Boundary Waters Canoe Area

Administration cancels mining leases in Minnesota

The Biden administration banned mining on more than 225,000 acres of federal land near the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness for the next 20 years, blocking copper-nickel sulfide mining from potentially polluting the interconnected waterways of Northeastern Minnesota. [In July 2022, the Investigative Reporting Workshop produced an in-depth look into two of the proposed mining …

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States lead the way on chemical regs

Dissatisfied with the federal government’s lack of progress, states, including Massachusetts, have taken the regulation of toxic chemicals into their own hands.

Iowa’s toxic brew

The convergence of two rivers in Des Moines, Iowa, is a bullseye illustrating the connection between climate change and toxins in drinking water. Legislation and litigation haven’t worked. So the Des Moines Water Works is getting into the farming business.

Overhead view of oil spill in waterway

Damage doesn’t dim CEO pay

Despite spills and air pollution, fossil fuel companies award CEOs for environmental records. For example, Marathon Petroleum’s former CEO got a $272,000 bonus for surpassing environmental goals the same year the company spilled 1,400 barrels of fuel in an Indiana creek.

The Ohio statehouse in Columbus viewed from a park across the street

A piecemeal repeal

Utilities, fossil fuel interests and nuclear plants are still reaping advantages over clean energy in Ohio, despite a repeal of the law at the heart of an alleged $60 million corruption scandal.

The water problems

Groundwater levels in and around Louisiana are falling faster than almost anywhere else in the country, according to USGS data and an investigation by IRW and WWNO/WRKF.