Poisoned Places

SLIDESHOW: Chanute divided over toxics

By Sarah Whitmire

John Galemore checks the oil pressure on a natural gas line at one of the family's oil and gas fields outside of Chanute, Kan.

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A water tower appears through the trees in downtown Chanute, Kan.

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The Ash Grove Cement factory sits on the northern edge of the city of Chanute, Kan.

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Pedestrians walk the along main street in downtown Chanute, Kan.

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Elsie Galemore is the Galemore family matriarch.

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The Ash Grove Cement factory sits on the northern edge of the city of Chanute, Kan.

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Jeff Galemore leans on his pickup truck near the Ash Grove Cement plant in Chanute, Kan.

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A pedestrian crosses the main street in downtown Chanute, Kan.

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The Ash Grove Cement factory sits on the northern edge of the city of Chanute, Kan.

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Poisoned Places

Evan Bush/ iWatch News

Few criminal cases target big air polluters

By Chris Hamby and Ronnie Greene

For a decade, hazardous emissions from a refinery regularly swept into a mostly poor, minority neighborhood in Corpus Christi known as Hillcrest, where residents complained of odors, dizziness, vomiting and a range of conditions from asthma to cancer.

Poisoned Places

A biker rides through downtown Ponca City, Okla. David Gilkey/NPR

Community coated in black mist — until citizens fought back

By Ronnie Greene and Howard Berkes

The air pollution flowing from local industry was so palpable residents could touch it - on their hands, on their shoes, on their pets, their clothes, their cars, their windows, their grass, their doors, their children’s toys. While localized air pollution has tainted towns across the country few communities visited by reporters for the Center for Public Integrity and NPR have been smothered like the residents this Oklahoma town.

Poisoned Places

SLIDESHOW: Life in Ponca City

By Sarah Whitmire

The Continental Carbon plant sits on the southern outskirts of Ponca City, Okla.

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Jesse Beck, the environmental manager for the Ponca Tribe – non-Native-American, was involved in the tribe's lawsuit against Continental Carbon.

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Dan Jones was chairman of the Ponca Tribe and went with the union to Taiwan during the fight against Continental Carbon over the pollution issue.

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Dan Jones was chairman of the Ponca Tribe and went with the union to Taiwan during the fight against Continental Carbon over the pollution issue.

David Gilkey/NPR

After years of complaints by citizens and inaction by state regulators, much of the black carbon mist has finally lifted in the Oklahoma community where Karen Howe lives.

David Gilkey/NPR

The Continental Carbon plant sits on the southern outskirts of Ponca City, Okla.

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Poisoned Places

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Poisoned Places

Methodology

By Elizabeth Lucas, Robert Benincasa and David Donald

The Poisoned Places series relied on analysis of four datasets relating to sources of air pollution regulated by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency: the Clean Air Act watch list, the Air Facility System (AFS), the Toxics Release Inventory (TRI) and the Risk Screening Environmental Indicators model (RSEI).

The Clean Air Act watch list

The Center for Public Integrity’s iWatch News and NPR obtained the “watch list” through a Freedom of Information Act request to the EPA. Two versions of the list were obtained: one current as of  July 2011, the other  as of  September 2011.

While these facilities are regulated by the states and the EPA, not all facilities report to the EPA’s Toxics Release Inventory (TRI); certain criteria must be met. 

Further research indicated that two of these facilities are under construction, two are temporarily closed and nine are permanently closed. Additionally, not all were flagged in the data as high priority violators (HPVs) as of August 2011. iWatch News and NPR placed watch list facilities into industry categories and used the primary four-digit Standard Industrial Code; data entry for the more current North American Industry Code System was not as consistent.

Poisoned Places

Air pollution resource guide

By iWatch News

Is air pollution affecting your community? Worried about potential health effects? Here's a roundup of resources.

Poisoned Places

VIDEO: Toxics in the air, worry on the ground

By Emma Schwartz

Two decades ago Congress strengthened the Clean Air Act in an attempt to limit emissions of some of the most hazardous chemicals. But an investigation by the Center for Public Integrity's iWatch News and NPR has found that the toxic pollution persists in hundreds of communities, including two cities in Pennsylvania. This video profiles those cities.

Poisoned Places

After years of complaints by citizens and inaction by state regulators, much of the black carbon mist has finally lifted in the Oklahoma community where Karen Howe lives. David Gilkey/NPR

Many Americans left behind in the quest for cleaner air

By Jim Morris, Chris Hamby and Elizabeth Lucas

Americans might expect the government to protect them from unsafe air. That hasn’t happened. Insidious forms of toxic air pollution persist in hundreds of communities across the United States.

Poisoned Places

About this project

By iWatch News

This multimedia investigative series, Poisoned Places, is the result of that nine-month effort. Stories and video mini-documentaries — many featuring what has happened and not happened in communities across the country since the Clean Air Act amendments of 21 years ago — will appear during the next few weeks and into 2012.

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