Publication Items

New Angle for Reporting on Oil and Gas Industry — Radioactive Waste [1]

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 [2]
Topics on the Beat:
Activism [3]
Air [4]
Chemicals [5]
Climate Change [6]
Consumer [7]
Economy & Business [8]
Energy & Fuel [9]
Environmental Health [10]
Environmental Politics [11]
Environmental Studies [12]
Government [13]
Health [14]
Journalism & Media [15]
Laws & Regulations [16]
Natural Resources [17]
Nuclear Power & Radiation [18]
People & Population [19]
Policy [20]
Pollution [21]
Science [22]
Technology [23]
Waste [24]
Water & Oceans [25]
Region:
National (U.S.) [26]
Great Lakes (IL IN MI MN OH WI) [27]
Great Plains (IA KS ND NE MO SD) [28]
Mid-Atlantic (DC DE MD PA VA WV) [29]
Mountain West (CO ID MT NV UT WY) [30]
Northeast (CT MA ME NH NJ NY RI VT) [31]
SE (AL AR FL GA KY LA MS NC PR SC TN) [32]
Southwest (AZ NM OK TX) [33]
International [34]
Canada [35]
South America [36]
Visibility:
Public [37]
- Read more about New Angle for Reporting on Oil and Gas Industry — Radioactive Waste [1]
With Climate, an Undercurrent of Violence [38]

In his ambitious first book, “The Heat and the Fury: On the Frontlines of Climate Violence,” journalist Peter Schwartzstein explores how climate change explains conflict, even war. BookShelf editor Tom Henry calls it a deeply researched volume that makes a strong case for the connections between global warming, political instability and violence, not just in poorer regions but for the richer West as well.

SEJ Publication Types:
BookShelf [39]
Topics on the Beat:
Climate Change [6]
Disasters [40]
Environmental Health [10]
Environmental Justice [41]
Environmental Politics [11]
Government [13]
Military [42]
Natural Resources [17]
People & Population [19]
Policy [20]
Water & Oceans [25]
Region:
National (U.S.) [26]
International [34]
Africa [43]
Asia [44]
Europe [45]
Middle East [46]
Visibility:
Public [37]
- Read more about With Climate, an Undercurrent of Violence [38]
Will Science Be Stifled at the EPA? [47]

Anti-science policies are being instituted by the Trump administration at the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and other federal offices, reports the latest Backgrounder. That makes it especially challenging to keep politics out of decision-making around everything from natural disasters to public health. An examination of scientific integrity under Trump 2.0 and what environmental journalists should watch for.

SEJ Publication Types:
Backgrounders [48]
Topics on the Beat:
Chemicals [5]
Climate Change [6]
Disasters [40]
Environmental Justice [41]
Environmental Politics [11]
Government [13]
Health [14]
Infrastructure [49]
Journalism & Media [15]
Laws & Regulations [16]
Policy [20]
Pollution [21]
Science [22]
Region:
National (U.S.) [26]
Visibility:
Public [37]
- Read more about Will Science Be Stifled at the EPA? [47]
The Polar Vortex Portends … the Planting of Seeds? [50]

While extreme cold has made much news this winter, environmental journalists have another way into climate-related stories as spring approaches — through gardening. That’s because this time of year, gardeners are already buying and nursing seeds in readiness for planting. Ideas for reporting the topic, including a government plant hardiness zone map that offers a window into the climate change story, from the latest TipSheet.

SEJ Publication Types:
TipSheet [51]
Topics on the Beat:
Agriculture [52]
Climate Change [6]
Consumer [7]
Food [53]
Journalism & Media [15]
Science [22]
Region:
National (U.S.) [26]
International [34]
Canada [35]
Visibility:
Public [37]
- Read more about The Polar Vortex Portends … the Planting of Seeds? [50]
Tracking the Trackers in the Trump 2.0 Onslaught [54]

Keeping up with the Trump administration is tricky, given the speed and volume with which the action is unfolding. But the new Reporter’s Toolbox has a handy list of more than a dozen Trump trackers, watching everything from campaign promises and executive orders to litigation launched against the administration. There’s even a tracker watching his time spent on the golf links.

