When she wasn't analyzing air samples, HOUSTON CHRONICLE reporter Dina Cappiello was investigating another environmental crisis: the Dead Zone. It's a giant swath of ocean in the Gulf of Mexico where oxygen drops so low that it is unable to support some marine life. The Dead Zone forms each summer due to the fertilizer and wastewater runoff that makes its way to the Gulf via North America's rivers. The nutrient overload causes an excessive algae bloom -- when the algae die and decompose, they use up all the oxygen in a particular area. All oxygen-breathing marine life in the zone must flee or die. The Dead Zone changes each year, but can be as large as the state of New Jersey. There are other dead zones around the world.

Cappiello spent a week aboard a research vessel with scientists on the hunt for the Dead Zone. Read her blogs from the journey here.

Tag(s): Dina Cappiello , dead zone , environment , pollution
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Reporter Dina Cappiello found shockingly high levels of toxic air pollutants in neighborhoods around Houston and Southeast Texas. According to the American Lung Association, Los Angeles, Pittsburgh, Bakersfield, and Birmingham also rank among the cities with the most air pollution.

Which cities have the cleanest air? Cheyenne, Wyoming tops the list, followed by Santa Fe, New Mexico; Honolulu, Hawaii; and Great Falls, Montana.

>> Worried about your town? Find out if the EPA is tracking toxic releases in your zip code. Check out the Air Quality Index for local air quality conditions and forecasts.

Tag(s): environment , health , pollution
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In a city built on oil and industry money, Houstonians have a name for the odor that emanates from its numerous industrial facilities: “the smell of money.” But for some residents, it also marks a dangerous public health threat: high levels of toxic air pollutants that have been linked to cancer, kidney and liver damage, as well as respiratory illnesses. In one neighborhood, levels of the carcinogen benzene were so high that one scientist said living there would be like "sitting in traffic 24-7."

Following her nose, HOUSTON CHRONICLE reporter Dina Cappiello sought to prove definitively that, despite industry denials, the neighborhoods around refineries and petrochemical plants suffer from the smokestacks that release these chemicals in their midst. With help from neighborhood residents, she planted air pollution sensors around some of Houston’s worst polluters, documenting the public health menace of air toxins as well as the ineptitude of the state regulators charged with protecting the public from these very threats.

This week, EXPOSÉ premieres "The Scientific Method" online with the shocking results of the CHRONICLE’s investigation.

>> Read Dina Cappiello's original reports in the HOUSTON CHRONICLE.

>> What are the nation's most polluted cities? Which cities have the cleanest air? Check back tomorrow on the Blog to find out.

Tag(s): Dina Cappiello , environment , health , pollution , texas
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Tomorrow on the EXPOSÉ site: With a smell in the air, residue on their cars, and their eyes occasionally burning, residents of Houston's "fenceline" communities - those that border many of the cities petrochemical plants - have often wondered what it was they were breathing. And when HOUSTON CHRONICLE environmental reporter Dina Cappiello knocked on their door, they were about to find out.

>> Watch the full episode of "The Scientific Method" on the EXPOSÉ site tomorrow.

Tag(s): Dina Cappiello , environment , health , pollution , texas
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