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]
Will DOGE Evaporate Crucial Water Data? [18]

Streamflow data gathered by thousands of U.S. Geological Survey gauges helps track the country’s floods and droughts. But it may be lost if the Trump administration follows up on a decision not to renew leases of USGS water science centers that read the gauges and disseminate the measurements. Reporter’s Toolbox on the value of this database and the risk of its loss.

SEJ Publication Types:
Reporters Toolbox [19]
Topics on the Beat:
Agriculture [3]
Climate Change [20]
Disasters [21]
Environmental Politics [8]
Environmental Studies [22]
Government [23]
Natural Resources [24]
Policy [25]
Science [26]
Water & Oceans [14]
Region:
National (U.S.) [15]
California [27]
SE (AL AR FL GA KY LA MS NC PR SC TN) [28]
Southwest (AZ NM OK TX) [29]
Visibility:
Public [17]
- Read more about Will DOGE Evaporate Crucial Water Data? [18]
Why Now’s the Time To Tell a Good Fish Tale [30]

With fishing season underway across the United States, reporters have a line to an array of great, local environmental stories, whether about the recreation and tourism industries or overfishing and the health of regional ecosystems. The latest TipSheet has more than a dozen story ideas and reporting resources to help you reel in an angle of your own.

SEJ Publication Types:
TipSheet [31]
Topics on the Beat:
Activism [32]
Biodiversity [33]
Climate Change [20]
Environmental Health [6]
Fish & Fisheries [34]
Food [35]
Journalism & Media [10]
Natural Resources [24]
Water & Oceans [14]
Wildlife [36]
Region:
National (U.S.) [15]
Visibility:
Public [17]
- Read more about Why Now’s the Time To Tell a Good Fish Tale [30]
In West Bank, Hope for Future in Link Between Land and People [37]

On a tour of the West Bank this spring, Yessenia Funes found a region where the relationship between land and people serves as a counterweight to occupation and the threat of violence. For her Voices of Environmental Justice column, Funes exhorts fellow environment journalists to report on that struggle, through stories that touch on wildlife, wildfire, food, climate and more.

SEJ Publication Types:
Voices of Environmental Justice [38]
Topics on the Beat:
Agriculture [3]
Climate Change [20]
Environmental Justice [7]
Environmental Politics [8]
Food [35]
Government [23]
Journalism & Media [10]
Military [39]
People & Population [11]
Policy [25]
Water & Oceans [14]
Region:
International [40]
Middle East [41]
Visibility:
Public [17]
- Read more about In West Bank, Hope for Future in Link Between Land and People [37]
Mapping Out Local PFAS Risk, As Federal Rules Waver [42]

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 [31]
Topics on the Beat:
Chemicals [4]
Consumer [43]
Health [9]
Journalism & Media [10]
Laws & Regulations [44]
Policy [25]
Pollution [12]
Science [26]
Water & Oceans [14]
Region:
National (U.S.) [15]
Visibility:
Public [17]
- Read more about Mapping Out Local PFAS Risk, As Federal Rules Waver [42]
Environmentalists Will Be Seeing Trump Forces in Court — Often [45]

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 [46]
Topics on the Beat:
Activism [32]
Air [47]
Biodiversity [33]
Chemicals [4]
Climate Change [20]
Consumer [43]
Environmental Justice [7]
Environmental Politics [8]
Government [23]
Infrastructure [48]
Journalism & Media [10]
Laws & Regulations [44]
Natural Resources [24]
Policy [25]
Pollution [12]
Waste [13]
Water & Oceans [14]
Wildlife [36]
Region:
National (U.S.) [15]
Visibility:
Public [17]
- Read more about Environmentalists Will Be Seeing Trump Forces in Court — Often [45]
Trump Tariffs Blow Up Long U.S.-Canada Environmental Partnership [49]

As trade wars loom with U.S. allies, including our neighbors to the north and south, another kind of long-standing relationship is under threat — the environmental partnership between the United States and Canada. A Backgrounder Analysis examines deep-rooted ties over energy, water and timber. Does the brewing conflict over trade mean the long bonds over the environment have been broken?

SEJ Publication Types:
Backgrounders [46]
Topics on the Beat:
Consumer [43]
Economy & Business [5]
Energy & Fuel [50]
Environmental Health [6]
Environmental Politics [8]
Fish & Fisheries [34]
Forests [51]
Government [23]
Laws & Regulations [44]
Natural Resources [24]
Policy [25]
Water & Oceans [14]
Region:
National (U.S.) [15]
Great Lakes (IL IN MI MN OH WI) [52]
Northwest (OR WA) [53]
International [40]
Canada [54]
Mexico [55]
Visibility:
Public [17]
- Read more about Trump Tariffs Blow Up Long U.S.-Canada Environmental Partnership [49]
#SEJ2025 — Confronting the Past, Surviving the Future [56]

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 [56] and register now [57], before the April 16 midnight deadline.

SEJ Publication Types:
SEJ News [58]
Topics on the Beat:
Agriculture [3]
Biodiversity [33]
Climate Change [20]
Energy & Fuel [50]
Environmental Health [6]
Environmental Justice [7]
Environmental Politics [8]
Fish & Fisheries [34]
Food [35]
Government [23]
Health [9]
Journalism & Media [10]
Natural Resources [24]
People & Population [11]
Planning & Growth [59]
Policy [25]
Pollution [12]
Science [26]
Water & Oceans [14]
Wildlife [36]
Region:
National (U.S.) [15]
Southwest (AZ NM OK TX) [29]
International [40]
Mexico [55]
Visibility:
Public [17]
- Read more about #SEJ2025 — Confronting the Past, Surviving the Future [56]
How the Potomac Imparts the Capital’s Story [60]

The Potomac is one of the most prominent rivers in the United States, a defining ecological feature of Washington, D.C., at the same time it reveals the city’s history of racial inequality and disenfranchisement. Writer, historian, educator and herbalist Charlotte Taylor Fryar recounts that tale in her ambitious “Potomac Fever,” reviewed in the latest BookShelf by contributing editor Jennifer Weeks, herself a Washington native.

SEJ Publication Types:
BookShelf [61]
Topics on the Beat:
Environmental Health [6]
Environmental Justice [7]
Environmental Politics [8]
Natural Resources [24]
People & Population [11]
Pollution [12]
Water & Oceans [14]
Region:
National (U.S.) [15]
Mid-Atlantic (DC DE MD PA VA WV) [62]
Visibility:
Public [17]
- Read more about How the Potomac Imparts the Capital’s Story [60]
Dam Safety Firings Leave Downstream Residents at Risk [63]

Among the widespread federal firings that look like they’re putting the public increasingly at risk are those that strip away government oversight of dam safety. The latest TipSheet looks at what’s at stake and offers up a dozen story ideas, questions to ask and reporting resources to help environmental journalists spot the dam dangers nearest them.

SEJ Publication Types:
TipSheet [31]
Topics on the Beat:
Disasters [21]
Environmental Politics [8]
Government [23]
Infrastructure [48]
Journalism & Media [10]
Policy [25]
Water & Oceans [14]
Region:
National (U.S.) [15]
California [27]
Visibility:
Public [17]
- Read more about Dam Safety Firings Leave Downstream Residents at Risk [63]

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