SEJ Publication Types:
Reporters Toolbox [55]
Topics on the Beat:
Climate Change [6]
Environmental Politics [11]
Government [13]
Journalism & Media [15]
Laws & Regulations [16]
Policy [20]
Science [22]
Region:
National (U.S.) [26]
Visibility:
Public [37]
- Read more about Tracking the Trackers in the Trump 2.0 Onslaught [54]
‘They’re Back’ — Veteran Journalists on Braving the Specter of Trump’s Return [56]

How can environmental reporters best cover the upheavals of a second Trump administration? SEJournal commissioned a special analysis to draw on the experience of reporters who were there to chronicle the first. Contributing editor Jennifer Weeks spoke to more than half a dozen news veterans of Trump’s earlier environmental and energy policy initiatives, with insights and tips on how to handle what’s ahead.

SEJ Publication Types:
Features [2]
Topics on the Beat:
Air [4]
Chemicals [5]
Climate Change [6]
Disasters [40]
Energy & Fuel [9]
Environmental Justice [41]
Environmental Politics [11]
Government [13]
Journalism & Media [15]
Laws & Regulations [16]
Natural Resources [17]
Policy [20]
Pollution [21]
Water & Oceans [25]
Visibility:
Public [37]
- Read more about ‘They’re Back’ — Veteran Journalists on Braving the Specter of Trump’s Return [56]
Environmental Policies Upended, Climate Plans a Casualty As Trump Takes Power [57]

In the overview summary for our “2025 Journalists’ Guide to Environment + Energy” special report, we foresee the very real prospect that environmental protection and energy policies in place, in some cases, for decades could swiftly be swept aside by the Trump administration and a GOP-controlled Congress. Read our analysis [57], plus look back at more than three dozen stories gathered together in our ninth annual guide [58].

SEJ Publication Types:
Special Reports [59]
Topics on the Beat:
Climate Change [6]
Energy & Fuel [9]
Environmental Justice [41]
Environmental Politics [11]
Government [13]
Health [14]
Infrastructure [49]
Journalism & Media [15]
Laws & Regulations [16]
Policy [20]
Pollution [21]
Region:
National (U.S.) [26]
International [34]
Visibility:
Public [37]
- Read more about Environmental Policies Upended, Climate Plans a Casualty As Trump Takes Power [57]
Open Door to Industry for Trump Environmental Agency Appointees [60]

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 [61].

SEJ Publication Types:
TipSheet [51]
Topics on the Beat:
Agriculture [52]
Air [4]
Chemicals [5]
Climate Change [6]
Economy & Business [8]
Energy & Fuel [9]
Environmental Politics [11]
Forests [62]
Government [13]
Journalism & Media [15]
Laws & Regulations [16]
Natural Resources [17]
Policy [20]
Pollution [21]
Waste [24]
Water & Oceans [25]
Region:
National (U.S.) [26]
Visibility:
Public [37]
- Read more about Open Door to Industry for Trump Environmental Agency Appointees [60]
The Forgotten Victims of Hidalgo [63]

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 [64]
Topics on the Beat:
Chemicals [5]
Environmental Justice [41]
Government [13]
Health [14]
Journalism & Media [15]
People & Population [19]
Pollution [21]
Waste [24]
Water & Oceans [25]
Region:
International [34]
Mexico [65]
Visibility:
Public [37]
- Read more about The Forgotten Victims of Hidalgo [63]
From Oil Boom to Lithium Rush — Reporting the Realities [66]

A coming lithium rush in Arkansas drew the notice of journalist Katie Myers, who used a grant from the Fund for Environmental Journalism to explore whether extraction activities near once-booming energy communities could avoid the economic and environmental impacts of another boom-and-bust cycle for a largely Black region with histories of land dispossession, plantation slavery and Jim Crow segregation. Lessons learned in the latest FEJ StoryLog.

SEJ Publication Types:
FEJ StoryLog [67]
Topics on the Beat:
Economy & Business [8]
Environmental Justice [41]
Environmental Politics [11]
Journalism & Media [15]
Natural Resources [17]
People & Population [19]
Technology [23]
Region:
National (U.S.) [26]
SE (AL AR FL GA KY LA MS NC PR SC TN) [32]
Visibility:
Public [37]
- Read more about From Oil Boom to Lithium Rush — Reporting the Realities [66]

Pages