You read about the 300,000 West Virginians who don't know if they are drinking safe water — and ask "Could it happen here?" The answer is "You betcha!" Environmental journalists have many tools for discovering drinking-water disasters-waiting-to-happen in their own bailiwicks.
Reporters scrambling to inform the 300,000 citizens of Charleston, West Virginia, about why they could not drink their tap water, what health threats it presented, and who was responsible faced a stone wall from most of the responsible government agencies in the early days of the crisis.
"A propane shortage in the Midwest is raising concerns about residents who rely on the fuel for heating. The propane shortage has prompted a state of emergency in Ohio, as bitterly cold weather descends on the Midwest."
"An explosion and fire flattened part of an animal feed plant in Omaha, Nebraska, on Monday, killing at least two people and injuring at least 10 others, authorities said."
"WASHINGTON — More crude oil was spilled in U.S. rail incidents last year than was spilled in the nearly four decades since the federal government began collecting data on such spills, an analysis of the data shows."
"CHARLESTON, W.Va. -- Gov. Earl Ray Tomblin on Monday told 300,000 state residents that they should make their own decisions about using water from West Virginia American Water's Elk River plant in the wake of this month's leak of the chemical Crude MCHM."
"Much of the U.S. is about to get pretty cold again."
"There are more than 80,000 chemicals in the United States catalogued by government regulators, and the health risks of most of them are unknown."
"CHARLESTON, W.Va. -- Freedom Industries, the company that fouled thousands of West Virginians' water with a chemical leak into the Elk River last week, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy Friday."
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