{"id":5041,"date":"2011-11-10T09:22:53","date_gmt":"2011-11-10T14:22:53","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.northcountrypublicradio.org\/inbox\/?p=5041"},"modified":"2011-11-11T11:00:33","modified_gmt":"2011-11-11T16:00:33","slug":"morning-read-ncprs-sarah-harris-partners-on-poisoned-places-environment-series","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.northcountrypublicradio.org\/inbox\/2011\/11\/10\/morning-read-ncprs-sarah-harris-partners-on-poisoned-places-environment-series\/","title":{"rendered":"Morning Read: NCPR’s Sarah Harris partners on “Poisoned Places” environment series"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Sarah Harris<\/p><\/div>\n<\/div>\n

This morning at the on-line magazine Slate<\/a>, you’ll find an article by NPR’s Howard Berkes and NCPR contributor Sarah Harris exploring the environmental impact of a cement plant in the Midwest.<\/div>\n
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When operating at capacity, the Chanute plant has discharged into the air more than 500 pounds of mercury a year, though the economic downturn has cut operations and mercury emissions the last three years. Mercury is one of the nearly 200 toxic substances singled out in the bipartisan effort to toughen the Clean Air Act two decades ago, and the EPA still struggles to limit it.<\/div>\n<\/blockquote>\n
Harris started working on the project as part of her work at Middlebury College. The piece is a fascinating exploration of how communities deal with industries that provide jobs and put health at risk.<\/div>\n
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“We’re not really tree-hugging liberals,” said [Selene] Hummer. “But when your environment becomes damaged or you feel that you’re being contaminated\u2014I don’t care what party you’re in\u2014this is your human life.”<\/div>\n<\/blockquote>\n
Read the full article here<\/a>. And you can find NPR’s Poisoned Places series here<\/a>. It includes an interactive map (embedded below) that shows some of the biggest polluters in America — including a half-dozen operators in the North Country. NPR’s version of the Chanute cement plant story<\/a>, reported by Howard Berkes, aired yesterday on Morning Edition<\/em>.<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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