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Robert McClure and Andrew Schneider Hard-rock mining companies have spent more than a century snapping up public lands, looting them, and leaving taxpayers with the cleanup bill—all because of a bill signed by Ulysses S. Grant in 1872. McClure and Schneider’s report traces mining’s history in the West to this law and shows how it is the prime culprit in the poisoning of 16,000 miles of streams and why corporations have fought long and hard in Washington, D.C., to keep it from being amended. Andrew Schneider is now the deputy assistant managing editor at the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. During his journalism career, Schneider has won two Pulitzer Prizes, one in public service and one for specialized reporting; a National Headliner Award; the Society of Professional Journalists’ public service award; the George Polk Award; and others. Robert McClure continues to cover environmental news for the Seattle Post-Intelligencer, with special emphasis on natural resource topics such as mining, timber, and fisheries. He has been on the environment beat for more than a dozen years and has been a Pulitzer finalist in feature writing. Honorable mentions: Margaret Newkirk and Bob Downing, Akron Beacon Journal: “Power to Pollute” Teri Sforza, William Heisel, and Pat Brennan, The Orange County Register: “The Price of Neglect” Rebecca Clarren, High Country News: “No Refuge in the Klamath Basin” |
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John McQuaid John McQuaid’s series explores the central issue of the environmental justice debate: the disproportionate degree to which pollution affects minority and low-income communities in this country. His story takes place in the town of Mossville, a heavily industrialized African-American community in southwestern Louisiana, where twenty-eight residents found out they had very high levels of dioxin in their blood. To this day, the people of Mossville have received neither satisfactory answers about the dioxin source nor the justice they have sought. McQuaid continues to report on science, politics, and the environment for the Times-Picayune. He is a past winner of the Pulitzer Prize for public service for a co-authored series on global fisheries issues, and was a 1999 Pulitzer finalist for an article on the threat posed by the Formosan termite. His work has also won awards from the Society of Professional Journalists and the American Association for the Advancement of Science. Honorable mentions: Gilbert M. Gaul and Anthony R. Wood, The Philadelphia Inquirer: “Crisis on the Coast” Andrew Schneider, Seattle Post-Intelligencer: “Uncivil Action” |
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T. Christian Miller In the Santa Monica Mountains, development is out of control, but it wasn’t supposed to be that way. With computer mapping and extensive databases, T. Christian Miller spent six months gathering and analyzing evidence from government agencies, subdivision applications, political contributions, and disaster damage reports to show how Los Angeles-area developers engaged in a building spree that flew in the face of a land-use plan designed to rein in sprawl—and in the process created a disaster waiting to happen. T. Christian Miller is now the Bogotá, Colombia, bureau chief for the Los Angeles Times. Honorable mentions: Mark Grossi, Fresno Bee: “Rescuing the San Joaquin” John Krist, Ventura County Star: “Seeking Common Ground" |
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Nearly half of America’s West is owned collectively by citizens, but this team of reporters found out that “public” lands are often public in name only. They uncovered dozens of examples in which the public got the short end of the stick, while private developers, timber companies, and mining moguls scored profitable deals. The team also tracked how Washington, D.C., lobbyists for these interests worked hard to ensure that laws remained stacked in favor of corporations. Deborah Nelson is now the Washington, D.C., investigative editor for the Los Angeles Times. She has also worked at the Washington Post and the Chicago Sun-Times, where she co-authored a series on Indian housing and natural resources that received the Pulitzer Prize. Eric Nalder, now on the investigative team at the San José Mercury News, has been a reporter for thirty-two years (minus the nine months he spent as a pig farmer). He has won two Pulitzer Prizes, one for national reporting in 1990 and another for investigative reporting in 1997. He has published one book, Tankers Full of Trouble. Jim Simon is now a metro editor at the Seattle Times, where he oversees the day-to-day operations of the newsroom. Danny Westneat is a freelance writer and reporter living in Seattle, Washington. Honorable mentions: Tom Knudson and Nancy Vogel, The Sacramento Bee: “The Gathering Storm” Jim Morris, Houston Chronicle: “In Strictest Confidence” |
