The IRE Resource Center is a major research library containing more than 23,250 investigative stories — both print and broadcast. These stories are searchable online or by contacting the Resource Center directly (573-882-3364 or rescntr@ire.org) where a researcher can help you pinpoint what you need. Browse or search the tipsheet section of our library below. Stories are not available for download but can be easily ordered by contacting the Resource Center:
Search results for "dams" ...
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A Failure to Warn
The investigation shows why flood predictions for Nashville have been very inaccurate. The Army Corps of Engineers and the National Weather Service had not alerted the government or the public that water was being released into the Cumberland River. The reporter finds that the two agencies barely communicated during the floods, leading to the spread of incorrect information.
Tags: Army Corps of Engineers; floods; National Weather Service; dam; flood prediction
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Disaster Ahead? Deregulated Dams
A Tennessee law allows old watershed dams to be downgraded to farm ponds from high-hazard dams, exempting them from state safety inspections. The reporter discovered 13 of these dams were downgraded in 2008. The lack of oversight poses serious consequences because fatalities are likely to occur should one of the dams fail.
Tags: dams; farm pond; regulation; inspection; safety; public safety
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Dangerous Dams
There are several "high hazard" dams in Maryland which the state Department of the Environment considers unsafe and a threat to public safety. Some of these dams are in imminent danger of failing. A "high hazard" dam indicates that a collapse would cause loss of life and damage to residential, industrial or agricultural areas, public utilities and infrastructure. The story detailed lax enforcement of rules and regulations when a dam owner is told by state inspectors to fix problems.
Tags: Dams; safety; breach; unsafe; high hazard
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Peace at what price?
The authors investigated reports of abuse at the hands of the UN peacekeepers in Democratic Republic of Congo. A well known secret within the UN the rape and abuse of the community have left consequences far more damming than the remnants of war.
Tags: rape; sexual abuse; United Nations Peacekeeping; UN code of conduct; UN Department of Peacekeeping Operations; Democratic Republic of Congo; Africa
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Damming the Angry River
The reporters, students at the University of California, Berkeley, investigated the effort to stop the Chinese government from building 13 dams along the NU River as part of that nation's quest for energy. Originally broadcast on KTSF, a TV station broadcasting in Cantonese and Mandarin that serves the Northern California Asian communities
Tags: Environment; hydroelectricity; China; Nu River; energy; dams
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Walking on Water
The Pitch investigates the logistics of a "miracle story" and finds that the father that survived while his family of five was washed away in a flood might not be telling the entire story. The father, Robert Rogers, now accumulates his income by speaking at churches and inspirational events and selling CDs of his music.
Tags: miracle; Christian; car accident; God; flood; church; dam; i-35; rescue
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Unleash the rivers
A Time investigation finds that dams built in the 20th century have been responsible for some of the worst environmental tragedies in history. The ongoing devastation of most of the West Coast salmon fisheries south of Canada, the gradual disappearance of coastal Louisiana, and the salting out of millions of hectares through irrigation illustrate only some of the deadly effects. "In ways direct and indirect, playing God with water has had a tendency to bite us back," the magazine reports. The story reveals that even though some states' economies are hopelessly dependent on the manipulation of water, governments have started removing the dams.
Tags: Aral sea; salmon; fishing; fisheries; Missouri river; Mississippi river; Tigris; Colorado; Grand Coulee Dam; Hoover Dam; the Three Gorges Dam; hydroelectricity
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Blow Up
Outside reports on the growing sentiments beyond environmental circles for decommissioning dams. While dams provide clean power and stimulate the economy with recreation, they also can have far reaching environmental impact. In Lewiston, Idaho it's costing more money to barge endangered fish down to the sea each year than electricity generated. Some big dams may have outlived their usefulness, the article suggests.
Tags: dams; environment
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The Trouble With Dams
More than 100,000 dams regulate American rivers and creeks, Atlantic Monthly reports. But the progress which dams epitomized has been called into question by experts. Making rivers navigable for barges costs taxpayers millions in subsidies, which often benefits the largest companies the most. Lobbyists have kept these subsidies high. Damage is also done by flooding that occurs as a result of dams. The environment suffers many different kinds of reactions. "If water policy gets dragged kicking and screaming into the age of limits, we'll probably find we have more than enough water to go around," the magazine reports.
Tags: dams; environment; lobbyists; flood control
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Dams In Distress
In These Times reports on big dams across the world and environmental issues concerned with them. The article gives a brief history of dam activism.
Tags: dams; Bakun dam; international dams