Publication Items

EPA Open Data Plan Is Worth Putting Into Action [1]

Public databases — a boon to good environmental reporting — have long been a priority for the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, as evidenced in its just-published “open data plan.” But as an analysis in the latest Reporter’s Toolbox notes, that pioneering approach may succumb to Trump 2.0 policies. What’s at stake and what’s already being lost.

SEJ Publication Types:
Reporters Toolbox [2]
Topics on the Beat:
Climate Change [3]
Environmental Justice [4]
Environmental Politics [5]
Government [6]
Journalism & Media [7]
Policy [8]
Science [9]
Region:
National (U.S.) [10]
Visibility:
Public [11]
- Read more about EPA Open Data Plan Is Worth Putting Into Action [1]
‘People Will Die’ — Stories Behind Trump Budget Bill [12]

The Trump administration’s “One Big Beautiful Bill” is anything but, especially in its unraveling of efforts to weave environmental and climate justice into American society, argues the new Voices of Environmental Justice. In her latest column, writer Yessenia Funes calls on journalists to report its ramifications not just for the planet but for the most vulnerable people living on it. Here are key stories to start with.

SEJ Publication Types:
Voices of Environmental Justice [13]
Topics on the Beat:
Activism [14]
Air [15]
Chemicals [16]
Climate Change [3]
Energy & Fuel [17]
Environmental Health [18]
Environmental Justice [4]
Environmental Politics [5]
Government [6]
Health [19]
Infrastructure [20]
Journalism & Media [7]
Laws & Regulations [21]
People & Population [22]
Policy [8]
Pollution [23]
Waste [24]
Water & Oceans [25]
Region:
National (U.S.) [10]
Alaska and Hawaii [26]
SE (AL AR FL GA KY LA MS NC PR SC TN) [27]
Visibility:
Public [11]
- Read more about ‘People Will Die’ — Stories Behind Trump Budget Bill [12]
Lapses in Enforcement by Trump's EPA May Yield Local Environment Stories [28]

Enforcement has usually been serious business at the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. Now it seems many pollution laws are going unpoliced. TipSheet explains how the EPA’s own resources can help investigative reporters find violations, track regulatory actions and uncover nationwide patterns of corporate mismanagement.

SEJ Publication Types:
TipSheet [29]
Topics on the Beat:
Air [15]
Chemicals [16]
Economy & Business [30]
Energy & Fuel [17]
Environmental Health [18]
Environmental Justice [4]
Environmental Politics [5]
Government [6]
Health [19]
Journalism & Media [7]
Laws & Regulations [21]
Pollution [23]
Waste [24]
Water & Oceans [25]
Region:
National (U.S.) [10]
Visibility:
Public [11]
- Read more about Lapses in Enforcement by Trump's EPA May Yield Local Environment Stories [28]
NASA Portal Can Lead Reporters to Universe of Data [31]

For environmental journalists looking for data riches to help tell their stories — whether about urban heat islands, sea-surface temperatures or air pollution — NASA has the satellites whose sensors capture insights galore. The latest Reporter’s Toolbox offers an introduction to the U.S. space agency’s incredibly extensive data portal, and how to get started amid the wealth of information (caveat: before it’s gone).

SEJ Publication Types:
Reporters Toolbox [2]
Topics on the Beat:
Air [15]
Climate Change [3]
Environmental Health [18]
Environmental Studies [32]
Forests [33]
Government [6]
Journalism & Media [7]
Science [9]
Technology [34]
Water & Oceans [25]
Region:
National (U.S.) [10]
International [35]
Visibility:
Public [11]
- Read more about NASA Portal Can Lead Reporters to Universe of Data [31]
Rethinking Forest Management in the Pyrocene [36]

Recent urban-interface infernos, fueled by climate change, leave no doubt that we have entered the age of runaway fire. Writer and ecologist Lauren Oakes writes that large-scale combustion is permanently reshaping ecosystems and societies as we learn to live with wildfire, not just fight it. Instead of perpetuating problematic approaches to forest management, experts call for confronting the root causes of this crisis and adopting science-informed responses.

