"The record rains of the past few days flooded out sewage treatment plants in Fulton, Cobb and Gwinnett counties [GA], dumping millions of gallons of untreated sewage into local waterways."
"The United States needs to lead a global effort to protect people from new outbreaks of deadly infectious diseases that originate in animals, such as swine flu, AIDS and SARS, health experts said on Tuesday."
"The World Health Organisation (WHO) has drastically cut the maximum amount of radon -- a naturally occurring gas -- that should be permitted in homes because of strong evidence it causes lung cancer."
"U.S. EPA has found 104 chemicals that might require regulations to keep them out of tap water -- the longest list of potential contaminants ever compiled by the agency."
"In the end, the two most important world leaders at the first-ever U.N. Summit on Climate Change didn't say enough to satisfy supporters or quell critics."
Use this roundup of sources to write a probing story about the ash, slag, and sludge from coal-burning electric utilities — which containins heavy metals that can pollute water, and even bury people's houses.
OMB Watch, a fierce FOI advocacy group, says EPA has been working hard to push hitherto restricted data out to the public, citing the earliest-ever release of TRI data, monitoring data on atrazine in water, and more.
Several media organizations have joined the case of a Puget Sound resident denied information, under the "law enforcement" exemption to FOIA, that would identify the locations and potential blast ranges of explosive ordnance stored in the area.