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For ‘Wonky’ Pollution Story, Making the Complex Clear [1]

The latest Inside Story column takes a look at how one reporter turned a series of complex policy stories on renewable energy and pollution into an accessible, localized narrative — and in the process won a Society of Environmental Journalists’ explanatory reporting award. A Q&A about the project with Baltimore Sun’s Scott Dance.

SEJ Publication Types: 
Inside Story [2]
Topics on the Beat: 
Air [3]
Chemicals [4]
Economy & Business [5]
Energy & Fuel [6]
Environmental Health [7]
Environmental Politics [8]
Journalism & Media [9]
Laws & Regulations [10]
Pollution [11]
Region: 
National (U.S.) [12]
Mid-Atlantic (DC DE MD PA VA WV) [13]
Visibility: 
Public [14]
  • Read more about For ‘Wonky’ Pollution Story, Making the Complex Clear [1]

"‘Potentially Dangerous Conditions May Exist In This Area’" [15]

"Pollution has plagued this Birmingham, Alabama, neighborhood for decades. Will anything ever change?"

Air [3]
Environmental Health [7]
Laws & Regulations [10]
People & Population [16]
Pollution [11]
Public [14]
SE (AL AR FL GA KY LA MS NC PR SC TN) [17]
Source: HuffPost [18], 08/05/2019
  • Read more about "‘Potentially Dangerous Conditions May Exist In This Area’" [15]

"States Sue U.S. to Save Obama-Era Car-Efficiency Rules" [19]

"A dozen states led by California and New York sued the Trump administration over its plan to roll back auto-industry regulations put in place by former President Barack Obama to improve fuel-efficiency."

Climate Change [20]
Energy & Fuel [6]
Environmental Health [7]
Environmental Politics [8]
Laws & Regulations [10]
Public [14]
National (U.S.) [12]
Source: Bloomberg [21], 08/05/2019
  • Read more about "States Sue U.S. to Save Obama-Era Car-Efficiency Rules" [19]

"New EPA Lead Standards to Give Utilities Wide Latitude" [22]

"A forthcoming EPA overhaul of standards for lead in drinking water will essentially ban partial lead pipe replacement, in which part of a lead pipe is removed but another part is allowed to remain, Bloomberg Environment has learned."

Chemicals [4]
Environmental Health [7]
Environmental Politics [8]
Laws & Regulations [10]
Pollution [11]
Water & Oceans [23]
Public [14]
National (U.S.) [12]
Source: Bloomberg Environment [24], 08/02/2019
  • Read more about "New EPA Lead Standards to Give Utilities Wide Latitude" [22]

"Green Group Sues EPA Over Lead Dust Rules It Says Are Too Lax" [25]

"A group of environmental advocates filed a joint lawsuit against EPA on Thursday challenging the agency’s finalized June Dust-Lead Hazard Standards that the group says are too lax to protect families."

Chemicals [4]
Environmental Health [7]
Laws & Regulations [10]
Public [14]
National (U.S.) [12]
Source: The Hill [26], 08/02/2019
  • Read more about "Green Group Sues EPA Over Lead Dust Rules It Says Are Too Lax" [25]

Trump EPA Proposes Weaker Coal Ash Rules, More Use at Construction Sites [27]

"Just as utilities have begun making costly plans to move toxic coal ash out of fragile storage ponds to protect waterways and aquifers, the Trump administration may be about to give them a cheaper alternative: Letting them use unlimited amounts of ash at certain construction sites."

Energy & Fuel [6]
Environmental Health [7]
Environmental Politics [8]
Laws & Regulations [10]
Pollution [11]
Water & Oceans [23]
Public [14]
National (U.S.) [12]
Source: InsideClimate News [28], 08/02/2019
  • Read more about Trump EPA Proposes Weaker Coal Ash Rules, More Use at Construction Sites [27]

"21 State Attorneys General Urge Congress To Take Action on PFAS" [29]

"21 state attorneys general sent a letter urging Congress to pass legislation addressing public health threats from PFAS."

Chemicals [4]
Environmental Health [7]
Laws & Regulations [10]
Pollution [11]
Water & Oceans [23]
Public [14]
National (U.S.) [12]
Source: WLNS [30], 07/31/2019
  • Read more about "21 State Attorneys General Urge Congress To Take Action on PFAS" [29]

"Russians Demand Vast Wildfires Consuming Siberia Be Extinguished" [31]

"More than half a million Russians have demanded the authorities do more to tackle vast wildfires in Siberia that environmentalists have dubbed an ecological catastrophe, but which officials have said would be “pointless” to put out."

Air [3]
Disasters [32]
Environmental Health [7]
Forests [33]
Pollution [11]
Public [14]
Asia [34]
Europe [35]
Source: Reuters [36], 07/31/2019
  • Read more about "Russians Demand Vast Wildfires Consuming Siberia Be Extinguished" [31]

"EPA Proposal Scraps Limits On Coal Plant Waste" [37]

"The Trump administration on Wednesday proposed scrapping restrictions on arsenic-laden waste from coal-fired power plants."

