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kiley.bsky.social
Journalist at Inside Climate News covering climate change, the environment, public health, and politics. Recent work: https://insideclimatenews.org/profile/kiley-bense/ Portfolio: https://kileybense.com
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A new study found increased rates of missed school days for students with asthma living near U.S. Steel’s Clairton Coke Works.

I've spent the last few months examining the +1,450 grants terminated at the NIH, including reading hundreds of abstracts. Many were studying how to solve or improve health disparities – not just identify or explain them. Some of the terminated grants (h/t to @scott-delaney.bsky.social + team)

DEP: Shell Petrochemical Plant Fire Resulted In Possible Release Of An Unknown Quantity Of 1,3-Butadiene And Benzene Into The Atmosphere In Beaver County [PaEN] tinyurl.com/myc2bc6p

“It’s really, really, really important that we get this right,” @mwilli.bsky.social said, of the need to decarbonize the industry.

“Pennsylvania has an oil and gas waste problem, and they need somewhere to put it.” insideclimatenews.org/news/0306202...

At a rally in western PA on Friday, President Trump vowed to keep U.S. Steel blast furnaces running at “full capacity” for at least the next 10 years. insideclimatenews.org/news/3005202...

Speaking in western Pennsylvania on Friday, President Donald Trump celebrated a “blockbuster agreement” between the Japanese company Nippon Steel and U.S. Steel.

Q&A: Kiley Bense on Climate Journalism in a New Information Environment, with @laurenwatsonjourno.bsky.social. www.cjr.org/the_media_to...

Thanks to @laurenwatsonjourno.bsky.social for her thoughtful questions in this interview for @columjournreview.bsky.social about climate journalism in 2025! www.cjr.org/the_media_to...

What's it like to live next to Shell's ethane cracker plant in Beaver County, PA? Find out in @insideclimatenews.org reporting. @cleanairmoms-pa.bsky.social's Rachel Meyer lives a few miles from the plant, and says it can be "unnerving." insideclimatenews.org/news/0905202...

I’m looking to talk to Pennsylvanians who have noticed significant increases in their electricity bills in the past few years. If that’s you and you’re willing to share your story, you can email me at [email protected].

Residents in Beaver County are still looking for answers. insideclimatenews.org/news/0905202...

I spoke with @insideclimatenews.org executive editor @vernonloeb.bsky.social about our recent on the environmental impacts of the first 100 days of the Trump administration. www.youtube.com/watch?v=e4Jr...

The Trump administration’s approach to climate change and the environment, summed up in one graf by the @insideclimatenews.org team: insideclimatenews.org/news/3004202...

No better compendium of Trump's first 100 days and their effect on the environment than what my colleagues and I at @insideclimatenews.org put together—led by the great @kiley.bsky.social. insideclimatenews.org/news/3004202...

In His First 100 Days, Trump Launched an ‘All-Out Assault’ on the Environment insideclimatenews.org/news/3004202...

“Causing chaos was the goal.” Environmental advocates and legal experts from across the country weigh in on Trump’s first 100 days: insideclimatenews.org/news/3004202...

‘Earth Loses a Defender’: Pope Francis Fought for the Poor and the Planet @kiley.bsky.social reports for @insideclimatenews.org #news #environment EJ Today Headlines: www.sej.org/headlines/list insideclimatenews.org/news/2104202...

Without Pope Francis, “the world is a little lonelier and more unjust.” insideclimatenews.org/news/2104202...

Funding for LIHEAP has dried up because federal workers who administer the program were recently laid off by the Trump administration, said Elizabeth Marx of the Pennsylvania Utility Law Project. About $19 million has yet to be sent to the state. From @insideclimatenews.org

A crucial program for low-income families is closing early this year because the federal staff who administer the funding was fired. insideclimatenews.org/news/1904202...

Trump Admin Severs ‘Lifeline’ for Families Struggling to Pay Utility Bills #news #environment @kiley.bsky.social reports for @insideclimatenews.org EJ Today Headlines: sej.org/headlines/list insideclimatenews.org/news/1904202...

I spoke to legal experts at @harvardeelp.bsky.social @sierraclub.org and @westernlaw.bsky.social about two new directives from the Trump administration that aim to mass-repeal federal environmental and energy regulations: insideclimatenews.org/news/1204202...

“It is truly a five-alarm moment." -- Erik Schlenker-Goodrich, executive director at the Western Environmental Law Center @kiley.bsky.social insideclimatenews.org/news/1204202...

