Environment
and Energy
Please let the Institute
know about links that do not work, or about sources we should
add. If a resource here helped you in covering a story, please
let us know by emailing al.cross@uky.edu.
JOURNALISM
Environment Writer,
http://www.environmentwriter.org
This source focuses "on journalism on environmental and
natural resources issues."
Society of Environmental
Journalists, http://www.sej.org/
"The source for journalists reporting on the environment."
Society of Environmental
Journalists, http://www.sej.org/node/4456 "10 Key Open-Government Resources for Environmental Journalists"
GOVERNMENT
AGENCIES
Energy Information
Administration, www.eia.doe.gov/cneaf/coal/quarterly/qcr_sum.html
You can get data on U.S. coal production, exports, imports,
receipts, prices, consumption and quality from the Quarterly
Coal Report. It has
energy tables and maps for every state, which could make good
graphics for illustrating stories on various energy issues.
Each map is accompanied
by a set of "quick facts," which can tell more than
the map. Each state map is accompanied
by tables that compare the state's energy resources, prices,
production, consumption, taxes and certain energy-related environmental
programs with the rest of the nation.
Environmental
Protection Agency, http://www.epa.gov
"The mission of the Environmental Protection Agency is
to protect human health and the environment. Since 1970, EPA
has been working for a cleaner, healthier environment for the
American people. "
Office of Surface
Mining Reclamation and Enforcement,
http://www.osmre.gov
"Our mission is to carry out the requirements of the Surface
Mining Control and Reclamation Act in cooperation with States
and Tribes. Our primary objectives are to ensure that coal mines
are operated in a manner that protects citizens and the environment
during mining and assures that the land is restored to beneficial
use following mining, and to mitigate the effects of past mining
by aggressively pursuing reclamation of abandoned coal mines."
National Agroforestry
Center, http://www.unl.edu/nac/
NAC "conduct research, develop technologies and tools, coordinate demonstrations and training, and provide useful information to natural resource professionals."
Atlantic States
Marine Fisheries Commission, http://www.asmfc.org/
"The Commission serves as a deliberative body, coordinating
the conservation and management of the states shared near shore
fishery resources – marine, shell, and anadromous –
for sustainable use."
ENVIRONMENTAL
GROUPS
Appalachian Center
for the Economy and the Environment, http://www.appalachian-center.org
-
A regional law and policy group that says it “ seeks
fundamental changes in compliance, implementation and enforcement
of major environmental laws in Central Appalachia,” including
an end to mountaintop-removal coal mining.
Earth Justice,
http://www.earthjustice.org/
"Earthjustice is a non-profit public interest law firm
dedicated to protecting the magnificent places, natural resources,
and wildlife of this earth and to defending the right of all
people to a healthy environment. "
Environmental
Working Group, http://www.ewg.org/
"The mission of the Environmental Working Group (EWG) is to use the power of public information to protect public health and the environment." This site has database on agricultural subsidy programs.
Environmental
Defense Fund, http://www.environmentaldefense.org/home.cfm
"Environmental Defense is dedicated to protecting the environmental
rights of all people, including future generations...We are
guided by scientific evaluation of environmental problems, and
the solutions we advocate will be based on science, even when
it leads in unfamiliar directions. We work to create solutions
that win lasting economic and social support because they are
nonpartisan, cost-effective and fair."
Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility, http://www.peer.org
"PEER is a national non-profit alliance of local, state and federal scientists, law enforcement officers, land managers and other professionals dedicated to upholding environmental laws and values."
Pew Environment Group, http://www.pewenvironment.org/
"globally to establish pragmatic, science-based policies that protect our oceans, preserve our wildlands and promote the clean energy economy"
Natural Resources
Defense Council, http://www.nrdc.org
"The Natural Resources Defense Council's purpose is to
safeguard the Earth: its people, its plants and animals and
the natural systems on which all life depends. We work to restore
the integrity of the elements that sustain life -- air, land
and water -- and to defend endangered natural places. We seek
to establish sustainability and good stewardship of the Earth
as central ethical imperatives of human society."
