Environment

June 29, 2017 - President Trump wants to open an area from Delaware to Florida to seismic airgun blasting for offshore oil and gas reserves, a plan that carries risks for coastal communities while benefiting mostly foreign firms. Federal officials are accepting public comments on the proposal through July 6.

June 2, 2017 - Science watchdogs are warning of serious flaws in the plan for storing spent nuclear fuel in pools at individual power plants — flaws that could ultimately lead to the long-term relocation of millions of people. North Carolina and Alabama are among the states with the largest amount of spent fuel stored in pools.  

May 19, 2017 - Glyphosate, the active ingredient in Monsanto's popular Roundup herbicide, is widely sprayed on crops throughout the South. But a class-action lawsuit brought by cancer patients accuses the company of failing to adequately warn people about the chemical's health risks.

May 2, 2017 - The Trump administration is reviewing President Obama's five-year plan that closed the Atlantic and other waters to offshore drilling through 2022. The GOP says Atlantic drilling would create hundreds of thousands of jobs, but it's basing the claims on an industry-funded report that's been debunked for omitting crucial data.

April 14, 2017 - The Trump administration unveiled plans to expand offshore drilling at last week's conference of the National Ocean Industries Association. Launched by Exxon in the 1970s to represent the offshore drilling industry, NOIA has been investing in politicians from Southeastern states where its members would like to do business.

February 7, 2017 - The industry has long argued that pipelines are the safest way to move oil and gas over long distances, but a new analysis by two watchdog groups raises questions about those claims.

February 3, 2017 - EPA civil rights investigators say they're concerned that North Carolina's hog farm regulations are discriminating against communities of color — and they have the attention of the state's new top environmental regulator.

January 10, 2017 - Last week the Obama administration denied all pending permits to conduct seismic testing for oil and gas reserves in the Atlantic Ocean, but pro-drilling politicians who don't represent directly affected coastal communities say they'll work to reverse the decision under Trump.

January 4, 2017 - Republican Rep. Bob Goodlatte led an unsuccessful effort this week to roll back the powers of the Office of Congressional Ethics. The move came as the nation is about to have a GOP president with numerous potential conflicts of interest, but Goodlatte was also recently accused of his own financial conflicts regarding a natural gas pipeline planned for his state.

December 23, 2016 - In a year when it was hard to keep up with the onslaught of political news, Facing South helped to make sense of important developments and to share insights about the region. Catch up on our best reporting of 2016 with a roundup of our top stories of the year.