"The corruption that led to Ohio’s infamous HB 6 also torpedoed what would have been the Great Lakes’ first wind farm, the suit alleges. FirstEnergy is pushing back."
"More than 700 Illinois schools are within a quarter-mile of crop fields, yet state law doesn’t require pesticide applicators to notify them before spraying. Advocates say a new notification proposal would give educators and park staff time to move children indoors and reduce exposure."
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.
"In landmark rulings last month, the Public Utilities Commission of Ohio ordered FirstEnergy’s three regulated companies to pay roughly $250 million for violations linked to the state’s largest-ever utility corruption scandal. More than $186 million of that will be refunded or credited to consumers."
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.
"A recent decision by President Donald Trump to deny disaster aid to two electric utilities in rural northern Michigan could cost residents tens of millions of dollars."
"A recent decision by President Donald Trump to deny disaster aid to electric utilities in rural northern Michigan could cost residents tens of millions of dollars."
"Industrialization in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula has some residents pushing for protection of the region’s celestial splendor."
If it’s a journalism feel-good story you need heading into the holiday season, peek over the shoulder of the Ernie Pyle statue to the hall that houses the Media School at Indiana University Bloomington. Inside, you’ll find the heroes of the Indiana Daily Student, who, with the help of fellow journalists, stood up to suppression. WatchDog Opinion shares their inspirational story.
"President Donald Trump, who has assailed Illinois’ governor and its largest city, denied disaster aid to thousands of Chicago residents even though his administration documented extraordinary damage from two major storms this summer, records obtained by POLITICO’s E&E News show."
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