Southern Environmental Law Center,
http://www.southernenvironment.org
"Over two decades SELC has built and perfected an institutional model that gives us the flexibility and power to address major environmental issues in the Southeast in the most strategic and effective manner. Ours is a high-leverage matrix approach: we work simultaneously throughout six states; at the national, regional, state, and local levels; and in all three branches of government. We integrate regional perspective with place-based actions. And we work with 100+ partner groups."
RESEARCH TOOLS
AirNow, http://airnow.gov/
Reports daily air quality data and includes graphical maps. Data and maps can be localized.
Discharge Monitoring Report Pollutant Loading Tool, http://cfpub.epa.gov/dmr/ez_search.cfm
A government tool to calculate pollutant discharge amounts.
RadNet, http://www.epa.gov/enviro/facts/radnet/index.html
"A national network of more than 200 monitoring stations" that "regularly sample the nation's air, precipitation, drinking water or pasturized milk" for radionuclides and radiation types.
Cleanups in My Community, http://iaspub.epa.gov/apex/cimc/f?p=255:63:3785731302804759
"Use Cleanups in my Community to map and list areas where pollution is being or has been cleaned up throughout the United States. Find your community and drill down to cleanup specifics about: sites, facilities and properties under EPA's Superfund, RCRA and/or Brownfields cleanup programs" and "federal facilities under EPA's Superfund and/or RCRA cleanup programs."
The Environment
Directory, http://www.webdirectory.com
An environment search engine, to find people and information
on a wide range of topics.
Science Communication Network, http://www.sciencecommunicationnetwork.org/
"The Science Communication Network, a private non-profit foundation-supported educational organization, is dedicated to encouraging environmental public health scientists and medical practitioners to contribute to public discussions about their work through the media and thereby elevate the quality and quantity of environmental health reporting."
EcoGateway News
& Information Directories, http://www.ecoiq.com/onlineresources/directories/newsinfo/index.html
Includes directories for news releases, opinion articles, news
digests, online periodicals, e-mail periodicals, online environmental
news media, and other media resources.
Environmental
Health News, http://www.environmentalhealthnews.org/
News and reports on environmental links to health and related
policy issues, compiled by Environmental Health Sciences, are
searchable.
National Center for Environmental Health, http://www.cdc.gov/nceh/
"CDC's National Center for Environmental Health (NCEH) plans, directs, and coordinates a national program to maintain and improve the health of the American people by promoting a healthy environment and by preventing premature death and avoidable illness and disability caused by non-infectious, non-occupational environmental and related factors."
UMWA,
http://www.umwa.org/
This site explains what exactly coal miners do.
Science News Online,
http://www.sciencenews.org/
Online science magazine. Includes searchable, database which
allows you to call up issues from 1996 to the present.
USDA Plant Hardiness Zone Map, http://planthardiness.ars.usda.gov/PHZMWeb/
This map "can determine which plants are most likely to thrive at a location. . .The map is available as in interactive GIS-based map. . .state, regional and national images of of the map can be downloaded and printed."
EPA carbon-dioxide emitters interactive map
Searchable map offers detailed
information about large industrial sources, including power plants, refineries, chemical factories and paper mills.
The
Institute for Rural Journalism and Community Issues
helps non-metropolitan media define the public agenda in their
communities, through strong reporting and commentary on local
issues and on broader issues that have local impact. Its initial
focus area is Central Appalachia, but as an arm of the University
of Kentucky it has a statewide mission, and it has national
scope. It has academic collaborators at Appalachian State University,
East Tennessee State University, Eastern Kentucky University,
Georgia College and State University, Indiana University of
Pennsylvania, Marshall University, Middle Tennessee State University,
Ohio University, Southeast Missouri State University, the University
of North Carolina-Chapel Hill, the University of Tennessee-Knoxville,
Washington and Lee University, West Virginia University and
the Knight Community Journalism Fellows Program at the University
of Alabama. It is funded by the John S. and James L. Knight
Foundation and the University of Kentucky, with additional financial
support from the Ford Foundation. To get notices of
Rural Blog postings and other Institute news, click here.
