"The Tamaulipan thorn forest once covered 1 million acres on both sides of the border. Restoring even a fraction of it could help the region cope with the ravages of a warming world."
"This season, two stubborn Texans try to salvage what’s left of their working-class community. That’s a problem, though, because they live in East Harris County, where the petrochemical industry calls the shots — and where pushing back can be dangerous."
"Set in Channelview, Texas, in the heart of the nation's petrochemical industry, Fumed follows Carolyn Stone and Greg Moss as they risk everything to fight for their community’s future."
With many states dominated by a few powerful industries — whether oil, mining or agriculture — the influence of campaign dollars can have an outsize effect on legislation, even to the point of corruption, notes the latest Reporter’s Toolbox. So while the U.S. Congress may be languishing, environmental journalists can dig up stories on lobbying at the state level using a powerful data source.
"New Mexico is poised to become the third state to institute a full-fledged ban on products that contain toxic “forever chemicals,” as two key bills head to the governor’s desk."
"When Leslie Stewart moved to her home in a rural expanse of Lincoln County outside of Oklahoma City more than 20 years ago, she thought she’d found a slice of heaven. ... But several years ago, her neighbor began applying sewage sludge, which consists largely of human waste left over from municipal wastewater treatment facilities, as a fertilizer on his farmland, causing a rancid smell so powerful it nearly took her breath away."
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"As Texas stares down a water shortfall, its leaders are looking at vast volumes of brown, briney oilfield wastewater as a hopeful source of future supply. They don’t have many other options. But extracting clean water from this toxic slurry will require enormous amounts of energy, just as Texas fights to keep up with the rapidly growing power demands of a high-tech industrial buildout."
"Near the western New Mexico town of Grants, the toxic legacy of Cold War uranium mining and milling has shattered lives, destroyed homes and created a contamination threat to the last clean source of groundwater for an entire region"
Industry experts and government regulators have long known that radionuclides reside in oil and natural gas. Yet radioactive emissions and waste continue to threaten the lives of workers and community members across the country. Investigative journalist Justin Nobel on the opportunities and urgent need for reporters to drill into a story steeped in questions of accountability, health and justice.
"U.S. Rep. Raúl Grijalva, an Arizona Democrat who was a fierce champion for national parks, passed away Thursday from complications related to cancer treatments. He was 77."
"Texas widened its lead as the country’s renewable energy leader in 2024, with growth in solar and wind power, according to federal data."
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