The IRE Resource Center is a major research library containing more than 23,250 investigative stories — both print and broadcast. These stories are searchable online or by contacting the Resource Center directly (573-882-3364 or rescntr@ire.org) where a researcher can help you pinpoint what you need. Browse or search the tipsheet section of our library below. Stories are not available for download but can be easily ordered by contacting the Resource Center:
Search results for "Chesapeake" ...
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"130 Million Tons of Waste"
When coal is burned for electricity, it produces a byproduct called coal ash. "Every year, 130 million tons" of the ash is produced. It's "one of the largest waste-streams in the U.S.," and currently, there is little to no federal oversight. This report focuses on two major coal ash spills have occurred in the U.S. One of the spills caused "two communities to lose access to clean drinking water."
Tags: Coal ash; burning coal; toxic waste; Chesapeake; Kingston; EPA; Coal and Utilities
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The Cost of Liability
"We set out to find how much money cities and schools are paying for accidents. We were looking for two things: 1. Large payouts for accidents that we weren't previously aware of. 2. Trend of accidents caused by city/school negligence."
Tags: schools; lawsuits; Virginia; Chesapeake; city; school bus; lawn mowers; sewers
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Hidden Hazards: A Legacy of Neglect
Robert McCabe unmasked a failed environmental protection system on the local, state and federal level in Chesapeake, Virginia, that permitted developers to build housing on lands with serious pollution problems. In his first report, McCabe explained how in one subdivision, the lead contamination is so high that home buyers in part of the neighborhood will be forbidden to grow vegetables or to water their lawns with groundwater. Furthermore, their homes sit over an old dump site with high levels of underground combustible gas.
Tags: pollution; Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ); River's Edge at Quailshire; environmental hazards; lead contamination
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Dirty Secret: Chesapeake Bay Pollution Investigation 2005
The authors investigated a private company called New Earth Services, one of the most dangerous polluters in Maryland. This company was poisoning the bay and nearby residents' drinking water while posing as the Bay's savior. The state of Maryland knew about the pollution and funded some of it. The authors also continued to follow an ongoing investigation in Centerville, where all of this started.
Tags: Chesapeake Bay; pollution; environment; New Earth Services; state funding; Centerville MD; drinking water; Clean Water Act; Drinking Water Act; Dorchester County; FOIA
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"Too Easy to Cheat"
This investigative story focuses on fish and shellfish in the Chesapeake Bay, where both species are declining due to growing demand and lack of law enforcement. The article explains how cuts in law enforcement have caused the Virginia Marine Patrol to have a small staff, low budget, and lower penalties for fishing violations.
Tags: FOIA; law enforcement
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Toxin Data Kept Hidden
The Roanoke Times reports that "for five years, top managers at the DEQ (Department of Environmental Quality) withheld data and misled other agencies and scientists about the availability and status of that data. Many people were told that the data had been destroyed, was too old, or in an inaccessible format. The database, which cost millions in taxpayer dollars, sat unused in a safe at the agency. An EPA official summed up the importance of the database in a 1998 memo: Without this data, we will not be able to characterize toxic conditions in Virginia waters, which would limit our ability to effectively target monitoring and management actions."
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No title (id: 13512)
The Washington Post magazine investigates tensions between the Cheseapeake Bay Foundation and local fishermen in the Chesapeake Bay area. When environmentalists from the Bay Foundation first came to the Bay to clean up the area, they thought they were wanted and islanders would recognize that they worked in the Bay's best interest; but after the Maryland government cut the crabbing season in half, threatening crabbers' livelihoods, violence erupted in the form of arson. (July 28, 1996)
Tags: Gifford Fire and water Ecology Environment Fishing industry 8 pgs.
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No title (id: 9262)
Virginian-Pilot and Ledger-Star (Norfolk) reports on the automotive director of Chesapeake, Va., who for 24 years ran the city's garage like a dictator; finds favoritism in contracts, unlimited overtime for employees and exorbitant prices for services, January - December 1992.
Tags: VA O'Keefe
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No title (id: 4303)
Washington Post discovers excessive dumping of toxic chemicals into Chesapeake Bay by private industries, military bases and municipal sewage treatment plants, despite the legislative protection of the 1972 Clean Water Act, June 1, 1987.
Tags: None
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No title (id: 2971)
Virginian-Pilot and Ledger-Star (Norfolk) investigates Chesapeake's economic development director's failure to account for $180,000 in his budget and his methods to lure business; leads to state investigation, September 1984.
Tags: Turcol VA