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Duff Wilson Wilson’s 1997 series “Fear in the Fields” exposed a growing nationwide practice of recycling hazardous wastes into fertilizer. Perfectly legal, it saved industries millions of dollars in disposal costs, yet few farmers or consumers knew anything about it. The articles detailed the dangerous lack of standards, testing, or disclosure of the toxic metals contained in fertilizer in this country. In response to Wilson’s investigation, several state governments, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, a national regulators’ group, and industry all began testing and/or legislation. The series was a Pulitzer Prize finalist, and after its publication Wilson continued to report the story, eventually publishing the book Fateful Harvest: The True Story of a Small Town, a Global Industry, and a Toxic Secret in 2001. Wilson is still with the Seattle Times. He has won numerous journalism awards for his investigative reporting. Honorable mentions: Tom Knudson and Nancy Vogel, The Sacramento Bee: “Pacific Blues” Penny Loeb, U.S. News & World Report: “Shear Madness” |
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Dunstan McMichol and Kelly Richmond When Christine Todd Whitman took office as governor of New Jersey in 1994, she promised to cut back on the bureaucracy and regulation she said were stifling the state economy. In their ten-month investigation, Dunstan McNichol and Kelly Richmond uncovered the real story behind the Whitman deregulation program: The state claimed credit for pollution reductions that never materialized and for saving jobs that were never at risk. “Open for Business” also won the National Press Club’s Robert L. Kozik Award for Environmental Reporting. Dunstan A. McNichol has been a daily newspaper reporter for twenty-four years and has been covering New Jersey state government since 1993. Today he works at the Trenton bureau of the Newark Star-Ledger. Kelly Richmond received an array of national and international awards for reporting on local, state, and federal issues in New Mexico; Washington, D.C.; and Trenton, New Jersey. Just a year after receiving the John B. Oakes Award, Richmond, a thirty-three-year-old nonsmoker, died of lung cancer. A scholarship fund has been established in his honor at the University of New Mexico, where he was a student of political science. Contributions can be sent to the following address: The Kelly Richmond Memorial Fund Honorable mentions: Marla Cone, Los Angeles Times: “Defenses Down” Tom Knudson, The Sacramento Bee: “A Dying Sea” |
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Pat Stith and Joby Warrick Pat Stith and Joby Warrick’s five-part investigative series ran four months after a massive hog waste spill drew attention to factory farms in the Southeast. The piece laid out the extent to which state and local governments were prepared to accept extraordinary environmental degradation. After the Oakes Award, the series also won the 1996 Pulitzer Prize for public service. A veteran environmental reporter, Joby Warrick has covered issues ranging from nuclear waste to E. coli outbreaks. He worked for five years as a reporter for United Press International and covered the fall of the Berlin Wall and the overthrow of Romanian dictator Nicolae Ceaucescu. Warrick is now part of the Washington Post’s investigative team. Pat Stith has been a reporter for the News & Observer since 1971. These days he investigates state government abuses, most recently on waste in state expenditures meant to help victims of Hurricane Floyd. He has lectured extensively on computer-assisted journalism. Honorable mentions: Tony Davis, Albuquerque Tribune: “Roots of Anger” Mark Jaffe, The Philadelphia Inquirer: “Coming Full Cycle” |
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Joseph P. Verrengia For his eight-part series on the state’s biodiversity, Verrengia retraced the steps of nineteenth-century explorer John Fremont and traversed literally thousands of miles around the state. Part celebration, part natural history, part investigation, and part warning, his is one of those rare pieces of newspaper journalism that captures the spirit of a land slowly succumbing to the demands of its burgeoning human population. Now a reporter for the Associated Press, Verrengia has reported from every continent, including Antarctica, and has written extensively on conservation issues. While at the Denver Rocky Mountain News, he produced the only daily science page in a U.S. newspaper for fourteen years. In 1999, he shared the AP prize in spot news for coverage of the Columbine school shootings. Honorable mentions: Marla Cone, Los Angeles Times: “Killer Algae” Tom Meersman, Minneapolis Star Tribune: “Lungs of the Earth” |
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