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air pollution

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Smoke, Screened: The Clean Air Act’s Dirty Secret

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“Smoke, Screened” is an investigative series by The California Newsroom, MuckRock and the Guardian on the large environmental impact of a little-noticed deregulatory tool found in the Clean Air Act. The provision in the Clean Air Act has allowed the Environmental Protection Agency to strike pollution from clean air tallies in more than 70 counties, enabling local regulators to claim the air was cleaner than it really was for more than 21 million Americans. The loophole allows regulators to forgive pollution, and avoid costly cleanup work, caused by “natural” or “uncontrollable” events, including wildfires.

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Dangers in Our Air: Mapping Chicago’s Air Pollution Hotspots

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Chicago’s air quality is among the worst in the U.S., and the city has several local hotspots for particulate matter 2.5 — the tiny particles that come from diesel trucks and industry and enter people’s lungs and blood, causing significant health problems. Between April 2021 and March 2023, the tech company Microsoft installed and monitored 115 air quality sensors across Chicago. We worked with Chicago newsrooms, including the Cicero Independiente, WBEZ and the Chicago Sun-Times, ​​to analyze this data for a series of stories on the city’s comparatively poor air quality. We then installed our own air quality sensors in Chicago neighborhoods that lacked coverage in the Microsoft network — and looked for trends and spikes in pollution.

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‘The Air We Breathe:’ How industry is polluting Cicero’s air

"The Air We Breathe" is a yearlong investigative project by two nonprofit newsrooms, the Cicero Independiente and MuckRock, who have been monitoring air pollution in Cicero. What we found: Cicero’s air quality is much worse than surrounding Cook County neighborhoods, and it’s worse than what the Environmental Protection Agency and pilot programs run by the city and Microsoft have routinely reported.

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Foto de la planta de alquitrán de Koppers

Koppers niega las infracciones medioambientales más recientes, pero los registros de la planta revelan dos décadas de enfrentamientos con la EPA de Illinois

Después de que la EPA de Illinois les enviara el otoño pasado un aviso extenso de infracciones, los ejecutivos de Koppers empezaron a vender acciones a un precio sin precedente. Después de que MuckRock y Cicero Independiente reportaron sobre esas violaciones, la compañía que cotiza en bolsa contrató a una empresa de comunicación experta en manejo de crisis para reunirse con funcionarios electos y manejar las consecuencias en la comunidad.

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Photo of Koppers coal tar plant

Koppers disputes most recent environmental violations but plant records reveal two decades of run-ins with Illinois EPA

After the Illinois EPA sent them a lengthy violations notice last fall, Koppers executives began selling stock at an unprecedented rate. After MuckRock and the Cicero Independiente reported on those violations, the publicly-traded company hired a crisis communications firm to meet with elected officials and manage the community fallout.

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‘Smoke, Screened’ findings on EPA exceptional events presented at scientific conference

‘Smoke, Screened’ findings on EPA exceptional events presented at scientific conference

At the American Geophysical Union conference this week, MuckRock and The California Newsroom presented findings and methodology from the “Smoked Screened” investigation.

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Foto con dron de casas en Cicero y la planta de Koppers en Stickney

El aire que respiramos’: cómo la planta de Koppers se convirtió y sigue siendo el vecino tóxico de Cicero

La planta de Koppers en Cicero ha infringido leyes medioambientales estatales y federales durante 50 años, desde finales de la década de 1970 hasta el verano pasado. Una nueva lista de infracciones de la EPA de Illinois plantea nuevos interrogantes sobre la cantidad de sustancias químicas cancerígenas que emite la planta.

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Drone photo of houses in Cicero and Koppers plant in Stickney

‘The Air We Breathe:’ How the century-old Koppers coal tar plant became, and remains, the small town of Cicero’s toxic neighbor

The Koppers coal tar plant in Cicero has been found in violation of both state and federal environmental laws dating back 50 years — from the late 1970s until this past summer. A new Illinois EPA list of violations raises new questions about how much cancer-causing chemicals the plant is emitting.

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