Publication Items

EPA Enforcement Falls to Record Low Under Trump 2.0 [1]

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 [2]
Topics on the Beat:
Air [3]
Chemicals [4]
Climate Change [5]
Economy & Business [6]
Environmental Health [7]
Environmental Politics [8]
Environmental Studies [9]
Government [10]
Health [11]
Journalism & Media [12]
Laws & Regulations [13]
Policy [14]
Pollution [15]
Waste [16]
Water & Oceans [17]
Region:
National (U.S.) [18]
Visibility:
Public [19]
- Read more about EPA Enforcement Falls to Record Low Under Trump 2.0 [1]
Is Our Inextricable Link to Water the Key to Human Survival? [20]

The new book by renowned thinker and author Jeremy Rifkin, “Planet Aqua,” immerses the reader in a fascinating premise: that we live not on a land planet but within a great hydrosphere, and that water is no mere resource but a life-sustaining source. BookShelf editor Tom Henry explores how Rifkin’s wide-reaching narrative strives to upend conventional wisdom about our Earth.

SEJ Publication Types:
BookShelf [21]
Topics on the Beat:
Environmental Health [7]
Water & Oceans [17]
Region:
National (U.S.) [18]
International [22]
Asia [23]
Europe [24]
Visibility:
Public [19]
- Read more about Is Our Inextricable Link to Water the Key to Human Survival? [20]
Helping Students Learn the Hard Work of Journalism [25]

Two flourishing nonprofit programs teach young writers the basics of journalism and environmental reporting — mentoring and paying students, who publish enterprise and public records stories, personal essays and narrative features. Read more about Florida Student News Watch with CD Davidson-Hiers [25] and Indiana’s climate solutions-focused Youth Environmental Press Team with Jim Poyser [26], in the new EJ Academy.

SEJ Publication Types:
EJ Academy [27]
Topics on the Beat:
Agriculture [28]
Climate Change [5]
Government [10]
Water & Oceans [17]
Wildlife [29]
Region:
National (U.S.) [18]
Great Lakes (IL IN MI MN OH WI) [30]
Great Plains (IA KS ND NE MO SD) [31]
Mountain West (CO ID MT NV UT WY) [32]
SE (AL AR FL GA KY LA MS NC PR SC TN) [33]
Southwest (AZ NM OK TX) [34]
Visibility:
Public [19]
- Read more about Helping Students Learn the Hard Work of Journalism [25]
Even in This Toxic River — A Salmon Story [35]

Seattle’s heavily polluted Duwamish River is no place to catch fish — except for salmon, which pass quickly through these troubled waters on their way from the sea to their freshwater spawning grounds. With fishing pole in hand, environmental journalist Alex Brown joins jostling crowds of industrial-zone anglers and catches a firsthand view of a spectacle that is both anomalous and awe-inspiring.

SEJ Publication Types:
Features [36]
Topics on the Beat:
Biodiversity [37]
Chemicals [4]
Environmental Health [7]
Fish & Fisheries [38]
Food [39]
Pollution [15]
Water & Oceans [17]
Wildlife [29]
Region:
National (U.S.) [18]
Northwest (OR WA) [40]
Visibility:
Public [19]
- Read more about Even in This Toxic River — A Salmon Story [35]
A Town Derailed, a Trust Obtained [41]

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 [42]
Topics on the Beat:
Air [3]
Chemicals [4]
Disasters [43]
Environmental Health [7]
Environmental Justice [44]
Health [11]
Journalism & Media [12]
People & Population [45]
Pollution [15]
Science [46]
Transportation [47]
Water & Oceans [17]
Region:
National (U.S.) [18]
Great Lakes (IL IN MI MN OH WI) [30]
Visibility:
Public [19]
- Read more about A Town Derailed, a Trust Obtained [41]
Top Environment and Energy Topics To Watch in 2026 [48]

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 [48].

SEJ Publication Types:
SEJ News [49]
Topics on the Beat:
Activism [50]
Agriculture [28]
Air [3]
Biodiversity [37]
Chemicals [4]
Climate Change [5]
Disasters [43]
Economy & Business [6]
Energy & Fuel [51]
Environmental Health [7]
Environmental Justice [44]
Environmental Politics [8]
Environmental Studies [9]
Fish & Fisheries [38]
Forests [52]
Government [10]
Health [11]
Infrastructure [53]
Journalism & Media [12]
Laws & Regulations [13]
Military [54]
Natural Resources [55]
Policy [14]
Pollution [15]
Science [46]
Technology [56]
Waste [16]
Water & Oceans [17]
Wildlife [29]
Region:
National (U.S.) [18]
Alaska and Hawaii [57]
California [58]
Great Lakes (IL IN MI MN OH WI) [30]
Great Plains (IA KS ND NE MO SD) [31]
Mid-Atlantic (DC DE MD PA VA WV) [59]
Mountain West (CO ID MT NV UT WY) [32]
Northeast (CT MA ME NH NJ NY RI VT) [60]
Northwest (OR WA) [40]
SE (AL AR FL GA KY LA MS NC PR SC TN) [33]
Southwest (AZ NM OK TX) [34]
International [22]
Visibility:
Public [19]
- Read more about Top Environment and Energy Topics To Watch in 2026 [48]
From Words to Frames — Writer Learns To Wield Power of Visual Storytelling [61]

