"KCRA obtained video of hundreds, possibly thousands of mercury-containing fluorescent bulbs and PCB containing ballasts stored outside, in the open air behind a Sacramento contractor’s facility.  State law explicitly states that all these materials must be in a container to prevent leakage and breakage, yet a former employee says the company ran out of space and told employees to put them outside.  Just days after KCRA’s calls the county and state opened investigations and the company cleaned up the materials.  Yet concern still exists that with all the sales of energy efficient equipment and materials more and more ...

"Twenty-two percent of plants in Texas that regulators say pose a risk of explosion or toxic release have never have been inspected for emergency preparedness, federal data shows. Another 10 percent were inspected, but not by federal, state or even local governments. Instead, those facilities reported inspections by their own contractors, insurance companies or employees, according to an analysis of the data by The Dallas Morning News." Read The Dallas Morning News' full investigation here.

Investigate West has obtained new documents that tell the story of Boeing and its allies worked to delay rules regarding consumption of toxic fish in Washington. This issue has become a political dilemma for Washington policy makers, with Indian tribes on one side wanting stricter water pollution rules to prevent consumption of toxic fish, and an influential aerospace industry that was dead set against tightening the rules.

"For nearly three decades, Eastman Kodak Co. buried tons of radioactive waste at a company-owned site along Weiland Road in Greece. The low-level waste, most of which will remain radioactive for billions of years, is still there at Eastman Business Park, in a now-closed landfill bordered on two sides by houses and apartments. Route 390 and Latona Road separate the site from more residential neighborhoods to the west. But the landfill receives virtually no government oversight," the Democrat and Chronicle found in its investigation.

"Yet a person familiar with DHS operations said the company that owns the plant, West Fertilizer, did not tell the agency about the potentially explosive fertilizer as it is required to do, leaving one of the principal regulators of ammonium nitrate - which can also be used in bomb making - unaware of any danger there," according to a Reuters investigation.

"What has not been revealed until now is how BP hid that massive amount of oil from TV cameras and the price that this “disappearing act” imposed on cleanup workers, coastal residents, and the ecosystem of the gulf. That story can now be told because an anonymous whistleblower has provided evidence that BP was warned in advance about the safety risks of attempting to cover up its leaking oil," according to the Daily Beast's investigation.

How the gun lobby has already blocked Boston’s bombing investigators | MSNBC
“One avenue of investigation is already closed off to forensic officials working the Boston Marathon bombing case due to efforts dating back decades by the National Rifle Association and gun manufacturers.”

What BP Doesn’t Want You to Know About the 2010 Gulf Spill | Newsweek
“What has not been revealed until now is how BP hid that massive amount of oil from TV cameras and the price that this “disappearing act” imposed on cleanup workers, coastal residents, and the ecosystem of the gulf. That story can now be ...

The Center for Public Integrity reports that the U.S. Chemical Safety Board operates with a sluggish investigative pace and short attention span. A former board member told CPI that the agency is "grossly mismanaged."

"The number of board accident reports, case studies and safety bulletins has fallen precipitously since 2006," according to an analysis by the Center for Public Integrity. "Thirteen board investigations — one more than five years old — are incomplete."

Faltering Courts, Mired in Delays | The New York Times
“The Bronx courts are failing. With criminal cases languishing for years, a plague of delays in the Bronx criminal courts is undermining one of the central ideals of the justice system, the promise of a speedy trial.”

The Curse of Fertilizer | National Geographic Magazine
"Runaway nitrogen is suffocating wildlife in lakes and estuaries, contaminating groundwater, and even warming the globe’s climate. As a hungry world looks ahead to billions more mouths needing nitrogen-rich protein, how much clean water and air will survive our demand for fertile fields?"

Nuclear byproduct levels ...