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 "oil spill" ...
-
Louisiana Horror Movie
“Louisiana’s Horror Movie” grew out of our 2011 IRE award winning investigation “Hiding Behind the Badge”. That series ended with the guilty pleas of former Plaquemines Parish Sheriff Jiff Hingle and businessman Aaron Bennett. Through investigative determination, “Louisana’s Horror Movie” uncovered possible public corruption by a former FBI agent and looked at his questionable relationship with the Hingle. What led us to this discovery was a piece of “Hiding Behind the Badge” we felt had not been fully explored: the money Hingle made from the B.P. oil spill. Even after the initial stories were reported, we felt there was more there. So we kept digging. It wasn’t February of 2012 that we uncovered Hingle's ties to former FBI agent, Robert Isakson. We requested emails, looking for more information to connect the dots. We had to fight the current sheriff’s office for the emails and eventually got them. The emails helped us show an improper relationship between the Hingle and Isakson – now a businessman getting contracts from Plaquemines Parish. This series eventually launched another FBI investigation, this time with Isakson in the crosshairs.
Tags: FBI; FBI agents; corruption; broadcast
-
Drilling Down
After covering the BP spill in the Gulf of Mexico, Ian Urbina and his editors were struck by a simple question: The Gulf spill highlighted the weaknesses in oversight of offshore drilling, are there any weaknesses worth investigating in the regulation of onshore drilling?
Tags: BP Oil Spill; Gulf Oil Spill; onshore drilling; offshore drilling
-
Secret Spills?
The investigation exposed a disturbing secret about the oil and gas industry: spills, leaks, fires, explosions and emissions that are putting lives at risk, polluting the air, contaminating drinking water, destroying land, causing injuries and even death are happening all the time, nearly everyday in the U.S., and no one is keeping track.
Tags: gas industry; oil; explosion; spills
-
Drowning in Oil: BP and the Reckless Pursuit of Profit
The book examines the Deepwater Horizon offshore rig accident and puts it in context of BP's failures and maintenance lapses. It reveals how BP's culture of cutting corners led to the disaster.
Tags: BP; Deepwater Horizon; offshore rig; oil spill
-
Renegade Refinery
Just weeks after the Deepwater Horizon disaster began, an analysis of inspection data obtained from the Occupational Safety and Health Administration found that two oil refineries owned by BP accounted for a staggering 97 of the most flagrant violations found by OSHA inspectors. Most of these citation's were categorized as "egregiously willful."
Tags: Deepwater Horizon; BP; oil spill; OSHA; Gulf of Mexico
-
BP's Hidden Video, Oil and Agenda
CBS News was the first news organization to obtain undersea video of the BP oil spill which BP had previously hidden from public view. The video showed the true magnitude of the leak which the government and BP had previously misrepresented, according to CBS News.
Tags: oil spill; BP; undersea video; oil
-
"BP Oil Spill coverage"
MotherJones.com published "more than 500 articles" and related posts to their website during the coverage of the 2010 BP oil spill. Reporters broke news stories on the ground in Louisiana and all along the Gulf, while a Mother Jones West Coast reporter kept tabs on "what BP and its contractors knew and when they knew it."
Tags: BP; oil; Gulf Coast; oil spill; Deepwater Horizon
-
Deep Trouble
The Journal's initial coverage of the Gulf Oil Spill posed many questions about the impact of the spill. It also revealed that the Deepwater Horizon rig didn't have a remote-control shut-off switch, a feature used as a last-resort protection against oil spills.
Tags: oil; Gulf Oil Spill; Deepwater Horizon; oil spill; oil rig
-
Oil Spill
The New York Times' continuing coverage of the Gulf Oil Spill documents the vulnerabilities, weaknesses, loopholes, and oversight that led the disaster.
Tags: Gulf Oil Spill; oil spill; BP; Transocean; oil rig
-
BP's Oil Spill: Beyond the Spin
This series provides extensive coverage of the Gulf oil spill and its effects. It exposes BP's failures to measure the amount of oil spilled and the reasons for the disaster. It also uncovers the Obama administration's inability to asses damage.
Tags: oil spill; Gulf Oil Spill; environment; BP; disaster