Chemicals

Waste Incineration May Put Toxics Into Local Air

Sometimes on the environment beat, what seems like an old story is perpetually new again. That’s the case with waste incineration, finds the latest TipSheet. Rather than being reduced, incinerators are just being transformed, with the ongoing burning of plastics especially troubling for the environment and public health. Get the backstory on where the regulatory regime may have holes, plus key reporting angles and story ideas.

SEJ Publication Types: 
Visibility: 

Refineries Emit Unsafe Levels Of Benzene Amid Insufficient EPA Action: IG

"An internal watchdog is calling on the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to step up its actions to address emissions of cancer-causing benzene, saying that oil refineries have been releasing unsafe levels of the substance."

Source: The Hill, 09/08/2023

Shuttered EPA Probe Could’ve Brought 'Meaningful Reform' In Cancer Alley

"As industrial plants have overtaken historic Black communities and burdened neighborhoods with toxic air pollution, environmental advocates and residents of Louisiana’s chemical corridor have spent decades calling for change."

Source: WWNO, 09/05/2023

"3M's $10.3 Billion PFAS Settlement Gets Preliminary Approval"

"3M on Tuesday secured preliminary approval for a $10.3 billion deal resolving claims by U.S. public water providers that the company polluted drinking water with toxic chemicals, less than a day after a group of 22 U.S. states and territories dropped their objections to the deal."

Source: Reuters, 08/30/2023

Data on Pesticide Incidents Openly Available for First Time

A decade’s worth of government pesticide data — only available before through FOIA — has been made newly available. And, explains the latest Reporter’s Toolbox, it can lead to revealing environmental, public health and environmental justice stories. More on how the data came to be compiled and advice on using it smartly, along with some caveats.

SEJ Publication Types: 
Visibility: 

Missouri, Florida Journalism Professors Join Classes on Multistate Fertilizer Investigation

What brought together two teams of student reporters, half a dozen states and 1,000 miles apart? For one, the high environmental cost of chemical fertilizer. For another, a pair of dedicated journalism teachers. Cynthia Barnett and Sara Shipley Hiles share how they took the project from daydream to reality, brought students into the field and got pickup from numerous news outlets, in the latest EJ Academy.

SEJ Publication Types: 
Visibility: 

Pages

Subscribe to RSS - Chemicals