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 "economic boom" ...
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Frac sand mining booms in Wisconsin
An ongoing series looking at the recent growth in Wisconsin’s sand mining industry to meet the increased demand from oil and gas drillers. The frac sand industry has created jobs and economic development in Western Wisconsin, but many residents worry that the industry is not properly regulated. Concerns remain about the impact of the mining on human and environmental health, transportation, and land use.
Tags: Sand mining; oil; gas; human health; environment; transportation; land use
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Platts: Russian Gas Giant Mines U.S. Energy Data
Russia’s state-owned natural gas company says the U.S. shale-gas boom is economically unsustainable — and it’s buttressing its claim with financial data collected by an American consulting firm located less than 20 miles from the White House. Moscow-based Gazprom, the world’s largest gas company, is working with Pace Global Energy Services, a consulting firm in Fairfax, Virginia, to analyze how much money U.S. gas companies are spending on hydraulic fracturing and horizontal drilling. Gazprom, citing the Virginia company’s data, says the true costs of U.S. shale-gas production are upwards of 150% higher than the revenues its practitioners have been reaping in the last few years. Gazprom says this will ultimately lead to the demise of fracking-based shale-gas drilling in the US and other countries that are considering adopting it. But Gazprom’s critics say the company and its unlikely Washington-area ally are spreading “myths and misconceptions” about the U.S.-led shale-gas gas boom so that European and Asian countries will not develop their own shale plays, and will instead continue to buy conventional Russian gas.
Tags: Oil; gas; natural resources; fraud; oil wells
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The Credit Trap
This series ties lax credit card lending and punishing fee practices to the housing boom, to consumers' mounting financial distress, and to the economic downturn. The reports revealed that during the housing boom, banks sharply raised card limits in part because of a surge in home equity, much of it now vanished. Then banks guided borrowers to tap into rising home equity to pay off card balances, putting their homes at risk.
Tags: credit card; credit card debt; home equity; housing market; economy; rate hikes; mortgages; banking industry; card lenders
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Liquid Assets--Turning water into gold
Due to a unique water ownership structure established nearly two decades ago, suburban Denver communities have been forced to pay the highest water connection fees in the country. According to this investigation, this has created a competition for resources to fuel the booming population growth in the suburbs, creating an "unregulated and often untraceable commodities market in Colorado."
Tags: Big Thompson system; utilities; population growth; economic growth; Denver; commodities
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Hot Economy, but more homeless
Marks reports that the "homelessness is on the rise." She explains that even thought the US economy is on expansion that doesn't stop the need for shelter for families that had lost welfare benefits or got them reduced. Marks looks at the statistics and the reasons the experts use to explain the increase.
Tags: welfare; economic boom; Department of Housing and Urban Development; shelters; children
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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
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Boom on the beach
This USA Today series analyzes the economic growth and development along East and Gulf Coasts and draws the conclusion that "41 million people - more than one in seven Americans - live in a county on the Atlantic Ocean or the Gulf of Mexico." The analysis of population and demographic trends, and building permits, finds that "coastal counties are growing significantly faster than the rest of the country in population, employment and gross domestic product." The boom among 100 coastal counties is illustrated with maps, graphics and tables. The series reveals that in spite of multiple natural threats - like long-term hurricane risk, rising sea level, fragile sands and erosion - "growth pressure keeps building" and "all levels of government foster this amenity-driven, middle-class lifestyle..."
Tags: Database Mapping Project; population; economic growth; hurricanes; construction; migration; housing; employment; demographics; database mapping project
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Last Gasp: An in-depth look at North Texas air quality
The Dallas Business Journal reports a "15-story package focused on a looming federal deadline for the Dallas-Fort Worth area to clean up its breathing air. The EPA is demanding that Dallas reduce ground-level ozone, which is caused by emissions of nitrous oxide (or "NOx") and volatile organic compounds (or "VOC's"). If Dallas fails to meet EPA standards, the federal government may impose tough sanctions that could choke off the area's 10-year-long economic boom."
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"The Fight in the Forest: The Battle Over Virginia's Logging Boom
The Roanoke Times reveals that rapid growth in Virginia's logging industry has led to increased environmental and economic problems in a region of the state already suffering from the effects of decades of coal mining.
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No title (id: 13219)
Mother Jones explores environmental, economic, and political problems brought to Southeast Asian and Latin American villagers by a booming shrimp industry. Some consequences include deforestation, poverty for small shrimp farmers, violence and protest. (March, April 1996)
Tags: Nixon Rainforest shrimp Seafood Mangrove trees Coastal villages 8 pgs.