"More than 100 coal ash waste sites, many unregulated, sit just feet from the Great Lakes, raising concerns for nearby communities and the 30 million people who rely on the lakes for drinking water."
"Cabbage moths, corn borers and other plant-eating insects crucial to ecosystems have declined dramatically in East Asia over the past two decades — along with dragonflies and other predator insects that eat them, according to a study published Friday in the journal Science Advances."
"For years now, Native American tribes have sought more protections for the federal lands in the Mojave Desert in southern Nevada that are central to their core beliefs about creation. But advocates say the effort took on new urgency as renewable energy developers eyed pieces of the same land for projects that could fit into the Biden administration’s push for clean electricity."
"More than 3 million adults were forced to evacuate their homes in the past year because of a natural disaster, according to a new Census Bureau tally that marks a rare federal effort to assess the uprooting caused by hurricanes, floods and other events."
"A rail operator on Monday released toxic fumes from several derailed train cars that it said were at risk of exploding in East Palestine, Ohio, after the authorities ordered residents on both sides of the state’s border with Pennsylvania to evacuate to avoid a deadly threat."
"Federal law enforcement officials have arrested two people accused of conspiring to “completely destroy Baltimore” in what they described on Monday as a racist plot to demolish the power grid in a predominantly Black city."
Many were skeptical that the complex problem of industry influence on regulatory decisions could be understood, let alone explained. But in her deeply reported story on the pesticide industry, journalist Sharon Lerner broke through those barriers with another award-winning story, showing how small, technical decisions can have big consequences. In the latest Inside Story, she shares her approach and lessons learned.
With wintry conditions still present in much of the country, there’s an important local story for environmental reporters to chase. No, not climate change this time. It’s salt. Road salt can end up in bodies of water, damaging the environment and risking human health. TipSheet offers a dash of background and a good dose of questions to ask, plus story ideas and resources to flavor your reporting with.
In our annual analysis of what’s ahead on the environment beat in 2023, there are some things to count on: worsening climate disasters and continued politicking over energy transitions, but also regulatory action on greenhouse gas emissions (not to mention on “forever chemicals”). Other things are less clear: environmental rulings by a conservative U.S. Supreme Court, energy impacts of war in Europe and the effectiveness of COP28 and treaty talks on plastic pollution. Read the full overview and get more in our “2023 Journalists’ Guide to Energy & Environment” special report.
"Once they dominated much of the landscape but after centuries of deforestation their dwindling remains – just two per cent of the original – are now believed to be facing an existential threat from a combination of factors, including climate change, the planting of non-native species, and artificially high numbers of deer."
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