Chemicals [4]
Energy & Fuel [6]
Environmental Health [7]
Environmental Politics [8]
Laws & Regulations [10]
Pollution [11]
Water & Oceans [23]
Public [14]
National (U.S.) [12]
Source: The Hill [38], 07/31/2019
  • Read more about "EPA Proposal Scraps Limits On Coal Plant Waste" [37]

"EPA Panel Tasked With Reviewing Soot Standard Lacks Key Expert" [39]

"The expert panel advising EPA on particulate pollution doesn't include a representative from the discipline responsible for most of the scientific evidence that soot is a public health hazard."

Air [3]
Environmental Health [7]
Environmental Politics [8]
Laws & Regulations [10]
Pollution [11]
Public [14]
National (U.S.) [12]
Source: ClimateWire [40], 07/31/2019
  • Read more about "EPA Panel Tasked With Reviewing Soot Standard Lacks Key Expert" [39]

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Source URL:https://www.sej.org/category/topics-beat/environmental-health?page=477

Links
[1] https://www.sej.org/publications/inside-story/making-complex-clear-wonky-pollution-story [2] https://www.sej.org/category/sej-publication-types/inside-story [3] https://www.sej.org/category/topics-beat/air [4] https://www.sej.org/category/topics-beat/chemicals/toxics [5] https://www.sej.org/category/topics-beat/business [6] https://www.sej.org/category/topics-beat/energy [7] https://www.sej.org/category/topics-beat/environmental-health [8] https://www.sej.org/category/topics-beat/environmental-politics [9] https://www.sej.org/category/topics-beat/journalism/media [10] https://www.sej.org/category/topics-beat/laws [11] https://www.sej.org/category/topics-beat/pollution [12] https://www.sej.org/category/region/national [13] https://www.sej.org/category/region/national/mid-atlantic [14] https://www.sej.org/taxonomy/term/81 [15] https://www.sej.org/headlines/potentially-dangerous-conditions-may-exist-area [16] https://www.sej.org/category/topics-beat/people-population [17] https://www.sej.org/category/region/national/southeast [18] https://www.huffpost.com/entry/birmingham-alabama-pollution-superfund-site_n_5d40750ae4b0db8affaf3ade [19] https://www.sej.org/headlines/states-sue-us-save-obama-era-car-efficiency-rules [20] https://www.sej.org/category/topics-beat/climate-change [21] https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2019-08-02/states-sue-trump-administration-again-over-car-efficiency-rules [22] https://www.sej.org/headlines/new-epa-lead-standards-give-utilities-wide-latitude [23] https://www.sej.org/category/topics-beat/water [24] https://news.bloombergenvironment.com/environment-and-energy/new-epa-lead-standards-expected-to-put-curbs-on-pipe-replacement [25] https://www.sej.org/headlines/green-group-sues-epa-over-lead-dust-rules-it-says-are-too-lax [26] https://thehill.com/policy/energy-environment/455812-green-group-sues-epa-over-lax-lead-dust-rule [27] https://www.sej.org/headlines/trump-epa-proposes-weaker-coal-ash-rules-more-use-construction-sites [28] https://insideclimatenews.org/news/01082019/toxic-coal-ash-epa-rule-change-construction-fill-water-contamination [29] https://www.sej.org/headlines/21-state-attorneys-general-urge-congress-take-action-pfas [30] https://www.wlns.com/news/michigan/21-state-attorneys-general-urge-congress-to-take-action-on-pfas/ [31] https://www.sej.org/headlines/russians-demand-vast-wildfires-consuming-siberia-be-extinguished [32] https://www.sej.org/category/topics-beat/disaster [33] https://www.sej.org/category/topics-beat/forests [34] https://www.sej.org/category/region/international/asia [35] https://www.sej.org/category/region/international/europe [36] https://www.reuters.com/article/us-russia-wildfires/russians-demand-vast-wildfires-consuming-siberia-be-extinguished-idUSKCN1UP1W3 [37] https://www.sej.org/headlines/epa-proposal-scraps-limits-coal-plant-waste [38] https://thehill.com/policy/energy-environment/455386-epa-proposal-scraps-limits-on-coal-plant-waste [39] https://www.sej.org/headlines/epa-panel-tasked-reviewing-soot-standard-lacks-key-expert [40] https://www.eenews.net/climatewire/stories/1060808515 [41] https://www.sej.org/category/topics-beat/environmental-health?page=476 [42] https://www.sej.org/category/topics-beat/environmental-health?page=473 [43] https://www.sej.org/category/topics-beat/environmental-health?page=474 [44] https://www.sej.org/category/topics-beat/environmental-health?page=475 [45] https://www.sej.org/category/topics-beat/environmental-health?page=478 [46] https://www.sej.org/category/topics-beat/environmental-health?page=479 [47] https://www.sej.org/category/topics-beat/environmental-health?page=480 [48] https://www.sej.org/category/topics-beat/environmental-health?page=481 [49] https://www.sej.org/category/topics-beat/environmental-health?page=814