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 "chemical transportation" ...
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Toxic Cargo; Crowded Inland Rails at Risk for Dangerous Chemical Spills
The investigation showed that Inland Southern California faces increasing risk of toxic spills from freight trains carrying chlorine, anhydrous ammonia and other deadly chemicals. The authors found a public unaware of the risk, local authorities unprepared and an industry with a questionable safety record.
Tags: chemical transportation; chemical spills; rail transportation; California; freight trains; public safety; FOIA
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Derailed Lives
"A train derailment and fatal chemical spill on Jan. 18, 2002, in Minot, N.D., exposed the vulnerability of our nation's transportation of common but hazardous agricultural chemical," the Forum reports. The story depict the disaster -- known as the largest spill of anhydrous ammonia, a farm fertilizer -- in the world but also investigates its causes. The main findings are that pre-1989 railroad tanker cars are susceptible to puncturing in accidents in cold weather; tracks often contain a number of defects; and rescue workers and hospitals are ill-prepared for disasters.
Tags: emergencies; hazmat; hazardous materials; lung injuries; death; acid burns; railroad transportation; safety; Canadian Pacific Railway
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The Toxic Workplace: Railroads, Solvents and Sickness
A Courier-Journal investigative series reveals "how, despite medical warnings, the railroad industry in the 1960s, 1970s and 1980s allowed the heavy and largely unprotected use of chlorinated hydrocarbon solvents in their locomotive maintenance shops; how railroads resisted government inspections for almost a decade when solvent use was perhaps its highest and that more than 600 railroaders across the country have since then been diagnosed with permanent brain damage that their doctors blame on the chemicals." The reporters have found evidence that the railroad industry was aware of the danger of toxic chemicals as far back as the 1960s but some companies continued to use them until mid-1990s. CSX Transportation, the largest railroad in the eastern part of the country has so far paid up to $35 in legal settlements, the Courier-Journal reports.
Tags: pollution; occupational safety; OSHA; environment; ozone layer; labor; unions; courts; Department of Health and Human Services; encephalopathy; dementia; chronic depression; medicine
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Spills Chill Regulators
The Plain Dealer reports that of the 5,589 toxic chemical spills that occurred in Ohio in 1990, 121 threatened lives and property. The chemical accidents occurred when trucks hauling toxic chemicals wrecked on highways, above ground chemical tanks exploded, warehouses and plants caught fire, and workers made critical mistakes. The analysis also found that most companies involved did not report the accidents to the county emergency response team or the state Environmental Protection Agency. Residents living near plants did a better job reporting chemical emergencies than most companies at fault.
Tags: CAR CAJ EPA; Pollution; hauling hazardous waste; transportation; storage; accidental spills
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No title (id: 10196)
Earth Journal reveals that U.S. airlines for decades sprayed insecticides directly into the cabins of its passengers to avoid transporting disease-carrying insects from one locale to another; the airline never announced that they were spraying, even though the chemicals caused some passengers with diseases to suffer serious health problems, November - December, 1993.
Tags: DC Bonvie 7 pages
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Cloud of concern
KWWL-TV (Waterloo, Iowa) looks at the hazards of the production, transportation and storage of anhydrous ammonia and how the chemical industry and the EPA have conspired to bury and ignore tests that demonstrate the extremely hazardous nature of the chemical, April 29, 1991.
Tags: TAPE; environment; toxic waste; industrial waste; EPA