Resource Center

Stories

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 "U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service" ...

  • The Lizard King

    "The Lizard King is the story of wildlife smuggling from the perspective of both the smuggler and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service agents assigned to stop it."

    Tags: reptile; lizard; king; smuggler; federal; customs;

    By Bryan Christy

    Twelve Publishers (New York, N.Y.)

    2008

  • Mercury Menace

    The author documented widespread mercury contamination in the town of McIntosh, AL. Most of the very public contamination had apparently escaped the attention of the EPA during Superfund investigations between 1984 and 2005. The reporter showed that mercury levels in creeks and rivers would rank among the highest mercury-contaminated areas of the U.S.

    Tags: FOIA; contamination; Mercury; McIntosh; Superfund; E.P.A; Fish and Wildlife Service; Alabama Department of Environmental Management; Olin Corp.; Ciba Corp.

    By Ben Raines

    Register (Mobile, Ala.)

    2005

  • Rescuing the River

    A Journal News investigative series reports on the Environmental Protection Agency's $460-million plan "to perform the largest environmental dredging project in the nation's history on a 40-mile section of the Upper Hudson River." The river was contaminated with PCBs, deadly chemicals that have been dumped in the water by General Electric for decades. The toxins destroyed fishing and tainted a Mohawk reservation. The stories question the cost and effectiveness of the dredging plan, which "might not remove PCBs from the river but it would destroy marshes...." The investigation documents the GE high-dollar lobbying and advertising efforts in favor of the argument that "the river will clean itself."

    Tags: environment; FOI requests; rivers; Congress; legislature; Sen. Hillary Clinton; hazardous waste; Hudson River Superfund; National Academy of Sciences; lobbyists; public health; contamination; U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service

    By Roger Witherspoon;Jorge Fitz-Gibbon;Leah Rae;Noreen O'Donnell;John Machacek;Yancy Roy

    None

    2001

  • Ground zero

    Amicus examines how drilling and other activities of oil companies in Alaska have disturbed the people Nuiqsut, an Inupiat Eskimo village an Alaska's North Slope. "Big oil offered a village of Inupiat Eskimos jobs and economic boom. All it asked for in return was their way of life," the magazine reports. The story reveals that the environmental problems in Alaska include water quality changes, air pollution, land use conflicts, oil spills, increased traffic and noise, and disturbance to fish and wildlife species. The latter has forced Eskimos to give up some of their traditional food. For example, a huge arctic caribou's herd has moved away from the oil development area, and a bottom fish - an Eskimos' delicacy - now has elevated levels of toxics.

    Tags: Alaska Wilderness League; Arctic Refuge; Trustees for Alaska; U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service; Alaska Whaling Commission; drilling; politics; President Bush

    By Debbie S. Miller

    Amicus Journal (New York)

    2001

  • Where Eagles Die

    Antigovernment zealots and a mystery toxin in Wisconsin have undercut the astounding revival of the bald eagles. A large number of eagle deaths were atrributed to environmental terrorism. Scientists were unable to discover the cause of deaths for eagles dying in southern Wisconsin despite testing for every known pesticide and avian disease. In Arkansas, two-thirds of the winter eagle population were found dead or dying. (January 1996)

    Tags: Reynolds; Where eagles die; U.S. fish and wildlife service; National wildlife health center; Arkansas game and fish commission; DDT; National audubon society; Environmental protection agency; 10pgs

    By Reynolds

    Chicago Magazine

    1995

  • No title (id: 9490)

    Buzzworm Magazine finds that the trade in illegal wildlife products; the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is ineffective in stopping the smuggling of the contraband; gives the blackmarket prices for various products made from the skins and body parts of endangered animals, July/August 1993. # CO Speart

    Tags: None

    By None

    Buzzworm Magazine (Boulder, Colo.)

    1993

  • Struggle to survive

    Sacramento Bee reporter analyzes U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service data to find the flaws in implementation of the Endangered Species Act; finds an agency so overwhelmed by an enormous workload, anemic budget and politically charged agenda that it cannot protect the species it is charged with protecting; finds that spending on mammals and birds far outweighs that on all other species combined.

    Tags: CA Clemings

    By Russell Clemings

    Bee (Fresno, Calif.)

    1992

  • Gator Trade

    Common Cause Magazine profiles a U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service game warden who goes undercover to bust poachers and their lucrative smuggling of alligator skins and walrus ivory to the Japanese; finds that the trade in illegal animal hides and furs is a booming business and is intertwined with the illicit-drug trade.

    Tags: U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service; environment; poaching; smuggling

    By Marc Reisner

    Common Cause Magazine (Washington, D.C.)

    1991

  • No title (id: 7497)

    Austin American-Statesman documents close relationship between industries with records of pollution and the Texas Air Control Board, resulting in lax enforcement of environmental standards; former board officials routinely were employed by corporations to assist in circumventing state law; U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service fails to enforce federal wildlife protection laws against oil corporations, July 22, Sept. 3, Dec. 2, 1990.

    Tags: TX Collier Tex-Trac Migratory Bird Treaty Act Mobil

    By None

    American-Statesmen (Austin, Texas)

    1990