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 "cleanup laws" ...
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Home Sweet Meth Home
"In Mississippi, former meth homes can be bought and sold without the new owners ever knowing about their home's drug manufacturing history."
Tags: home; house; ownership; meth; crystal meth; narcotics; cleanup laws; public health; family;
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Ohio's Nuclear Legacy: troubled past, uncertain future
The Portsmouth Gaseous Diffusion Plant is "in the midst of a multibillion environmental cleanup that may eventually be the most expensive ever in Ohio. Meanwhile, untold numbers of sick workers are seeking compensation for their workplace illness, some dying before the government acts on their claims. The story revealed how the Department of Energy ignored state and federal environmental laws- even barring regulators from the plant site- then enforced a code of silence that kept the plant's practices a secret."
Tags: nuclear; environmental laws; Department of Energy; USEC Inc.;
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"Trucking food and wastewater"
This investigation uncovered a trucking company that hauled orange juice and other citrus products in tankers used earlier to haul slightly radio-active wastewater from a state environmental cleanup project. The investigation noted a federal law passed in 1990 to prevent truckers from carrying food and nonfood products in the same tanks, which prompted both an FDA investigation and Congressional efforts to better enforce the Sanitary Food Transportation Act.
Tags: trucking; tankers; wastewater; food safety; shipping; transportation; sanitation
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The Missing Links
"This is a story about the largest New York City contract ever involving the private operation of a municipal park facility. Golf legend Jack Nicklaus and his development partners are attempting to build New York City's first luxury golf course on top of an old landfill at Ferry Point Park in the Bronx, a site that has had a long history of environmental troubles. The developers are operating a new private landfill at the city park site, collecting construction and demolition debris worth tens of millions of dollars -- money that is helping finance construction of the golf course. After dumping began, levels of gases at times reached near-explosive levels, requiring emergency remediation work to protect residents of a nearby public housing project. Under the franchise agreement, the developers contend, the city of New York is liable for any further costs of environmental clean-up. The golf course project, a favorite of former Mayor Rudolph Giuliani, got rammed through city government without getting reviews and approvals required by city law."
Tags: Jack Nicklaus; golf; New York City; government; Rudolph Giuliani; environment; Ferry Point Park; clean-up
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The Mining of the West
The Seattle Post-Intelligencer reports on how the 1872 General Mining Law has allowed multinational companies to take billions in gold and other precious metals from public lands in the West. "They are grinding mountains into rubble, dousing the piles of rock with cyanide, paying no royalties into federal coffers for the privilege, and often leaving behind scarred land, tainted water and huge cleanup bills," the stories reveal. The findings include that more than 16,000 miles of waterways have been polluted across the West, and that environmental damage on federal lands would cost $72 billion to fix. The formidable lobbying power of the mining industry has so far prevented the lawmakers from amending the antiquated law.
Tags: EPA Toxic Release Inventory; environmental protection; engineering; U.S. Forest Service; lobbying; money and politics
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Clear Progress
Audubon looks at the positive results from the Clean Water Act passed in 1972. The report finds that the landmark law has "spurred an unprecedented cleanup of the nation's waters," and tells the success stories of several big rivers' cleanup. The article reveals also that much remains to be done and points to an Environmental Protection Agency report showing that "forty percent of the nation's surveyed rivers, lakes and estuaries are too polluted for basic uses."
Tags: environment; rivers; lakes; drinking-level quality; contamination; pollution; Potomac; French Broad River; the Great Lakes; the Connecticut River; the Boise River; the Mississippi River; Fish and Wildlife Service; wetlands
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Welcome to Meth Country
"Toxic waste from clandestine (methamphetamine) labs in the rural West is being dumped on the land and into streams, sewage systems and landfills," Snell writes. One third of the chemicals that can be used to "cook" meth are extremely toxic, and some "are also reactive, explosive, flammable, and corrosive." In Apache County, Arizona, the cleanup for one large meth lab took three days of work and $100,000. Smaller labs usually cost around $3,000 to $4,000 to clean up. Meth lab operators often move to the areas where neighbors and law enforcement won't notice the smell of the meth being cooked. These areas, like parts of national forests and lands operated by the Bureau of Land Management, are threatened by the toxic chemicals that meth lab operators often dump in them.
Tags: meth; methamphetamines; toxic waste
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No title (id: 13938)
The New Times investigates how the city of Scottsdale served approximately 70,000 residents drinking water laced with illegal amounts of a suspected carcinogen but failed to notify regulators or the public, as required by law. The drinking water in question came from a plant designed and paid for by Motorola and other electronics firms, all suspected polluters of Scottsdale's underground drinking water reserves, as part of a Superfund cleanup plan. (Dec. 5, 28, 1996)
Tags: Sterling Scottsdale's drinking problem Scottsdale's spin Contest entry trichloroethylene TCE 8 pgs.
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Denying Paternity: Monsanto Case Shows How Hard It Is to Tie Pollution to a Source; PCBs Taint Site Where Firm Used to Produce Them, But It Doesn't See a Link; The Deadlock on Dead Creak
Wall Street Journal shows how hard it is to prove who is responsible for pollution by outlining a case involving the Monsanto Co., which successfully won a law suit brought by the Illinois EPA by claiming it was a "coincidence" that the chemicals found in a river matched those used in a nearby Monsanto plant; argues that such successful defenses will mean that taxpayers will pay for more of cleanup costs.
Tags: pollution; environment; hazardous waste; chemical waste
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No title (id: 7707)
National Law Journal (New York) investigates the public relations effort, spearheaded by industry, banks and insurance companies, to sabotage the federal hazardous-waste cleanup effort required under the Superfund law, Feb. 18, 1991.
Tags: NY Lavelle