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Environment

The Tension Between Humans and Nature

Unplugged

How America’s “Most Powerful Lobby” Is Stifling Efforts to Reform Oil Well Cleanup in State After State

In New Mexico, oil companies agreed to work with regulators to find a solution to the state’s more than 70,000 unplugged wells. After months of negotiations, the industry turned against the bill it helped shape.

by Mark Olalde,

The Delusion of “Advanced” Plastic Recycling

The plastics industry has heralded a type of chemical recycling it claims could replace new shopping bags and candy wrappers with old ones — but not much is being recycled at all, and this method won’t curb the crisis.

by Lisa Song, illustrations by Max Guther, special to ProPublica,

Michigan Bottlers Still Get Free Water, Despite Whitmer’s Tough Talk

Gov. Gretchen Whitmer had pledged to crack down on bottled water companies taking water at the same time Flint, Michigan, faced a water crisis. Six years later and in her second term, little has changed.

by Anna Clark, photography by Sarahbeth Maney,

Nine Takeaways From Our Investigation Into 3M’s Forever Chemicals

What you need to know about the inside story of how the company allowed PFOS to seep into all of us while sitting on research that showed the chemical is toxic.

by ProPublica,

Featured Reporters

Neil Bedi
Portrait of Umar Farooq Umar Farooq
Portrait of Sharon Lerner Sharon Lerner
Portrait of Abrahm Lustgarten Abrahm Lustgarten
Kathleen McGrory
Portrait of Maya Miller Maya Miller
Portrait of Mark Olalde Mark Olalde
Tony Schick
Portrait of Al Shaw Al Shaw
Portrait of Lisa Song Lisa Song
Ken Ward Jr.

Impact of Our Reporting

Broken Promises

The Federal Government Just Acknowledged the Harm Its Dams Have Caused Tribes. Here’s What It Left Out.

The Biden administration said officials historically gave “little, if any, consideration” to impacts on tribal fishing.

by Tony Schick, Oregon Public Broadcasting,

Local Reporting Network

EPA Proposes Ban on Pesticide Widely Used on Fruits and Vegetables

The ban on acephate comes a week after a ProPublica investigation highlighted the EPA’s controversial finding that the bug killer doesn’t harm the developing brains of children.

by Sharon Lerner,

Sacrifice Zones

EPA Finalizes New Standards for Cancer-Causing Chemicals

The regulation specifically targets ethylene oxide, which a ProPublica analysis found was the single biggest contributor to excess industrial cancer risk from air pollutants nationwide.

by Ava Kofman,

Series

Series: Unplugged: Will Taxpayers Foot the Oil Industry’s Cleanup Bill?

Series: Waiting for Water: Tribes’ Fight for a Promised Resource

Series: Roots of an Outbreak: How the Next Pandemic Could Start

Series: Disaster After Disaster: Growing Storms, Faltering Aid

Series: Broken Promises: Salmon Disappear From the Pacific Northwest

Series: Sacrifice Zones: Mapping Cancer-Causing Industrial Air Pollution

Series: Black Snow: Big Sugar’s Burning Problem

Series: Sunken Costs: Coal Ash in Georgia

Firefighters battle the Creek Fire in the Shaver Lake community of Fresno County, California, on Sept. 7.

Series: California Burning: The Climate Crisis is Setting the State on Fire

Series: The Great Climate Migration: A Warming Planet and a Shifting Population

Series: Paradise Lost: Hawaii’s Disappearing Beaches

Series: Pollution Profiteers: Inside California’s Toxic Hauling Industry

Series: The Cutting: Investigating Industrial Logging in Oregon

Series: Polluter’s Paradise: Environmental Impact in Louisiana

Series: The New Power Brokers: West Virginia’s Natural Gas Industry

Series: Bombs in Our Backyard: Investigating One of America’s Greatest Polluters

Series: Killing the Colorado: The Water Crisis in the West

Series: Losing Ground: Southeast Louisiana is Disappearing, Quickly

Series: After the Flood: The Challenge of Rebuilding as the Climate Changes

Series: Injection Wells: The Hidden Risks of Pumping Waste Underground

Series: Nuclear Safety: After Fukushima

Series: Gulf Oil Spill: Investigating the Impact of the BP Spill

Series: Fracking: Gas Drilling’s Environmental Threat

349 stories published since 2009

The Federal Government Just Acknowledged the Harm Its Dams Have Caused Tribes. Here’s What It Left Out.

by Tony Schick, Oregon Public Broadcasting,

How 3M Executives Convinced a Scientist the Forever Chemicals She Found in Human Blood Were Safe

by Sharon Lerner, photography by Haruka Sakaguchi, special to ProPublica,

Plastic, Plastic Everywhere — Even at the UN’s “Plastic Free” Conference

by Lisa Song,

Oil Companies Contaminated a Family Farm. The Courts and Regulators Let the Drillers Walk Away.

by Mark Olalde, ProPublica, and Nick Bowlin, Capital & Main,

Ten Years After the Flint Water Crisis, Distrust and Anger Linger

by Anna Clark and Sarahbeth Maney, Photography by Sarahbeth Maney,

EPA Proposes Ban on Pesticide Widely Used on Fruits and Vegetables

by Sharon Lerner,

10 Times as Much of This Toxic Pesticide Could End Up on Your Tomatoes and Celery Under a New EPA Proposal

by Sharon Lerner,

Oil Companies Must Set Aside More Money to Plug Wells, a New Rule Says. But It Won’t Be Enough.

by Mark Olalde, ProPublica, and Nick Bowlin, Capital & Main,

The Big Burnout: Life on the Front Lines of America’s Wildfires

by Connor Goodwin,

EPA Finalizes New Standards for Cancer-Causing Chemicals

by Ava Kofman,

The EPA Has Done Nearly Everything It Can to Clean Up This Town. It Hasn’t Worked.

