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 "wetlands" ...
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Construction workers' safety net full of holes; State tries to stop death in the trenches
This series, which originally sought to identify the most dangerous jobs in Washington state, investigates preventable deaths among construction workers in the state. The investigation also looks at both state and national laws which do very little to punish those responsible with any serious fines. According to the questionnaire, "if you pollute a wetland in Washington State, you are liable for more fines than if you oversee a construction site where someone is likely to fall to their death."
Tags: workplace safety fines; trench deaths; OSHA
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Protecting Wetlands but at a Price
This is a report about federal efforts to stop the destruction of wetlands in southeastern Virginia. The government policies, like the "no - net loss" policy, will affect developers, builders, farmers and, most importantly, taxpayers. One problem occurs when privately owned land is determined to be wetland, and developing the land is prohibited.
Tags: Army Corp of Engineers; Clean Water Act; EPA; pollution; real estate
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Florida's Water Crisis
The Orlando Sentinel published a 12-chapter series "of special reports focusing attention on what many experts see as the state's long-term water crisis." The most critical issues faced by Floridians include decreasing water supplies, more factors leading to lower water quality and scientific and political barriers to long-term solutions.
Tags: water; Florida; groundwater; drought; aquifers; rainfall; St. Johns River; wetlands; springs; wildlife; environment; lakes; septic-tank contamination; pollution; gas tanks; desalination plant
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Washing Away: How south Louisiana is growing more vulnerable to a catastrophic hurricane
An investigation by the Times-Picayune revealed that "despite billions of dollars spent on levees to protect Louisiana's coastal communities from hurricanes, those communities are becoming more vulnerable to even moderately sized storms as the state's coastal wetlands disappear. (The Times-Picayune) found that the hurricane levees surrounding New Orleans and its suburbs are not the effective barriers to storm surge that the public believes, and even their designers admit that more protection is needed. Moderate-sized storms can result in higher surges that overtop levees because the vast swath of wetlands that once protected coastal communities is disappearing at an alarming rate."
Tags: Louisiana; hurricanes; wetlands; storms; levees; environment
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New Jersey fails to protect its wetlands
The Atlantic City Press reveals how weak enforcement has made "a mockery out of the county's toughest wetlands law." The major findings are that "the N.J. Department of Environmental Protection took forever to resolve cases" and that "penalties were so light that it made economic sense for wetland violators to take their chances." Violators often filled wetlands illegally and this resulted in flooding of the adjacent houses. Another finding is that a state agency created to develop new wetlands has done nothing over the 13 years of its existence.
Tags: Wetlands Mitigation Council; Army Corps of engineers; storm water; buffer areas; floods; rainstorms
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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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Fragile
Florida Trend Magazine reports on the $8 billion restoration deal for the Everglades-" how it will work and how it could fall apart. . . Nearly 2 billion gallons of water that once flowed through the ecosystem each day are now diverted to the ocean or Gulf. The plan proposes to capture most of this water in more than 217,000 acres of reservoirs and wetlands-based treatment areas and 330 underground aquifer storage and recovery wells." The article details the politics, science, bureaucrats, interest groups, natural issues and the interested parties involved in the plan and how their actions could result in its success or failure
Tags: environment; Everglades; Everglades National Park; restoration; Water Resources Development Acts; U.S. Department of Interior; South Florida Management District; Everglades Forever Act
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Dripping Away: Cracks in New York's Water Supply
WNBC finds that "substantial undisputed - but unpublicized - leaks in the City's largest water supply tunnel threaten to undermine the tunnel's integrity and collapse it. So much water is leaking that new wetlands have been created along the tunnel's route. City engineers have known about the increasing leaks for almost ten years, but no repairs were made, and the public was not told about the threat."
Tags: TAPE; TRANSCRIPT; water; New York City; wetlands; water supply
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Swamp Repair
This article examines how "Florida's latest weapon in the battle to preserve its dwindling wetlands isn't living up to its promise.
Tags: environment; Florida wetlands; swamps; Florida
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Coast in peril
This five-part series investigates the loss of Louisiana's coastal wetlands. It is reported that approximately 25 square miles of land turns to water each year. Hurricane protection and a billion-dollar coastal fishery industry are some of the worries faced by the loss of land.
Tags: Dunne; wetlands; Louisiana; Coastal restoration