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Dark Money Dominated Ohio’s Nuclear Subsidy Saga
FirstEnergy Solutions paid nearly $2 million to at least one group, but most other data remains hidden. By Kathiann M. Kowalski After-the-fact filings show that FirstEnergy’s generation subsidiary paid nearly $2 million to Generation Now, one of the special interest groups that orchestrated ads, political donations and other efforts behind Ohio’s nuclear and coal bailout.…
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Campaign contributions pay off for Ohio utilities and coal interests
Nuclear and coal bailout is the latest in a line of favorable policy actions that shield noncompetitive plants from competition. By Kathiann M. Kowalski Utility, nuclear and coal interests are big players in Ohio politics, giving about $3 million to Ohio political campaigns in 2018, according to data from the National Institute on Money in…
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Tracing water, memory and change through Black experiences along and near Route 65
By Njaimeh Njie I live right above the Ohio River, off of a thoroughfare called the Ohio River Boulevard. It is one section of Route 65 – a 51-mile stretch of highway that travels from downtown Pittsburgh, northwest to the city of New Castle. The route spans three counties, three major rivers and several neighborhoods,…
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Fighting for the Ohio River watershed’s mussels: Experts are working to get to the bottom of their mysterious disappearances
By Carrie Blackmore Smith “Will one of these fit?” Wendell R. Haag asks, holding out a couple pairs of well-worn creeking shoes he’s pulled from the back of his pickup. Haag is going to see an aquatic wonder, and even tall waterproof rubber boots are sure to fill with water in the sometimes knee-deep stretch…
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Ohio River Flooding Crosses Boundaries
By Oliver Morrison Anthony Wolkiewicz had his picture taken with Fred Rogers while working at WQED in 1977. Rogers made a special point to ask about Wolkiewicz’s youngest son. “Who is this? I don’t remember him in my neighborhood,” Wolkiewicz remembers him saying in the same voice he used on Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood. It’s sheer…
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Toxic Mercury Remediation in the Ohio River Hampered by Complicated Cleanup
By Jeff Brooks-Gillies Mercury flows through industrial wastewater into the Ohio River, and damages young brains. But the multi-state agency tasked with keeping the waterway clean hasn’t tightened controls on this pollution because it doesn’t have the authority to do so. While coal-fired power plants, chemical manufacturers and other facilities along the Ohio River are…
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Analysis of state contracts to plug orphaned wells reveals that cleanup costs might creep into the billions
By Mark Olalde Plugging the myriad orphaned oil and gas wells around Ohio costs, on average, more than $110,000 per well, according to a new analysis of Department of Natural Resources data. The research was pulled from contracts the state awarded in 2019 by the ARO Working Group, a network that studies the decommissioning of…
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Toxic Discharge Data Shows Where Pollutants Leach into the Ohio River, but Enforcement Remains an Issue (With Interactive Map)
By Bonnie Jean Feldkamp All Tim Guilfoile wants to do is fish. Before his retirement, he had two careers: one in business and one in water quality activism. Now, he serves as the director of marketing and communications for Northern Kentucky Fly Fishers. “We fly fish for bass, blue gill, striped bass and others. Not…
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Ohio River rises: The minds behind Louisville’s riverfront revival
By Ryan Van Velzer In Louisville, Kentucky, the Ohio River has something of an image problem. It seems like everything imaginable has ended up in the river at one time or another. There are the usual suspects like plastic bottles, Styrofoam coolers and tires. There are the byproducts of cities and industries: sewage, landfill juice…
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Rising waters: Aging levees, climate change and the challenge to hold back the Ohio River
By Liam Niemeyer When 78-year-old Jim Casto looks at the towering floodwalls that line downtown Huntington, West Virginia, he sees a dark history of generations past. The longtime journalist and local historian is short in stature, yet tall in neighborhood tales. On Casto’s hand shines a solid gold ring, signifying his more than 40 years…
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