Skip to content
ProPublica Donate
ProPublica Donate

Environment

The Tension Between Humans and Nature

Impact of Our Reporting
Caret

EPA Says It Plans to Withdraw Approval for Chevron’s Plastic-Based Fuels That Are Likely to Cause Cancer

The decision comes after a ProPublica investigation revealed that the EPA had found that one of the fuels had a cancer risk more than 1 million times higher than the agency usually considers acceptable.

Selling a Mirage

ExxonMobil Accused of “Deceptively” Promoting Chemical Recycling as a Solution for the Plastics Crisis

The California attorney general’s lawsuit, which cites ProPublica reporting, alleges that products made with Exxon’s process contain only a small fraction of the recycled plastic that they claim to have.

Selling a Mirage

Biden EPA Rejects Plastics Industry’s Fuzzy Math That Misleads Customers About Recycled Content

The plastics industry uses a controversial accounting method to inflate the recycled content it advertises in products. A new EPA policy won’t allow it for any products it endorses as a “Safer Choice.”

Series

369 stories published since 2009

EPA Says It Plans to Withdraw Approval for Chevron’s Plastic-Based Fuels That Are Likely to Cause Cancer

ExxonMobil Accused of “Deceptively” Promoting Chemical Recycling as a Solution for the Plastics Crisis

Oregon’s Largest Natural Gas Company Said It Was Going Green. It Sells as Much Fossil Fuel as Before.

These Household Brands Want to Redefine What Counts as “Recyclable”

Nike Shareholders Want to Force Actions on Environmental and Worker Protections. They Face Long Odds.

Biden EPA Rejects Plastics Industry’s Fuzzy Math That Misleads Customers About Recycled Content

When Is “Recyclable” Not Really Recyclable? When the Plastics Industry Gets to Define What the Word Means.

As Millions of Acres Burn, Firefighters Say the U.S. Forest Service Has Left Them With Critical Shortages

After Nike Leaders Promised Climate Action, Their Corporate Jets Kept Flying — and Polluting

Washington State Solar Project Paused Amid Concern About Native Cultural Sites

How a Green Tech Startup With No Climate Experience Secured Millions of Dollars in Government Contracts

Oklahoma’s Oil Industry Touts a Voluntary Fund to Clean Up Oil Wells. Major Drillers Want Their Contributions Refunded.

Data Centers Demand a Massive Amount of Energy. Here’s How Some States Are Tackling the Industry’s Impact.

Washington Is Giving Tax Breaks to Data Centers That Threaten the State’s Green Energy Push

California Isn’t Enforcing Its Strongest-in-the-Nation Oil Well Cleanup Law on Its Largest Oil Company

Nike Pledged to Shrink Its Carbon Footprint. It Just Slashed the Staff Charged With Making That Happen.

The Federal Government Just Acknowledged the Harm Its Dams Have Caused Tribes. Here’s What It Left Out.

How America’s “Most Powerful Lobby” Is Stifling Efforts to Reform Oil Well Cleanup in State After State

The Delusion of “Advanced” Plastic Recycling

A Bottled Water Company in Michigan Is Still Extracting Millions of Gallons of Water for Free

Nine Takeaways From Our Investigation Into 3M’s Forever Chemicals

How 3M Executives Convinced a Scientist the Forever Chemicals She Found in Human Blood Were Safe

Plastic, Plastic Everywhere — Even at the UN’s “Plastic Free” Conference

Oil Companies Contaminated a Family Farm. The Courts and Regulators Let the Drillers Walk Away.

Ten Years After the Flint Water Crisis, Distrust and Anger Linger

EPA Proposes Ban on Pesticide Widely Used on Fruits and Vegetables

10 Times as Much of This Toxic Pesticide Could End Up on Your Tomatoes and Celery Under a New EPA Proposal

Oil Companies Must Set Aside More Money to Plug Wells, a New Rule Says. But It Won’t Be Enough.

The Big Burnout: Life on the Front Lines of America’s Wildfires

EPA Finalizes New Standards for Cancer-Causing Chemicals

The EPA Has Done Nearly Everything It Can to Clean Up This Town. It Hasn’t Worked.

The Flooding Will Come “No Matter What”

Chevron Will Pay Record Fines for Oil Spills in California

An Oregon Bill to Cut Millions in Timber Taxes Is Dead, Despite Backing by the Industry, the Governor and a Top Lawmaker

“It Feels Impossible to Stay”: The U.S. Needs Wildland Firefighters More Than Ever, but the Federal Government Is Losing Them

New EPA Rule to Slash Cancer-Causing Emissions From Sterilization Facilities

Listen to the “Timber Wars Season 2: Salmon Wars” Podcast

The Oregon Timber Industry Won Huge Tax Cuts in the 1990s. Now It May Get Another Break Thanks to a Top Lawmaker.

Washington State Is Leaving Tribal Cultural Resources at the Mercy of Solar Developers

In a Major Shift, Northwest Tribes — not U.S. Officials — Will Control Salmon Recovery Funds

West Virginians Could Get Stuck Cleaning Up the Coal Industry’s Messes

The Future of the Colorado River Hinges on One Young Negotiator

9 Times the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Miscalculated Badly at the Expense of Taxpayers, Wildlife

The 20 Farming Families Who Use More Water From the Colorado River Than Some Western States

The Historic Claims That Put a Few California Farming Families First in Line for Colorado River Water

The EPA Has Found More Than a Dozen Contaminants in Drinking Water but Hasn’t Set Safety Limits on Them

This Billion-Dollar Plan to Save Salmon Depends on a Giant Fish Vacuum

California Oil Companies Face Tougher Enforcement Under New Law

Western States Opposed Tribes’ Access to the Colorado River 70 Years Ago. History Is Repeating Itself.

The Cleanup of Seattle’s Only River Could Cost Boeing and Taxpayers $1 Billion. Talks Over Who Will Pay Most Are Secret.