Environment

The Tension Between Humans and Nature

440 stories published since 2009

Washington Governor Orders Team to Study Data Centers’ Impact on Energy Use, Job Creation and Tax Revenue

by Lulu Ramadan and Sydney Brownstone, The Seattle Times

February 5, 2025, 10:20 am EST
How Trump’s EPA Threatens Efforts to Clean Up Areas Affected Most by Dangerous Air Pollution

by Lisa Song

February 5, 2025, 5:00 am EST
How Climate Change Could Upend the American Dream

by Abrahm Lustgarten

February 3, 2025, 5:00 am EST
North Dakota Sued the Interior Department at Least Five Times Under Gov. Doug Burgum. Now He’s Set to Run the Agency.

by Mary Steurer, North Dakota Monitor, and Mark Olalde, ProPublica

January 24, 2025, 5:00 am EST
Donald Trump’s No. 2 Pick for the EPA Represented Companies Accused of Pollution Harm

by Sharon Lerner

January 22, 2025, 3:10 pm EST
This Storm-Battered Town Voted for Trump. He Has Vowed to Overturn the Law That Could Fix Its Homes.

by Sharon Lerner, photography by Annie Flanagan for ProPublica

January 17, 2025, 5:00 am EST
Hydroelectric Dams on Oregon’s Willamette River Kill Salmon. Congress Says It’s Time to Consider Shutting Them Down.

by Tony Schick, Oregon Public Broadcasting

January 16, 2025, 5:00 am EST
After the Palisades Fire, What Can We Really Rebuild?

by Tim Golden

January 13, 2025, 5:30 pm EST
Elon Musk’s Boring Company Is Tunneling Beneath Las Vegas With Little Oversight

by Daniel Rothberg for ProPublica and Dayvid Figler, City Cast Las Vegas

January 8, 2025, 5:00 am EST
EPA Report Finds That Formaldehyde Presents an “Unreasonable Risk” to Public Health

by Sharon Lerner

January 3, 2025, 5:00 pm EST
The American Oil Industry’s Playbook, Illustrated: How Drillers Offload Costly Cleanup Onto the Public

by Mark Olalde, illustrations by Peter Arkle, special to ProPublica

December 30, 2024, 5:00 am EST
U.S. Senator Urges EPA to Release “Science-Based” Report on Formaldehyde Health Risks

by Sharon Lerner

December 18, 2024, 12:10 pm EST
How to Reduce Formaldehyde Exposure in Your Home

by Topher Sanders

December 9, 2024, 5:05 am EST
How Much Formaldehyde Is in Your Car, Your Kitchen or Your Furniture? Here’s What Our Testing Found.

by Topher Sanders, with additional reporting by Sharon Lerner and Al Shaw

December 9, 2024, 5:00 am EST
Check the Formaldehyde Cancer Risk in Your Neighborhood

by Al Shaw and Sharon Lerner

December 3, 2024, 5:05 am EST
Formaldehyde Causes More Cancer Than Any Other Toxic Air Pollutant. Little Is Being Done to Curb the Risk.

by Sharon Lerner and Al Shaw

December 3, 2024, 5:00 am EST
Despite Biden’s Promise to Protect Old Forests, His Administration Keeps Approving Plans to Cut Them Down

by April Ehrlich, Oregon Public Broadcasting, McKenzie Funk, ProPublica, and Tony Schick, Oregon Public Broadcasting

November 12, 2024, 6:00 am EST
The Ghosts of John Tanton

by Abrahm Lustgarten

October 19, 2024, 5:00 am EDT
FEMA Told Victims of New Mexico’s Largest Wildfire It Can’t Pay for Emotional Harm. A Judge Will Likely Rule It Must.

by Patrick Lohmann, Source New Mexico

October 18, 2024, 12:30 pm EDT
Fossil Fuel Interests Are Working to Kill Solar in One Ohio County. The Hometown Newspaper Is Helping.

by Miranda Green, Floodlight, Jennifer Smith Richards, ProPublica, and Priyanjana Bengani, Tow Center for Digital Journalism, and photography by Sarahbeth Maney, ProPublica

October 8, 2024, 5:00 am EDT
Who Will Care for Americans Left Behind by Climate Migration?

by Abrahm Lustgarten

October 2, 2024, 5:05 am EDT
EPA Says It Plans to Withdraw Approval for Chevron’s Plastic-Based Fuels That Are Likely to Cause Cancer

by Sharon Lerner

September 30, 2024, 5:00 am EDT
ExxonMobil Accused of “Deceptively” Promoting Chemical Recycling as a Solution for the Plastics Crisis

by Lisa Song

September 27, 2024, 6:00 am EDT
At Indigenous Sacred Sites, Seeing Things I’m Not Supposed to See

by B. “Toastie” Oaster, High Country News

September 27, 2024, 5:00 am EDT
The Department of Energy Promised This Tribal Nation a $32 Million Solar Grant. It’s Nearly Impossible to Access.

