"The wildfires that ravaged Los Angeles in January incinerated more than 16,000 structures and unleashed tons of toxic material into the air, water and soil. Many Pacific Palisades and Altadena homeowners who lost everything hoped the government debris-removal process would at least offer a fresh start for the land where their houses once stood."
"In California's water-stressed Central Valley, farmers are fallowing land and installing solar, providing financial stability and saving water."
"House Republicans passed a measure Thursday that would repeal the government’s decision to place California’s longfin smelt, a finger-sized fish, on the endangered species list."
"The House on Wednesday voted to axe California’s clean truck rules — defying Congress’s own internal watchdog in doing so."
"In the 1930s, workers using explosives and machinery excavated a 13-mile tunnel beneath Mt. San Jacinto to bring Colorado River water to Southern California. The Metropolitan Water District recently offered visitors a look inside the tunnel, an engineering feat that is a key piece of the 242-mile Colorado River Aqueduct."
"Advocates say workers risk their health and fear speaking out about conditions amid Trump’s immigration crackdown"
"On August 6, 2012, a corroded, eight-inch pipe at Chevron’s oil refinery in Richmond, California, cracked open, sending a white cloud hundreds of feet into the air. The cloud quickly engulfed the 19 refinery firefighters, managers and other workers who had been trying to fix what had been a small leak in the pipe."
"Five facilities near schools and houses in LA County fumigate produce shipped from overseas with methyl bromide. But the air agency doesn’t plan to monitor the air or take any immediate steps to protect people from the gas, which can damage lungs and cause neurological effects."
Will images of a burning Los Angeles last in our consciousness? EJ InSight editor Andrew Cullen makes a powerful argument that they will, illustrating the point with potent photographs of that disaster, as well as from recent hurricanes. An exploration of how photojournalists, working amid the destruction, strive to document not just the devastation but its deeper significance and its human toll.
With wildfires becoming more extreme in every way, reporters covering them face new challenges along with familiar hazards. A pair of experienced wildfire journalists and others on the front lines offer advice on dealing with access restrictions, on-the-ground dangers, toxic exposure risks and traumatized survivors — as climate change speeds up the news cycle and misinformation muddies the reporting landscape.
