Cuyahoga River

A little eco-nostalgia

The Cuyahoga River's latest burn, and other revivals suggest a new cottage eco-industry.

Last Thursday, Ohio's Cuyahoga River staged a small re-enactment of its historic moment.


In June, 1969, the filthy industrial river caught fire and burned for 24 minutes. Lost in the spectacular headlines was the fact that historians count at least 12 similar Cuyahoga riparian fires dating back to the 19th Century. This year's blaze brought us to at least to lucky number 13. It started not by direct dumping from Akron's tire factories or Cleveland's mills and refineries, since they've mostly moved offshore, but from a tipped fuel tanker truck whose contents reached the river via storm sewers.

But let's give it some nostalgia value just the same. A diligent cleanup effort by government, activists, industry and others has really cleaned up the flammable river in recent decades. Last year, the Environmental Protection Agency even relaxed bans on consuming fish from the river. And then, another fire.

With the burning river as the centerpiece in our museum of environmental relics, let's look at five more deadly serious, contentious issues that won't go away.

Arctic National Wildlife Refuge 

Babies born in the year oil drilling was first proposed for the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR) are now seven years' short of eligibility for AARP.

Since 1977, the tussle over drilling in the ecologically sensitive Arctic coastal plain has sucked up countless hours of lawyers, lobbyists, legislators and more. The Trump Administration has pushed mightily to bring ANWR drilling back to life, in spite of reduced demand, tumbling oil prices and climate concerns.

Yucca Mountain nuke waste

A year after the ANWR scrum began, geologists began assessing the suitability of Yucca Mountain, a desert peak 90 miles northwest of Las Vegas, as a national repository for nuclear waste. By 1987, Yucca was one of three lucky finalists, along with the Texas Panhandle and the High Desert of Washington State. But neither House Speaker Jim Wright (D-TX) nor House Majority Leader Tom Foley (D-WA) wanted to bring home the radioactive bacon, so Yucca Mountain reluctantly won the honors.

But years of more studies, assessments, lawsuits and delays slowed construction. The Obama Administration wrote Yucca out of its budgets. The site never opened, largely due to the political clout of the new Senate Majority Leader, Harry Reid (D-NV). In 2018, Republicans passed legislation to renew the whole process. Meanwhile, spent nuclear fuel is corralled in "temporary" storage at nuke power plants and elsewhere.

Love Canal

In 1978, the working-class Love Canal neighborhood in Niagara Falls, NY, became a symbol of the worst excesses of toxic waste dumpers. By 1980, Congress passed the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act—better known as Superfund. Lauded for its good intentions, Superfund quickly became a legal sinkhole, with cleanups sometimes stretching out for decades.

Today, Love Canals are scattered from coast to coast, and new ones waiting to be discovered, or created. And the backlog of these toxic cleanups continues to grow.

Toxics and hogs in NC

In 1982, residents of majority-black Warren County, North Carolina, deployed some of the most effective tactics of the Civil Rights movement to thwart a proposal for a dump for carcinogenic polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs). Thus did the Civil Rights Movement beget the Environmental Justice Movement. Warren County was one of many big victories for the movement, but to this day, poisoned drinking water, smoky incinerators, and massive petrochemical plants tend to be found in inner cities and poor rural communities, and not in Beverly Hills.

About 100 miles away from Warren County, the 1980's and 1990's saw explosive growth in factory farming of hogs. Residents often made peace with the widespread stench and endemic pollution from sprawling hog waste lagoons. The Raleigh News & Observer won a 1996 Pulitzer for a multi-part exposé, "Boss Hog," which blew the roof off the raw political power and rampant pollution that marks an industry that's changed in precious few ways in the quarter century since. One change: The North Carolina hogs raised today are as much as 20 percent larger than hogs from the 1990's.

These are only a few points of environmental conflicts—decades old and persisting. There are scores more, without even mentioning the overarching threat of climate change, or the pandemic.

The info we provide here isn't always jolly or uplifting, but it's real.

Banner photo: Firefighters battle a fire on Ohio's Cuyahoga River in 1952. (Credit: Cleveland Press Collection at Cleveland State University Library)

NASA website with an image of a missile launching.

Trump administration reverses plan to publish climate reports on NASA site

The Trump administration has decided not to make national climate assessments publicly available through NASA, walking back a previous commitment to maintain access after shuttering the main government site that hosted the reports.

Seth Borenstein reports for The Associated Press.

Keep reading...Show less
An eraser on the end of a pencil.

Climate change data is being erased from U.S. government websites under Trump

The Trump administration has dismantled key climate science programs, removed publicly accessible reports, and cut research funding, marking a shift from climate denial to deliberate data suppression.

Kate Yoder reports for Grist.

Keep reading...Show less
A cyclone fence gate locked with a chain and padlock displays a yellow caution sign about underground radioactive material.
credit: Photo by Dan Meyers on Unsplash

Nuclear energy’s clean image leaves out the radioactive baggage

Nuclear energy is making a global comeback as a supposed climate fix, but Indigenous communities say its toxic past and present make it far from clean.

Yessenia Funes reports for Atmos.

Keep reading...Show less
Drone view of a wind turbine and warehouses.

US House plan would slash energy and transit programs in 2026 budget

House Republicans introduced a fiscal 2026 budget plan that slashes funding for clean energy and transit while boosting nuclear security and fossil fuel research.

Andres Picon and Manuel Quiñones report for E&E News.

Keep reading...Show less
A sign saying United States Environmental Protection Agency on a stone wall.

House GOP pushes steep EPA and Interior cuts in 2026 budget plan

House Republicans proposed a 23% cut to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and reduced funding for the U.S. Interior Department in a new 2026 spending bill that escalates a partisan clash over environmental and climate policy.

Kevin Bogardus, Garrett Downs, and Michael Doyle report for E&E News.

Keep reading...Show less
Illustration of a house with solar panels on the roof.

Trump’s new energy law slashes popular clean energy tax credits

Many clean energy incentives created under the Inflation Reduction Act will end years earlier than expected, after President Trump signed new legislation rolling back key climate provisions.

Ysabelle Kempe reports for Canary Media.

Keep reading...Show less
Hands holding an empty wallet.

Red states face steep rise in energy bills as renewable tax cuts take effect

Electricity costs are set to rise nationwide after Republican-backed legislation eliminated federal support for renewable energy, with Republican-leaning states likely to see the sharpest increases, according to a new analysis.

Oliver Milman reports for The Guardian.

Keep reading...Show less
From our Newsroom
Multiple Houston-area oil and gas facilities that have violated pollution laws are seeking permit renewals

Multiple Houston-area oil and gas facilities that have violated pollution laws are seeking permit renewals

One facility has emitted cancer-causing chemicals into waterways at levels up to 520% higher than legal limits.

Regulators are underestimating health impacts from air pollution: Study

Regulators are underestimating health impacts from air pollution: Study

"The reality is, we are not exposed to one chemical at a time.”

Pennsylvania governor Josh Shapiro speaks with the state flag and American flag behind him.

Two years into his term, has Gov. Shapiro kept his promises to regulate Pennsylvania’s fracking industry?

A new report assesses the administration’s progress and makes new recommendations

silhouette of people holding hands by a lake at sunset

An open letter from EPA staff to the American public

“We cannot stand by and allow this to happen. We need to hold this administration accountable.”

wildfire retardants being sprayed by plane

New evidence links heavy metal pollution with wildfire retardants

“The chemical black box” that blankets wildfire-impacted areas is increasingly under scrutiny.

Stay informed: sign up for The Daily Climate newsletter
Top news on climate impacts, solutions, politics, drivers. Delivered to your inbox week days.