Michael Hawthorne

White-tailed deer at Big Marsh Park on May 7, 2020.

EPA proposes adding Acme Steel plant site on Southeast Side to Superfund program

September 7, 2023 at 1:34 p.m.

All that is left of the former Acme Steel plant on Chicago's Southeast Side are a pair of soot-covered smokestacks and a few other graffiti-riddled ruins that draw curious passersby...

Shirley Howard stands in her flooded basement in Chicago's Austin neighborhood on July 2, 2023.

Costly Deep Tunnel flooding project can’t handle Chicago area’s severe storms fueled by climate change

July 16, 2023 at 5:00 a.m.

Hours before heavy rains swamped Chicago and Cook County suburbs on July 2, the region's $3.8 billion flood-control project appeared ready as can be to bottle up storm runoff. The...

The former Chemtool factory site in Rockton that was destroyed in a 2021 fire.

Millions of Illinois residents get their drinking water from municipal and private wells contaminated with toxic forever chemicals

June 25, 2023 at 5:00 a.m.

Testing during the past three years revealed nearly a million Illinoisans get their drinking water from municipal wells contaminated with toxic forever chemicals at levels exceeding state health guidelines. Another...

Andrew Rehn of Prairie Rivers Network looks at coal ash seepage on a bank of the Middle Fork of the Vermilion River in 2018.

Legal settlement ensures toxic coal ash will be removed from flood plain of Illinois’ only national scenic river

June 8, 2023 at 6:18 p.m.

More than a half century's worth of toxic coal ash will be excavated from the flood plain of Illinois' only national scenic river as part of a deal announced Thursday...

The Reserve Management Group facilities on Feb. 16, 2022, in the East Side neighborhood of Chicago.

Judge rules scrap shredder that was denied a permit by the city should be allowed to operate on Southeast Side

June 1, 2023 at 7:49 p.m.

A clout-heavy scrap shredder should be allowed to operate in Chicago's heavily polluted Southeast Side, an administrative law judge ruled Thursday in a decision that scrapped one of former Mayor...

Blackhawk Sewer & Water contractor Khaild Waarith fixes and closes off a leaking lead service pipe ahead of service line replacement in the 3100 block of South Ridgeway Avenue in Chicago on April 10, 2023.

Studies show Illinois most at risk from brain-damaging lead in water, but Florida getting bigger cut of $15 billion EPA fund to replace pipes

May 31, 2023 at 5:00 a.m.

When it came time to split up the first batch of $15 billion Congress set aside last year to replace toxic lead pipes, Illinois officials had plenty of reasons to...

The Waukegan Generating Station on Lake Michigan, owned by NRG Energy and shown in 2018, is ringed by ash ponds.

Biden EPA pushes for federal regulation of toxic coal ash dumps threatening drinking water in Illinois, Indiana and other states

May 19, 2023 at 5:00 a.m.

As energy companies shift away from burning coal to generate electricity, many are leaving behind toxic waste that could endanger public health and the environment for years to come. New...

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