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 "Clean Air Act" ...
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Poisoned Places: Tonawanda
It's difficult to definitively link any one person's illness to air pollution from a particular plant. But the concerns about the health effects of Tonawanda Coke's toxic pollution rallied a small group of people in Tonawanda -- most of them sick -- to force complacent regulators to clean up the air. The case highlights the risks posed to communities around the country by an environmental regulatory system that largely entrusts companies to voluntarily disclose how much toxic pollution they emit and that can take years to act once violations are discovered.
Tags: air pollution; toxic emission; Tonawanda; Coke; health effects;
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Poisoned Places: Toxic Air, Neglected Communities
This partnered investigation looks into the Clean Air Act and what it has been failing to do: protecting communities from toxic air pollutants for 21 years.
Tags: EPA; Clean Air Act; air pollution
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Hear No Evil, Smell No Evil
A comparison between EPA and TCEQ records shows that the company gave a far lower emissions figure to state officials than the smokestack monitor registered. Until reporters started raising questions nearly a year ago, TCEQ officials said they had no idea of the extent of TXU energy company's emissions.
Tags: pollution; sulfur emissions; TXU Energy; Environmental Protection Agency; EPA; Clean Air Act
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Clear and Present Danger: A Special Issue
This special report examines the state of the air in Los Angeles and shows that air pollution is still a major issue, and appears to be worsening in some ways after more than 50 years of cleanup efforts. The investigation covers the latest on health effects of air pollution, weaknesses in existing pollution regulations, and lack of resources devoted to the issue.
Tags: pollution; environment; Clean Air Act; smog; smoke; ozone layer
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A Changing Landscape
"These stories provide a portrait of the Bush environmental policies and the largely hidden political process that produced them. They also provide a window into the secretive administration's domestic-policymaking and its impact in the West and elsewhere. The reporters penetrated the federal bureaucracy to show how the White House and political appointees at the Environmental Protection Agency and the Interior Department manipulated science, circumvented the law and marginalized or steamrolled career employees. These reports detail how, in the process, the administration adopted regulations or policies that benefited its corporate patrons at the expense of public health and the environment." Also included is an update from February, 2005, that relates the results of a study done by Nikki Tinsley, the EPA's inspector general, at the request of seven senators who read the LA Times original series. Tinsley's report confirmed the LA Times findings.
Tags: environment; pollution; mercury; national Forrest; oil drilling; Halliburton; Clean Air Act; Clear Skies initiative; EPA
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Smokescreen
"This investigation probed Ontario's Drive Clean emissions testing program." The investigation found that the program forced millions of people to pay for unnecessary tests and achieved very dubious environmental benefits. The program is very flawed and corrupt, and doesn't even accomplish anything; the air quality benefits claimed by the government were based on discredited models.
Tags: environment; clean air act; pollution; auto emissions
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Blowing Smoke: Even as the EPA was publicly touting its efforts to make the air cleaner, it was privately allowing 25 oil refineries to miss dozens of court-ordered deadlines
This series focuses on the EPA's promise to the public that it would force refineries to clean up their acts with the Petroleum Refinery Initiative. The EPA also required these companies, which consisted of 48 corporations in 24 states, to meet specific deadlines set by the courts in order to clear pollutants in the air. The Star-Telegram uncovered that the EPA allowed at least 17 of these companies to quietly miss deadlines "prolonging the exposure of hundreds of thousands of people to dangerous pollutants."
Tags: Environmental Protection Agency's Petroleum Refinery Initiative
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Report Lists State's Toxic - Waste Figures
According to the Toxic - Release Inventory, Ohio is the fifth most polluted state in America. Toxic pollution levels actually went up in some counties from 1989 to 1990. In some cases, residents say the pollution is so bad they sometimes don't leave their houses. Other residents blame the pollution for the higher rate of respiratory problems and illness in their children. But in Marysville, where the pollution is at its worst, people don't often complain about it. The reporters speculate that this is because the pollution is caused by Honda of America, which brought thousands of jobs to central Ohio in the early 1980s.
Tags: industrial pollution; chemicals; Toxic Release Inventory; Clean Air Act; EPA. BP Chemicals America
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362 Million Pounds of Trouble
Analysis shows that about one-quarter of the state of Ohio's waste in 1989 included toxic chemicals that are known or suspected to cause cancer and birth defects. That's the equivalent of seven and a half pounds for every man, woman, and child in the state. Steel Mills are among the state's biggest generators of toxic waste. Ohio's industries generated 362 million pounds of toxic waste, a figure that should rank Ohio as one of the most polluted states in the nation.
Tags: B.P. Chemicals America Inc.; TRI; toxic waste; toxic chemicals; Ohio Environmental Protection Agency; Toxic Release Inventory; benzene; steel-making; leukemia; cancer; Armco; birth defects; Clean Air Act; Ammonium sulfate; manganese compounds; hydrochloric acid; ammonia; xylene; zinc compounds; sulfuric acid; acetone; trichloroethane; toluene
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Chemical Insecurity
60 Minutes learned that the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency had documents showing that 100 chemical facilities in this country stored enough toxic chemicals for each to put more than a million people at risk in the event of an accident or deliberate attack. The news team investigated what kind of security existed at "high-risk" facilities, talked to experts, present and former government officials and environmentalist groups to put this report together. The three month investigation looked at plants in highly populated cities like Los Angeles, New York, Houston and Chicago; and found that there are no federal regulations in place when it comes to security.
Tags: TAPE; chemical insecurity; bio terrorist; terrorist attack; chemical weapons; nuclear weapons; chemical plant; nuclear plant; WMD; toxic chemicals; deliberate attack; security; terrorism; anti-terrorism expert; risk management plan; Environmental Protection Agency; Clean Air Act; Chemical Safety Board; American Chemistry Council; chemistry; chlorine gas