Burden of Proof

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Flaring at a oil refinery.

Louisianans take action to find out what’s happening with their dirty neighbors—oil refineries—explains Molly Brackin of the Louisiana Bucket Brigade. Since 2000, the Louisiana Bucket Brigade has worked with communities throughout Louisiana that neighbor oil refineries and chemical plants, and are overburdened by pollution.

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Restoring Instream Flow to Maui's "Four Great Waters"

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Upper diversion on Waihe`e River with the entire flow of the river being diverted.

Under modern Hawaiʻi law, the rivers and streams in question (collectively known as Nā Wai ʻEhā—“The Four Great Waters” of Waihe‘e, ʻĪao (traditionally Wailuku), Waiehu, and Waikapū) are a public trust; but since the sugar plantation era, two companies drained them dry for private profit.

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EPA to Farmworkers: Ask the Boss to Show You the Papers

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Farmworkers pick strawberries in Wayne County, NY.

After more than two decades, the EPA has announced revisions to the Agricultural Worker Protection Standard, an outdated standard intended to protect farmworkers from pesticide exposure. While advocates welcomed signs of life in progress to provide stronger protections from pesticides for approximately 2 million farmworkers, the proposal raises questions about the EPA’s understanding of the population the WPS is meant to serve.

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NC Regulators Ding Duke for a Penny Per Toxic Ton

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The toxic coal ash turned the Dan River gray for 20 miles east of the North Carolina border.

Duke Energy’s $99,000 penalty was nothing—it’s like one of us, earning $50,000 a year, getting fined $1.90. Barely amounting to a library fine, this is no deterrent for the likes of Duke.

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A Pear Farm On The Frontlines of California’s Water Wars

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Brett Baker, a sixth generation farmer in the Delta, in his pear orchard.

Notes from a trip to the San Francisco Bay Delta to hear stories from people who would be directly impacted by a plan to pump massive amounts of freshwater out of the Delta to farms in the southern Central Valley.

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Farmworker Advocates Seek Stronger Pesticides Safeguard

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Mario Vargas, a farmworker organizer from Ohio, his daughter Myra Vargas (middle), and Alexis Guild of Farmworker Justice walk past the U.S. Capitol in July of 2013, as they head to a meeting in the Hart Senate Office Building.

When Mario Vargas showed up at the Washington, D.C., offices of representatives from his home state of Ohio in July of 2013, he shared stories from farmworkers who are getting sick from pesticides. Joined by his family and other farmworkers, he spoke about how it feels to inhale pesticides while pregnant, how farmworkers don’t know what their basic rights are, and how many workers are afraid to tell the truth about what is really going on in the fields.

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Clean Air Ambassador Records Fight for Justice, Clean Air

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Hilton Kelley stands in front of the Valero oil refinery in Port Arthur, TX, in late November 2013.

Taking his work to the next level, Clean Air Ambassador Hilton Kelley has completed a book, A Lethal Dose of Smoke And Mirrors: Going home for better or worse, that chronicles his decision to leave Hollywood and take on powerful industrial polluters in his hometown, Port Arthur, Texas. Hilton—the first African-American man to win the prestigious Goldman Environmental Prize—tells how he single-handedly made great strides to improve the health and environment in Port Arthur.

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