Environment
“Coincidence or Cluster?”
A six-part series by Kevin Craver of the Northwest Herald (Crystal Lake, Ill.) looks into lawsuits facing two chemical companies after a cluster of brain cancer patients were discovered in a small town. Craver studied documents going back 30 years to investigate the site’s regulatory history, inspections, claims and counterclaims about pollutants and human exposure.…
Read MoreMore mayhem in the Meadowlands
In an ongoing investigation, Jeff Pillets of The Record in Bergen County, N.J., uncovered how a taxpayer-supported plan to reclaim the North Jersey Meadowlands instead reopened the infamous garbage dumps to millions of cubic yards of contaminated waste. A review of some 10,000 pages of state documents revealed that the site’s developers won a string…
Read MoreThe Mercury Connection
Hundreds of miles of South Carolina rivers are tainted with mercury, and the state warns people not to eat fish caught in some of these waterways. But no one had checked to see if the mercury was harming humans until The Post and Courier in Charleston had tests conducted on people who eat the fish…
Read MoreSanta Clara County soil tainted by pesticides
Amy Lynch of The San Jose Mercury News reports on environmental issues plaguing Santa Clara County. The county has more toxic cleanup sites involving old orchard pesticides than any county in California, as well as a significant number of other sites contaminated by other types of farming or pesticide handling, according to a Mercury News…
Read MoreBook explores U.S., European responses to everyday chemicals
Mark Schapiro of the Center for Investigative Reporting has released “EXPOSED: The Toxic Chemistry of Everyday Products and What’s at Stake for American Power,” a book that examines Europe’s higher environmental standards for everyday products, such as cosmetics or plastic toys, and the significance for U.S. consumers and manufacturers. In an interview, Shapiro says the…
Read MoreSeries investigates Twin Cities groundwater
In a three-part series that began Sunday, Sept. 16, David Shaffer of the Star Tribune analyzed databases and pollution reports to identify 20 areas of significant groundwater contamination in the Minneapolis-St. Paul metropolitan region. Most of them are located in the suburbs, and some pose a serious threat to drinking water supplies. The series looks…
Read MoreChronic Polluters, Tainted Waters
Josh Kovner and Regine Labossiere of The Hartford Courant conducted a two-month investigation into the Connecticut Department of Environmental Protection’s lax enforcement of the federal Clean Water Act. They found that 17 of 35 companies covered by the Act are dumping toxic chemicals into the state’s waterways under permit limits that have expired, some more…
Read MoreMothball fleet polluting Suisun Bay
An aged maritime fleet located in Suisun Bay off the coast of California is an environmental threat according to an investigation by Thomas Peele of the Contra Costa Times. Over 21 tons of toxic metals have shed off the decaying ships into the water creating a significant environmental risk, significantly greater than Maritime Administration office…
Read MoreWasting Away: Superfund’s Toxic Legacy
The Center for Public Integrity has taken a look at the state of Superfund sites throughout the US. Twenty-seven years after the government developed a program to identify and clean up the worst of these sites, toxic waste remains a problem across the country. “A one-year investigation by the Center for Public Integrity reveals the…
Read MoreToxic vapors threaten well-being of residents of Victor, NY
The Democrat and Chronicle of Rochester, N.Y., presents stories from a two-month investigation into toxic vapor releases related to toxins improperly disposed of near Victor, N.Y., more than 17 years ago.”State officials, drawing upon numerous visits and hundreds of water samples over the last 15 years, have mapped the damage: a mile-long plume of contaminated…
Read More