SEJ Publication Types:
Features [37]
Topics on the Beat:
Climate Change [3]
Disasters [38]
Environmental Politics [5]
Environmental Studies [32]
Forests [33]
Government [6]
Health [19]
Infrastructure [20]
Journalism & Media [7]
Laws & Regulations [21]
Natural Resources [39]
Policy [8]
Region:
National (U.S.) [10]
California [40]
Northwest (OR WA) [41]
International [35]
Canada [42]
Australia & Oceania [43]
Europe [44]
Visibility:
Public [11]
- Read more about Rethinking Forest Management in the Pyrocene [36]
Public Broadcasting Cuts Would Harm Free Press [45]

Trump administration efforts to defund public media, now before Congress, are a misguided effort to harm a source of journalism that is highly trusted by audiences, argues the latest WatchDog Opinion column. And while public broadcasting’s diverse funding sources may insulate it from politics to some degree, the attacks do threaten to chill press freedom, including environmental reporting, more broadly. The latest Dog explains.

SEJ Publication Types:
WatchDog [46]
Topics on the Beat:
Government [6]
Journalism & Media [7]
Laws & Regulations [21]
Policy [8]
Region:
National (U.S.) [10]
Visibility:
Public [11]
- Read more about Public Broadcasting Cuts Would Harm Free Press [45]
National Park Story No Walk in the Park, Post-Budget Cuts [47]

Steep cuts for the U.S. National Park System look likely from the Trump administration, affecting visitors, roiling local businesses and raising political hackles. For environmental journalists, budgets slashed for hundreds of park units could also turn a summer standby story into something closer to disaster coverage. TipSheet has more than a dozen story ideas and reporting resources to cover the park nearest you.

SEJ Publication Types:
TipSheet [29]
Topics on the Beat:
Consumer [48]
Environmental Politics [5]
Forests [33]
Government [6]
Journalism & Media [7]
Policy [8]
Region:
National (U.S.) [10]
Visibility:
Public [11]
- Read more about National Park Story No Walk in the Park, Post-Budget Cuts [47]
Battle Over Gas Power Facility Generates Months-Long Investigation [49]

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 [50]
Topics on the Beat:
Activism [14]
Air [15]
Consumer [48]
Energy & Fuel [17]
Environmental Politics [5]
Government [6]
Health [19]
Journalism & Media [7]
People & Population [22]
Pollution [23]
Region:
National (U.S.) [10]
Southwest (AZ NM OK TX) [51]
Visibility:
Public [11]
- Read more about Battle Over Gas Power Facility Generates Months-Long Investigation [49]
Will DOGE Evaporate Crucial Water Data? [52]

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 [2]
Topics on the Beat:
Agriculture [53]
Climate Change [3]
Disasters [38]
Environmental Politics [5]
Environmental Studies [32]
Government [6]
Natural Resources [39]
Policy [8]
Science [9]
Water & Oceans [25]
Region:
National (U.S.) [10]
California [40]
SE (AL AR FL GA KY LA MS NC PR SC TN) [27]
Southwest (AZ NM OK TX) [51]
Visibility:
Public [11]
- Read more about Will DOGE Evaporate Crucial Water Data? [52]
Analysis: Trump Administration Attacks Science, As Environment Suffers [54]

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 [55]
Topics on the Beat:
Chemicals [16]
Climate Change [3]
Economy & Business [30]
Environmental Politics [5]
Environmental Studies [32]
Government [6]
Health [19]
Journalism & Media [7]
Laws & Regulations [21]
Policy [8]
Science [9]
Region:
National (U.S.) [10]
Visibility:
Public [11]
- Read more about Analysis: Trump Administration Attacks Science, As Environment Suffers [54]

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