by Tony Schick, Oregon Public Broadcasting

September 20, 2024, 7:00 am EDT
EPA Scientists Said They Were Pressured to Downplay Harms From Chemicals. A Watchdog Found They Were Retaliated Against.

by Sharon Lerner

September 18, 2024, 1:35 pm EDT
Oregon’s Largest Natural Gas Company Said It Was Going Green. It Sells as Much Fossil Fuel as Before.

by McKenzie Funk

September 13, 2024, 5:00 am EDT
These Household Brands Want to Redefine What Counts as “Recyclable”

by Lisa Song

September 9, 2024, 5:00 am EDT
Nike Shareholders Want to Force Actions on Environmental and Worker Protections. They Face Long Odds.

by Rob Davis, ProPublica, and Matthew Kish, The Oregonian/OregonLive

September 6, 2024, 5:00 am EDT
Biden EPA Rejects Plastics Industry’s Fuzzy Math That Misleads Customers About Recycled Content

by Lisa Song

August 29, 2024, 5:00 am EDT
When Is “Recyclable” Not Really Recyclable? When the Plastics Industry Gets to Define What the Word Means.

by Lisa Song

August 15, 2024, 6:00 am EDT
As Millions of Acres Burn, Firefighters Say the U.S. Forest Service Has Left Them With Critical Shortages

by Abe Streep

August 15, 2024, 5:00 am EDT
After Nike Leaders Promised Climate Action, Their Corporate Jets Kept Flying — and Polluting

by Rob Davis, Agnel Philip and Alex Mierjeski, ProPublica, and Matthew Kish, The Oregonian/OregonLive

August 13, 2024, 6:00 am EDT
Washington State Solar Project Paused Amid Concern About Native Cultural Sites

by B. “Toastie” Oaster, High Country News

August 12, 2024, 6:00 am EDT
How a Green Tech Startup With No Climate Experience Secured Millions of Dollars in Government Contracts

by Anjeanette Damon

August 7, 2024, 6:00 am EDT
Oklahoma’s Oil Industry Touts a Voluntary Fund to Clean Up Oil Wells. Major Drillers Want Their Contributions Refunded.

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

August 6, 2024, 5:00 am EDT
Data Centers Demand a Massive Amount of Energy. Here’s How Some States Are Tackling the Industry’s Impact.

by Lulu Ramadan and Sydney Brownstone, The Seattle Times

August 1, 2024, 5:00 am EDT
Washington Is Giving Tax Breaks to Data Centers That Threaten the State’s Green Energy Push

by Lulu Ramadan and Sydney Brownstone, The Seattle Times, photography by Karen Ducey, The Seattle Times

July 28, 2024, 5:00 am EDT
California Isn’t Enforcing Its Strongest-in-the-Nation Oil Well Cleanup Law on Its Largest Oil Company

by Mark Olalde

July 24, 2024, 5:00 am EDT
Nike Pledged to Shrink Its Carbon Footprint. It Just Slashed the Staff Charged With Making That Happen.

by Rob Davis, ProPublica, and Matthew Kish, The Oregonian/OregonLive

July 11, 2024, 6:00 am EDT
The Federal Government Just Acknowledged the Harm Its Dams Have Caused Tribes. Here’s What It Left Out.

by Tony Schick, Oregon Public Broadcasting

June 25, 2024, 6:00 am EDT
How America’s “Most Powerful Lobby” Is Stifling Efforts to Reform Oil Well Cleanup in State After State

by Mark Olalde

June 24, 2024, 5:00 am EDT
The Delusion of “Advanced” Plastic Recycling

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

June 20, 2024, 5:00 am EDT
A Bottled Water Company in Michigan Is Still Extracting Millions of Gallons of Water for Free

by Anna Clark, photography by Sarahbeth Maney

June 6, 2024, 5:00 am EDT
Nine Takeaways From Our Investigation Into 3M’s Forever Chemicals

by ProPublica

May 24, 2024, 5:00 am EDT
Toxic Gaslighting: 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

May 20, 2024, 6:00 am EDT
Plastic, Plastic Everywhere — Even at the UN’s “Plastic Free” Conference

by Lisa Song

May 10, 2024, 5:00 am EDT
Oil Companies Contaminated a Family Farm. The Courts and Regulators Let the Drillers Walk Away.

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

May 6, 2024, 5:00 am EDT
Ten Years After the Flint Water Crisis, Distrust and Anger Linger

by Anna Clark and Sarahbeth Maney, Photography by Sarahbeth Maney

May 4, 2024, 5:00 am EDT
EPA Proposes Ban on Pesticide Widely Used on Fruits and Vegetables

by Sharon Lerner

May 1, 2024, 12:30 pm EDT