COP30 negotiators from around the world gather next week in Belém, Brazil, at the mouth of the Amazon River. Our Voices of Environmental Justice columnist Yessenia Funes says it’s a vital opportunity to engage with the Indigenous peoples who help protect the vast rainforest region — even for environmental reporters not there in person. Here’s how to tell their stories.
"Oil companies have polluted groundwater and the environment by injecting oil field waste deep into the earth at pressures high enough to violate Oklahoma law. ... The regulatory agency says it ... has not fined any company for wastewater leaks in the last five years."
"Even though it delivers airtight data and analysis essential for understanding and managing the risks industrial societies pose to water, land, and health, the U.S. Geological Survey is a federal science agency that rarely attracts public notice."
"Sludge and septage are spread across around half a million acres statewide, but most of it has never been tested for PFAS"
"Municipal sewage sludge was used as fertilizer in the project that began decades ago in Palmerton, where PFAS now taint soil and water."
"The Washington Supreme Court this week restored a $185 million verdict against the former Monsanto company, now owned by Bayer, over toxic chemicals in a state school building that allegedly poisoned three teachers."
"The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers on Wednesday approved energy company Enbridge’s plans to reroute an aging oil pipeline around a northern Wisconsin tribal reservation."
"Emails obtained by POLITICO’s E&E News under the Freedom of Information Act shed light on the internal investigation that began within hours of the EPA “Declaration of Dissent” going public on June 30. In the following days, the administration sifted through names of those who had signed the letter, shared legal advice and responded by placing close to 150 employees on administrative leave while their computers and email accounts were searched."
"For decades, some big polluters were allowed to estimate their emissions using methods the government knew were often unreliable. Air monitors at coke manufacturers, chemical plants and other industrial facilities showed far higher emissions than the estimates, records viewed by ProPublica show."
"Surging electricity demand driven by artificial intelligence is putting humanity’s climate goals out of reach, extending the life of fossil fuels and driving up emissions in the U.S. power sector while contributing to deadly extreme weather, according to two new reports published Wednesday."
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