Pollution [12]
Waste [13]
Water & Oceans [14]
Region:
International [40]
Mexico [59]
Visibility:
Public [17]
- Read more about The Forgotten Victims of Hidalgo [58]
What Will a Second Trump Term Mean for Environmental Justice? [60]

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 [61].

SEJ Publication Types:
EJ TransitionWatch [62]
Topics on the Beat:
Air [21]
Climate Change [23]
Environmental Justice [7]
Environmental Politics [8]
Government [25]
Health [9]
Infrastructure [26]
Laws & Regulations [27]
People & Population [11]
Policy [29]
Pollution [12]
Waste [13]
Water & Oceans [14]
Region:
National (U.S.) [15]
Visibility:
Public [17]
- Read more about What Will a Second Trump Term Mean for Environmental Justice? [60]
Prize Winner Spurs Policy Change on Illinois PFAS Contamination [63]

When Illinois downplayed the results of long-delayed PFAS testing in the state’s public water supply, Chicago Tribune reporter Michael Hawthorne revisited a story he had first covered two decades before. His investigation uncovered dangerous practices threatening public health, won him accolades and moved the needle on state policy. How he went about it, in the new Inside Story Q&A.

SEJ Publication Types:
Inside Story [2]
Topics on the Beat:
Agriculture [3]
Chemicals [4]
Environmental Justice [7]
Environmental Politics [8]
Environmental Studies [37]
Food [64]
Government [25]
Health [9]
Journalism & Media [10]
Policy [29]
Pollution [12]
Science [45]
Waste [13]
Water & Oceans [14]
Region:
National (U.S.) [15]
Great Lakes (IL IN MI MN OH WI) [47]
Visibility:
Public [17]
- Read more about Prize Winner Spurs Policy Change on Illinois PFAS Contamination [63]
Future of Justice40 Program Hangs in Balance [65]

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 [66]
Topics on the Beat:
Activism [20]
Air [21]
Chemicals [4]
Climate Change [23]
Environmental Justice [7]
Environmental Politics [8]
Government [25]
Health [9]
Infrastructure [26]
Laws & Regulations [27]
People & Population [11]
Policy [29]
Pollution [12]
Waste [13]
Water & Oceans [14]
Region:
National (U.S.) [15]
Visibility:
Public [17]
- Read more about Future of Justice40 Program Hangs in Balance [65]

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