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 "pollution testing" ...
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NC Auto Inspection's-Failing the Test
Every year, North Carolina auto owners must take vehicles to private garages for state-mandated safety and emissions testing meant to prevent traffic crashes and curb pollution. Drivers cannot put a car on the road legally unless it passes inspection. A review inspection data showed the program is undermined by unscrupulous garages who do a volume business, passing unsafe cars, and by other who take bribes or cheat customers with uncessary repairs.
Tags: auto owners; emissions testing; unsafe cars
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Danger Creek
Reporters for KGAN-TV discovered that the water downstream from the Linn County Airport was heavily polluted with toxic chemicals. The water produced a putrid stench that had the people of Cedar Rapids complaining for years. Acting on a tip, KGAN-TV tested the water and delivered the shocking results to the airport and the Department of Natural Resources.
Tags: DNR; Linn County Airport; pollution
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Ice Rink Pollution - Danger in the Air
The machines that resurface the ice of many U.S. ice skating rinks, have been found to emit the potentially harmful pollutants, Carbon Monoxide and Nitrogen Dioxide. E:60 tested 34 rinks throughout the U.S. and found that almost one-third had "dangerous levels" of the pollutants that are released from the machine's exhaust pipes. Also released onto the ice are tiny "Ultrafine Particles," which, when ingested over a long period of time, can cause long-term lung damage.
Tags: Ice hockey; USA Hockey; emissions; ice resurfacing; Carbon Monoxide emissions; Ultrafine Particles; Ken Rundell
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A Few Good Men, A Lot of Bad Water
Over the last few decades, hundreds of thousands of marines have trained at Camp Lejeune in North Carolina. In 1980, during routine testing, their water was found to have high levels of a number of chemicals but primarily perchloroethylene, a dry cleaning agent, and trichloroethylene, a degreasing solvent.
Tags: contamination; dumping chemicals; pollution; waste; wells; Camp Lejeune; Agency for Toxic Substance and Disease Registry
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Assignment Peru: Poison in La Oroya
American mining company Doe Run bought a metalurgical plant in La Oroya, Peru, promising to clean it up after tests showed 99 percent of children born after the take-over had incredibly high level of lead contamination. Ten years later, the company has asked for extensions on the deadlines.
Tags: lead poisoning; air pollution; Doe Run; Hunter Farrell; SEC filings; La Oroya; Peru;
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A Body's Burden
The authors tested a typical family's blood, hair, and urine for the presence of several everyday chemical contaminants known collectively as our "body's burden." The investigation revealed the presence of flame retardants, plastics, metals, PCBs, even the chemical precursors for Teflon and Gore-Tex in each family member, with concentrations in the children often far outpacing those in their parents.
Tags: pollution; contamination; public safety; health; chemical contamination; body burden; blood testing
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La Oroya
KMOV reporters investigated a smelter in La Oroya, Peru, run by a St. Louis-based Doe Run Company. La Oroya has been heavily contaminated by the smelter and almost every child in the small community has tested positive for lead poisoning.
Tags: Environment; pollution; lead poisoning; Peru; Doe Run Company; metal smelter; Andes
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Smokescreen
"This investigation probed Ontario's Drive Clean emissions testing program." The investigation found that the program forced millions of people to pay for unnecessary tests and achieved very dubious environmental benefits. The program is very flawed and corrupt, and doesn't even accomplish anything; the air quality benefits claimed by the government were based on discredited models.
Tags: environment; clean air act; pollution; auto emissions
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What's in your backyard?
The news team learned that several people complained the EPA never told them about toxic chemical waste contamination in their residential area. The waste was dumped near their homes or contaminated their water. Some residents eventually found out as they started to fall sick, but the EPA had known about the exposure for decades. The news team obtained the EPA database, mapped out where contaminants were concentrated and spotted the affected people. The source of contamination is traced to two steel companies. As a result, legislation is on the way, and authorities are testing soil and water.
Tags: backyard; toxic waste; chemical waste; EPA; Environmental Protection Agency; contaminants; dumping; toxic chemicals; arsenic; Health Department; contamination; pollution; drinking water; municipal water; skin rash; stomach problems; illness; potential health threat; secret; playground; pneumonia; tumor; lymphoma; pond; well water; benzene; cancer; toxin; steel warehouse; Unit 5; sludge
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Special Report: Wyle Laboratories; "As few regulators watched, pollution, concerns seeped in"
The article investigates how a Department of Defense contractor, Wyle Laboratories, spent the past 50 years conducting "hazardous military tests and mishandling its toxic waste." The site is also located in the small community of Norco, where the residents suffer from thyroid disease cluster believed to be caused by the lab's contamination. The article discovers that many of the health and environmental regulators who agreed that Wyle Laboratories was safe enough to be in the community had "never set foot on the property."
Tags: Wyle Laboratories; hazardous mililtary tests; pollution; Norco; thyroid disease cluster; contamination