Environment
The Tension Between Humans and Nature
Inside the Memphis Chamber of Commerce’s Push for Elon Musk’s xAI Data Center
In the face of intense public opposition, the city’s Chamber of Commerce has gone to unusual lengths to promote Musk’s xAI facility: sending out a mailer, for the first time in recent memory, that includes misleading facts.
Local Reporting Network
RFK Jr. Vowed to Find the Environmental Causes of Autism. Then He Shut Down Research Trying to Do Just That.
While touting a $50 million initiative to identify the causes of autism, Robert F. Kennedy Jr. is helping lead an administration that is rolling back protections against pollution and toxic chemicals, including some linked to the condition.
How One Oregon Activist Is Using a Decades-Old Liberal Policy to Stall Green Energy Projects in Rural Areas
Irene Gilbert is a 76-year-old retired state employee on a mission, fighting energy projects like large wind farms in Oregon’s rural communities. Renewable energy advocates and lawmakers treat activists like her as gadflies who should be stopped.
Local Reporting Network
How the Rapid Spread of Misinformation Pushed Oregon Lawmakers to Kill the State’s Wildfire Risk Map
After Oregon’s record-breaking fire season in 2020, lawmakers wanted to map out which properties were most at risk. But anger from homeowners escalated quickly.
Featured Reporters
Impact of Our Reporting
Top Democrat on Oversight Committee Demands Trump Administration Account for Wildland Firefighter Vacancies
The request follows ProPublica reporting that DOGE cuts and voluntary resignations left thousands of vacant jobs at the Forest Service, severely hampering its ability to fight wildfires.
Washington Governor Orders Team to Study Data Centers’ Impact on Energy Use, Job Creation and Tax Revenue
Last year, The Seattle Times and ProPublica reported on how the state created a massive tax break for data centers, encouraging the growth of an industry whose energy use conflicts with a goal for utilities to go carbon neutral by 2030.
Local Reporting Network
Hydroelectric Dams on Oregon’s Willamette River Kill Salmon. Congress Says It’s Time to Consider Shutting Them Down.
The newly signed legislation follows reporting from Oregon Public Broadcasting and ProPublica that underscored the risks and costs associated with a plan to migrate salmon past hydroelectric dams using a giant fish collector and tanker trucks.
Local Reporting Network
Series
Series: Power Struggle: What Stalled the Northwest’s Push for Green Energy?
Series: Nike’s Gold Standard: Testing Nike’s Corporate Responsibility Claims
Series: Unreasonable Risk: Formaldehyde Threatens the Health of Nearly Everyone
Series: Power Grab: How Green Energy Hurts Washington’s Tribes
Series: Selling a Mirage: The Deception Behind Plastic Recycling
Series: Unplugged: Will Taxpayers Foot the Oil Industry’s Cleanup Bill?
Series: Waiting for Water: Tribes’ Fight for a Promised Resource
Series: Roots of an Outbreak: How the Next Pandemic Could Start
Series: Disaster After Disaster: Growing Storms, Faltering Aid
Series: Broken Promises: Salmon Disappear From the Pacific Northwest
Series: Sacrifice Zones: Mapping Cancer-Causing Industrial Air Pollution
Series: Black Snow: Big Sugar’s Burning Problem
Series: Sunken Costs: Coal Ash in Georgia
Series: California Burning: The Climate Crisis is Setting the State on Fire
Series: The Great Climate Migration: A Warming Planet and a Shifting Population
Series: Paradise Lost: Hawaii’s Disappearing Beaches
Series: Pollution Profiteers: Inside California’s Toxic Hauling Industry
Series: The Cutting: Investigating Industrial Logging in Oregon
Series: Polluter’s Paradise: Environmental Impact in Louisiana
Series: The New Power Brokers: West Virginia’s Natural Gas Industry
Series: Bombs in Our Backyard: Investigating One of America’s Greatest Polluters
Series: Killing the Colorado: The Water Crisis in the West
Series: Losing Ground: Southeast Louisiana is Disappearing, Quickly
Series: After the Flood: The Challenge of Rebuilding as the Climate Changes
Series: Injection Wells: The Hidden Risks of Pumping Waste Underground
Series: Nuclear Safety: After Fukushima
Series: Gulf Oil Spill: Investigating the Impact of the BP Spill
Series: Fracking: Gas Drilling’s Environmental Threat
What We’re Watching
During Donald Trump’s second presidency, ProPublica will focus on the areas most in need of scrutiny. Here are some of the issues our reporters will be watching — and how to get in touch with them securely.
Learn more about our reporting team. We will continue to share our areas of interest as the news develops.
Sharon Lerner
I cover health and the environment and the agencies that govern them, including the Environmental Protection Agency.
Andy Kroll
I cover justice and the rule of law, including the Justice Department, U.S. attorneys and the courts.
Melissa Sanchez
I report on immigration and labor, and I am based in Chicago.
Jesse Coburn
I cover housing and transportation, including the companies working in those fields and the regulators overseeing them.
If you don’t have a specific tip or story in mind, we could still use your help. Sign up to be a member of our federal worker source network to stay in touch.