In the barrage of press releases last week, the EPA announced it will revise rules to give more "flexibility" to oil and gas companies to dispose of their wastewater. I reported with my colleague @kiley.bsky.social on what this means. @insideclimatenews.org insideclimatenews.org/news/2003202...

I'm quoted in this important @insideclimatenews.org piece by @kiley.bsky.social and @psskow.bsky.social. @kleinmanenergy.bsky.social insideclimatenews.org/news/2003202...

Scientists at Penn State found microplastics in freshwater sediments across PA: insideclimatenews.org/news/1703202...

This week, I appeared on the City Cast Pittsburgh podcast to talk about climate change, severe weather, cuts to FEMA, and what it all means for Pennsylvanians. pittsburgh.citycast.fm/podcasts/cou...

A new executive order promises to increase logging in national forests. @insideclimatenews.org insideclimatenews.org/news/0303202...

For the past 8 months, I’ve been working on an investigative project about an industrial landfill outside Pittsburgh. After reading hundreds of records and interviewing dozens of experts and residents, it’s hard to believe it was finally published this week. insideclimatenews.org/news/2302202...

At a time when the Environmental Protection Agency is coping with increasing threats to health, life and property because of climate change, President Trump's administration is poised to cut the agency back to 1970s-era staff levels.

I became a journalist for stories like this: Pollution From a Pennsylvania Landfill Caused Problems for Decades. Fracking Waste Made It Worse @kiley.bsky.social insideclimatenews.org/news/2302202...

If you're sick of news and want to read a longer, softer story that still has a moral heartbeat, try this one today, our first @thesundaylongread.bsky.social original of 2025: sundaylongread.com/2025/02/14/f...

Interior Sec. Burgum has tasked staff with drafting plans on how to promote Trump's "energy dominance" via drilling for fossil fuels and mining on public lands—at the potential cost of endangered species and national monuments. With @lisasorg.bsky.social insideclimatenews.org/news/0502202...

Last week, experts met in Philadelphia to tackle an increasingly urgent question: how can we better prepare for severe weather? insideclimatenews.org/news/0502202...

From New York to Hawaii and many places in between, here’s how climate advocates are responding to Trump’s executive orders. insideclimatenews.org/news/2201202...

"The 20th century is over, and we really have to rethink how we do everything, from how we get our energy to how we build on a planet that we have made much more dangerous.” @kiley.bsky.social spoke to John Vaillant about our future with fire. insideclimatenews.org/news/1601202...

This two-minute video vividly illustrates one of the challenges firefighters face when it comes to combatting 21st century fires: The plastic products our homes are stuffed with are highly flammable. youtu.be/87hAnxuh1g8?...

“We’re going to have to let go of a lot of the 20th century. That’s what these events are telling us,” says @johnvaillant.bsky.social, the author of the book “Fire Weather,” of the wildfires in Los Angeles. insideclimatenews.org/news/1601202...

False and misleading information spreads quickly during emergency situations, especially as trust in public institutions erodes. @wyattmyskow.bsky.social and I debunked some rumors about the LA fires for @insideclimatenews.org insideclimatenews.org/news/1001202...

To be clear, the experts we spoke to say this connection is a red herring. "“The truth is, driving native species to extinction would not have prevented this and would do nothing to help the people of Los Angeles. It’s pure fantasy, but a politically convenient one," sociologist Caleb Scoville said.

If you want to better understand the “century of fire” we are currently living in, I really recommend reading Fire Weather by @johnvaillant.bsky.social, an essential—and devastating—book about the relationship between climate change, fossil fuels, and wildfires. bookshop.org/p/books/fire...

In September, I reported on what’s at stake for the climate, the environment, and public health when it comes to Nippon Steel’s bid to buy US Steel, a sale that President Biden acted to block today. insideclimatenews.org/news/2909202...

Starting off 2025 with this story about radioactivity found in freshwater mussels living downstream of oil and gas wastewater discharge points. Like so many of the stories I report about PA, this one brings Rachel Carson’s work to mind. insideclimatenews.org/news/0201202...

Researchers detected increased radioactivity in mussels downstream of oil and gas wastewater discharge points, raising concerns about effects up the food chain. @kiley.bsky.social reports for Inside Climate News insideclimatenews.org/news/0201202...

In a year of record-setting heat, intensifying extreme weather and a bitterly partisan presidential election in which climate change was rarely mentioned, the transition away from fossil fuels made significant progress that was still not nearly enough.

🧵 Good coverage on climate change is critical because climate change affects everything. I'm grateful to work at a newsroom that's understood this from day one. On this #GivingTuesday / #GivingNewsDay, you can help us keep reporting and get your gift matched 2x until midnight: shorturl.at/KB8yx