by Lisa Song,

The Flooding Will Come “No Matter What”

by Abrahm Lustgarten,

Chevron Will Pay Record Fines for Oil Spills in California

by Janet Wilson, The Desert Sun,

An Oregon Bill to Cut Millions in Timber Taxes Is Dead, Despite Backing by the Industry, the Governor and a Top Lawmaker

by Rob Davis,

“It Feels Impossible to Stay”: The U.S. Needs Wildland Firefighters More Than Ever, but the Federal Government Is Losing Them

by Abe Streep for ProPublica, illustrations by Hokyoung Kim, special to ProPublica,

New EPA Rule to Slash Cancer-Causing Emissions From Sterilization Facilities

by Alejandra Martinez, The Texas Tribune,

Listen to the “Timber Wars Season 2: Salmon Wars” Podcast

by ProPublica and Oregon Public Broadcasting,

The Oregon Timber Industry Won Huge Tax Cuts in the 1990s. Now It May Get Another Break Thanks to a Top Lawmaker.

by Rob Davis,

Washington State Is Leaving Tribal Cultural Resources at the Mercy of Solar Developers

by B. “Toastie” Oaster, High Country News,

In a Major Shift, Northwest Tribes — not U.S. Officials — Will Control Salmon Recovery Funds

by Tony Schick, Oregon Public Broadcasting,

West Virginians Could Get Stuck Cleaning Up the Coal Industry’s Messes

by Ken Ward Jr., Mountain State Spotlight,

The Future of the Colorado River Hinges on One Young Negotiator

by Mark Olalde, ProPublica, and Janet Wilson, The Desert Sun,

9 Times the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Miscalculated Badly at the Expense of Taxpayers, Wildlife

by Tony Schick, Oregon Public Broadcasting,

The 20 Farming Families Who Use More Water From the Colorado River Than Some Western States

by Nat Lash, ProPublica, and Janet Wilson, The Desert Sun,

The Historic Claims That Put a Few California Farming Families First in Line for Colorado River Water

by Janet Wilson, The Desert Sun, and Nat Lash, ProPublica,

The EPA Has Found More Than a Dozen Contaminants in Drinking Water but Hasn’t Set Safety Limits on Them

by Agnel Philip,

This Billion-Dollar Plan to Save Salmon Depends on a Giant Fish Vacuum

by Tony Schick, Oregon Public Broadcasting,

California Oil Companies Face Tougher Enforcement Under New Law

by Janet Wilson, The Desert Sun,

Western States Opposed Tribes’ Access to the Colorado River 70 Years Ago. History Is Repeating Itself.

by Mark Olalde, ProPublica, and Anna V. Smith, High Country News,

The Cleanup of Seattle’s Only River Could Cost Boeing and Taxpayers $1 Billion. Talks Over Who Will Pay Most Are Secret.

by Lulu Ramadan, The Seattle Times,

Biden Administration Commits $200 Million to Help Reintroduce Salmon in Columbia River

by Tony Schick, Oregon Public Broadcasting,

A Black Community in West Virginia Sues the EPA to Spur Action on Toxic Air Pollution

by Sarah Elbeshbishi, Mountain State Spotlight,

Do You Have Experience in or With the Plastics Industry? Tell Us About It.

by Lisa Song and Maya Miller,

United Nations Seems to Boost Plastics Industry Interests, Critics Say

by Lisa Song,

The (Random) Forests for the Trees: How Our Spillover Model Works

by Irena Hwang and Al Shaw,

EPA Approved a Fuel Ingredient Even Though It Could Cause Cancer in Virtually Every Person Exposed Over a Lifetime

by Sharon Lerner,

In Arizona Water Ruling, the Hopi Tribe Sees Limits on Its Future

by Umar Farooq,

The U.S. Banned Farmers From Using a Brain-Harming Pesticide on Food. Why Has It Slowed a Global Ban?

by Sharon Lerner,

The Colorado River Flooded Chemehuevi Land. Decades Later, the Tribe Still Struggles to Take Its Share of Water.

by Mark Olalde and Umar Farooq, ProPublica, and Anna V. Smith, High Country News,

Supreme Court Keeps Navajo Nation Waiting for Water

by Anna V. Smith, High Country News, and Umar Farooq and Mark Olalde, ProPublica,

Out of Balance

by Lisa Song, with additional reporting by Jaime Yaya Barry for ProPublica, photography by Kathleen Flynn, special to ProPublica,

How Arizona Stands Between Tribes and Their Water

by Mark Olalde and Umar Farooq, ProPublica, and Anna V. Smith, High Country News,

Las Vegas Needs to Save Water. It Won’t Find It in Lawns.

by Nat Lash, Mark Olalde and Ash Ngu, and photography by Liz Moughon,

Climate Crisis Is on Track to Push One-Third of Humanity Out of Its Most Livable Environment

by Abrahm Lustgarten,

West Virginia Governor’s Coal Empire Sued by the Federal Government — Again

by Ken Ward Jr., Mountain State Spotlight,

The Scientist and the Bats

by Caroline Chen; Photography by Kathleen Flynn for ProPublica,

It Will Cost Up to $21.5 Billion to Clean Up California’s Oil Sites. The Industry Won’t Make Enough Money to Pay for It.

by Mark Olalde,

Colorado Law Will Require Homes to Be More Wildfire Resistant

by Jennifer Oldham for ProPublica,

Controlled Burns Help Prevent Wildfires, Experts Say. But Regulations Have Made It Nearly Impossible to Do These Burns.

by Jennifer Oldham for ProPublica,

The FCC Is Supposed to Protect the Environment. It Doesn’t.

by Peter Elkind,