Publication Items

Report on PFAS Better, With a Better Mapping Tool [1]

If drinking water safety is on your beat, then keeping track of seesawing regulations around PFAS is a challenge. But as Reporter’s Toolbox writes, a powerful government data mapping tool can help you at least locate nearby PFAS facilities at a glance. What it does well and where it sources its underlying data, plus some suggestions on using it for your reporting.

SEJ Publication Types:
Reporters Toolbox [2]
Topics on the Beat:
Chemicals [3]
Consumer [4]
Environmental Health [5]
Health [6]
Journalism & Media [7]
Pollution [8]
Water & Oceans [9]
Region:
National (U.S.) [10]
Visibility:
Public [11]
- Read more about Report on PFAS Better, With a Better Mapping Tool [1]
Why I Write About Extinction [12]

Reporting on species who are gone forever can be disheartening, but don’t let that stop you. After more than two decades on the extinction beat, John R. Platt has learned this work can also be deeply rewarding. He explains why he’s stuck with it and why other journalists should consider joining him in telling the stories of vanishing animals and plants.

SEJ Publication Types:
Features [13]
Topics on the Beat:
Activism [14]
Biodiversity [15]
Chemicals [3]
Climate Change [16]
Environmental Studies [17]
Journalism & Media [7]
Pollution [8]
Religion, Faith and Spirituality [18]
Science [19]
Wildlife [20]
Region:
National (U.S.) [10]
International [21]
Visibility:
Public [11]
- Read more about Why I Write About Extinction [12]
Insect Decline Poses Foundational Ecological Hazards [22]

Bugs may get a bad rap, but a serious possible global decline in their populations is making clearer what may be lost for ecosystems and human societies. Issue Backgrounder peers beneath the detritus to find what insects do, how we try to kill them and how they survive, and why it’s so hard to pin down the data around their shifting numbers.

SEJ Publication Types:
Backgrounders [23]
Topics on the Beat:
Biodiversity [15]
Chemicals [3]
Environmental Health [5]
Natural Resources [24]
Pollution [8]
Science [19]
Region:
National (U.S.) [10]
International [21]
Visibility:
Public [11]
- Read more about Insect Decline Poses Foundational Ecological Hazards [22]
‘Poisoned for Gold’ Project Pricks Nation’s Conscience [25]

Two Ghanian video journalists traveled their country to document how contamination from illegal gold mining was harming the health of workers and nearby communities. Their resulting reporting not only won acclaim from their peers but also ignited a debate that resulted in the closing of polluting mining operations. Read more about their award-winning project and its impact in Inside Story Q&A.

SEJ Publication Types:
Inside Story [26]
Topics on the Beat:
Chemicals [3]
Disasters [27]
Economy & Business [28]
Environmental Health [5]
Environmental Justice [29]
Health [6]
Journalism & Media [7]
Natural Resources [24]
People & Population [30]
Pollution [8]
Waste [31]
Water & Oceans [9]
Region:
International [21]
Africa [32]
Visibility:
Public [11]
- Read more about ‘Poisoned for Gold’ Project Pricks Nation’s Conscience [25]
EPA Facilities Database — Gateway to Investigative Reporting [33]

Want to pinpoint all the facilities regulated by the EPA in your ZIP code? Or scope out every U.S. operation owned by a particular industrial company? Or learn which polluter might be facing fewer enforcement actions under the current administration? Reporter’s Toolbox has a database for you — in effect, a master index to potential polluters.

SEJ Publication Types:
Reporters Toolbox [2]
Topics on the Beat:
Journalism & Media [7]
Pollution [8]
Region:
National (U.S.) [10]
Visibility:
Public [11]
- Read more about EPA Facilities Database — Gateway to Investigative Reporting [33]
EPA Enforcement Falls to Record Low Under Trump 2.0 [34]

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 [23]
Topics on the Beat:
Air [35]
Chemicals [3]
Climate Change [16]
Economy & Business [28]
Environmental Health [5]
Environmental Politics [36]
Environmental Studies [17]
Government [37]
Health [6]
Journalism & Media [7]
Laws & Regulations [38]
Policy [39]
Pollution [8]
Waste [31]
Water & Oceans [9]
Region:
National (U.S.) [10]
Visibility:
Public [11]
- Read more about EPA Enforcement Falls to Record Low Under Trump 2.0 [34]
Database Details Planetary Asset — Canada’s Forests [40]

They’re a carbon sink, a playground and a major market, but also a source of smoke pollution and pest infestation. Millions of acres of Canadian forest are a big North American story, and the latest Reporter’s Toolbox points you to a central data source that can help quantify, analyze and visualize the numbers and see the proverbial forest for the trees.

SEJ Publication Types:
Reporters Toolbox [2]
Topics on the Beat:
Agriculture [41]
Air [35]
Climate Change [16]
Economy & Business [28]
Energy & Fuel [42]
Environmental Health [5]
Environmental Politics [36]
Forests [43]
Natural Resources [24]
Policy [39]
Pollution [8]
Region:
National (U.S.) [10]
International [21]
Canada [44]
Visibility:
Public [11]
- Read more about Database Details Planetary Asset — Canada’s Forests [40]
Superfund Under Trump 2.0 — Quick … and Dirty? [45]

Every U.S. state has at least one Superfund site, the worst kind of toxic waste dump. And millions live near them. The latest TipSheet has a look at the state of the decades-old Superfund cleanup program under the Trump administration, and how environmental journalists can turn that into local stories, with a dozen story ideas and reporting resources.

SEJ Publication Types:
TipSheet [46]
Topics on the Beat:
Chemicals [3]
Environmental Politics [36]
Government [37]
Journalism & Media [7]
Laws & Regulations [38]
Pollution [8]
Waste [31]
Region:
National (U.S.) [10]
Northeast (CT MA ME NH NJ NY RI VT) [47]
Visibility:
Public [11]
- Read more about Superfund Under Trump 2.0 — Quick … and Dirty? [45]
EPA’s Brownfields Data, Covered With Crud? [48]

Hundreds of thousands of polluted, abandoned industrial sites — called brownfields — dot the United States. For reporters seeking local environmental stories, this profusion of problem spots cries out for coverage. The latest Reporter’s Toolbox points you to a series of government databases that track them and let you map them, but warns that the going won’t be easy. Find out why.

SEJ Publication Types:
Reporters Toolbox [2]
Topics on the Beat:
Journalism & Media [7]
Pollution [8]
Region:
National (U.S.) [10]
Visibility:
Public [11]
- Read more about EPA’s Brownfields Data, Covered With Crud? [48]
Even in This Toxic River — A Salmon Story [49]

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 [13]
Topics on the Beat:
Biodiversity [15]
Chemicals [3]
Environmental Health [5]
Fish & Fisheries [50]
Food [51]
Pollution [8]
Water & Oceans [9]
Wildlife [20]
Region:
National (U.S.) [10]
Northwest (OR WA) [52]
Visibility:
Public [11]
- Read more about Even in This Toxic River — A Salmon Story [49]

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