When writer Gulnaz Khan saw how global warming drove both natural loss and spiritual breaks for surrounding human communities, it started her on a PBS documentary series exploring sacred sites around the world threatened by climate change. But she also undertook another odyssey, one from writer to visual storyteller. What she learned on her journey from text to screen, in the new EJ InSight column.

SEJ Publication Types:
EJ InSight [62]
Topics on the Beat:
Agriculture [28]
Biodiversity [37]
Climate Change [5]
Environmental Health [7]
Environmental Justice [44]
Food [39]
Forests [52]
Government [10]
Health [11]
Journalism & Media [12]
Natural Resources [55]
People & Population [45]
Pollution [15]
Religion, Faith and Spirituality [63]
Science [46]
Waste [16]
Water & Oceans [17]
Wildlife [29]
Region:
International [22]
Africa [64]
Asia [23]
South America [65]
Visibility:
Public [19]
- Read more about From Words to Frames — Writer Learns To Wield Power of Visual Storytelling [61]
Citizen Pollution Monitors Face Industry Pushback, Legal Threats [66]

A steep decline in the enforcement of environmental laws means the monitoring of pollution by citizens is more important than ever. But as the latest TipSheet notes, some states have passed laws that severely constrain the use of citizen monitoring or the sharing of findings. Get the backstory, along with top reporting angles and resources for finding monitoring in your area.

SEJ Publication Types:
TipSheet [67]
Topics on the Beat:
Activism [50]
Air [3]
Environmental Health [7]
Environmental Justice [44]
Environmental Politics [8]
Environmental Studies [9]
Government [10]
Health [11]
Journalism & Media [12]
Laws & Regulations [13]
Pollution [15]
Science [46]
Water & Oceans [17]
Region:
National (U.S.) [18]
SE (AL AR FL GA KY LA MS NC PR SC TN) [33]
Visibility:
Public [19]
- Read more about Citizen Pollution Monitors Face Industry Pushback, Legal Threats [66]
Orphans and Zombies — Reporting on Abandoned Oil and Gas Wells Across the Country [68]

For more than a century, oil and gas companies have been drilling — and abandoning — wells across the country, leaving hundreds of thousands to potentially leak pollutants into the air, water and soil. Climate and environment reporter Martha Pskowski looks at how funding and regulatory issues are impacting efforts to identify and plug these wells, and offers resources for drilling into their story.

SEJ Publication Types:
Features [36]
Topics on the Beat:
Agriculture [28]
Air [3]
Climate Change [5]
Economy & Business [6]
Energy & Fuel [51]
Environmental Health [7]
Government [10]
Health [11]
Journalism & Media [12]
Laws & Regulations [13]
Natural Resources [55]
Policy [14]
Pollution [15]
Technology [56]
Water & Oceans [17]
Wildlife [29]
Region:
National (U.S.) [18]
Great Lakes (IL IN MI MN OH WI) [30]
Great Plains (IA KS ND NE MO SD) [31]
Mid-Atlantic (DC DE MD PA VA WV) [59]
Mountain West (CO ID MT NV UT WY) [32]
Southwest (AZ NM OK TX) [34]
Visibility:
Public [19]
- Read more about Orphans and Zombies — Reporting on Abandoned Oil and Gas Wells Across the Country [68]
Data Centers — A Local Drain on Power and Water, Coming to a Community Near You [69]

Thousands of energy-hungry, water-gulping data centers are helping fuel the artificial intelligence boom in the United States (and elsewhere). The latest TipSheet takes a closer look at this escalating phenomenon and encourages environmental journalists to look into how it may be playing out in their communities. Ten story ideas and reporting resources to cover data centers’ local impact.

SEJ Publication Types:
TipSheet [67]
Topics on the Beat:
Energy & Fuel [51]
Infrastructure [53]
Journalism & Media [12]
Planning & Growth [70]
Policy [14]
Pollution [15]
Water & Oceans [17]
Region:
National (U.S.) [18]
International [22]
Visibility:
Public [19]
- Read more about Data Centers — A Local Drain on Power and Water, Coming to a Community Near You [69]

Pages