Despite a new environmental justice action plan, the EPA has a poor record of protecting communities of color from toxic environments.
Pollution
Posted inArticles
New Mexico sues EPA and others over Gold King disaster
The suit is the first blow in what is likely to be a long legal fracas.
Posted inJune 13, 2016: Water to Dust
Latest: After 26 years, a settlement over Rocky Flats plutonium contamination
The site near Denver was once home to a nuclear weapons plant.
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Science education program teaches impacts of fossil fuels at their source
In Colorado’s oil- and gas-producing counties, science teachers broach a thorny subject in their own backyard.
Posted inMay 16, 2016: Grizzly Face-Off
West Coast cities sue Monsanto to pay for chemical cleanup
Cities take a new tack to fight pollutants: targeting companies who make them.
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Why doesn’t the West report its lead data?
Lead poisoning in children is underreported nationwide, and the West’s lack of data is particularly glaring.
Posted inMay 2, 2016: The Gold King Reckoning
Silverton’s Gold King reckoning
How the Animas River disaster forced Silverton to face its pollution problem — and its destiny.
Posted inMay 2, 2016: The Gold King Reckoning
A Gold King Mine Timeline
A tangled history of profit, tragedy and unfulfilled dreams.
Posted inMay 2, 2016: The Gold King Reckoning
Inside the moss mystery: How the organisms helped reveal Portland’s pollution
Surveys of tree moss uncovered contamination that may have led to higher cancer rates.
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Thousands of fish die in Colorado, amid flood recovery projects
Concrete used to rebuild bridges on the Front Range appears to be the culprit for the deaths of 5,600 trout and other fish.
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New report: West Coast waters face double threat
Ocean acidification, driven by global fossil fuel emissions, is being exacerbated by local pollution.
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Fracking linked to groundwater contamination in Pavillion, Wyoming
Contaminants that likely came from fracking were found in an aquifer that supplies drinking water.
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Photos: The costs of air pollution in Bakersfield, California
In the Central Valley, oil and agriculture both support and harm communities, making air pollution a complex problem.
Posted inFebruary 22, 2016: Fractured
The ‘poisoned landscapes’ we leave behind
Q&A with photographer David T. Hanson about his new book, ‘Wilderness to Wasteland,’ which shows a dystopian side of progress.
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Scalia was Supreme Court’s leader on limiting environmental rules
A conservative legal foundation fears its winning streak may be over.
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Western states react strongly to Supreme Court stay of Clean Power Plan
Some states stop all work on cutting greenhouse gases but others forge ahead.
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Did Colorado leave residents of the Raton Basin with bad water?
Regulators don’t link industry to contamination — but testing shows the pollution came after drilling.
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BLM proposes rules for oil and gas methane emissions
The rule will help conserve natural gas and mitigate pollution, targeting 100,000 existing wells.
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Massive leaks are an everyday occurrence in gas fields
California’s Aliso Canyon is a reminder that methane emissions are widespread, poorly regulated — and ongoing.
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Feds announce moratorium on new coal leases
Interior Department will examine the federal coal program in light of climate change.