This story is interesting and important because it gives details about how EPA tries to enforce the Clean Air Act through the use of a “secret watch list,” a list of polluting facilities that spew chemicals and other toxics into the air of communities such as Ponca City, Okla., Hayden, Ariz., Tonawanda, N.Y., and Muscatine, Iowa.  Although facilities emit 40% fewer toxic emissions since 2005, when the list was created, the September list includes 383 power plants, refineries, chemical plants and other industrial facilities. Half of those plants are in six states: Ohio, Texas, Illinois, Louisiana, Wisconsin and Indiana. Forty-seven of those facilities had been added to the watch list since July 2011.

An interactive map accompanies the story, the first of four in a series broadcast on NPR’s morning news show, Morning Edition, that is comprised of dots representing 17,000 facilities throughout the country that have emitted hazardous materials into the air.  Click on a dot in your state and find out which facility it represents and read the data contained about the facility in the pop-up box.

http://www.npr.org/2011/11/07/142035420/secret-watch-list-reveals-failure-to-curb-toxic-air