Marian Wang was a reporter for ProPublica, covering education and college debt. She joined ProPublica in 2010, first blogging about a variety of accountability issues. Her later stories focused on how rising college costs and the complexity of the student loan system affect students and their families. Prior to coming to ProPublica, she worked at Mother Jones magazine in San Francisco and freelanced for a number of Chicago-based publications, including The Chicago Reporter, an investigative magazine focused on issues of race and poverty.
Marian Wang
Reporter
Mixed Messages as the Oil Continues to Spew
As oil continues to spew into the Gulf of Mexico, BP, cleanup crews and the EPA differ on the health risks for workers there. One EPA official likened the situation to the World Trade Center cleanup.
Did BP's Acts to Save Time and Money Set the Stage for the Gulf Disaster?
BP made decisions to save time and money with the Deepwater Horizon well that may have contributed to the accident, including its choice of design for the well and its preparation, testing and finishing methods, news reports say.
Director of Offshore Drilling Regulatory Agency Fired
Reports say that Elizabeth Birnbaum has been fired as director of the Minerals Management Service after less than a year in the job. The agency, which regulates offshore drilling, has come under criticism during the Gulf oil disaster.
After Removing Mud Before Accident, BP's "Top Kill" Injects Mud to Stop Oil
BP's "top kill" maneuver to try to plug its ruptured well in the Gulf of Mexico uses mud to stop oil from surging up. But after arguments with the rig owner Transocean just before the explosion, BP decided to remove mud from the well.
More Reports of Illness Emerge Among Gulf Cleanup Workers
Fishermen hired by BP to help with the oil cleanup in the Gulf of Mexico are coming down sick after working long hours in oil- and dispersant-contaminated waters. Some cleanup workers said they were not given protective equipment.
Read Congressional Memo That Confirms Warning Signs Before Rig Explosion
Findings released by a House committee look at problems leading up to the Gulf oil disaster. A memo from the committee describes signs of danger that have been mentioned in several hearings.
Gov't Subsidizes Deep-Water Drilling With Big Tax Breaks
Federal incentives for expanding deep-water drilling have cost taxpayers billions of dollars. But the tax breaks and other subsidies, which began when oil prices were low, have outlived their purpose.
Read the Govt's Report Blasting Drilling Regulators on Ethics, Drugs and Porn
A new inspector general's report cites ethical violations and other problems at a Minerals Management Service office on the Gulf Coast. The agency, part of the Interior Department, regulates offshore drilling.
BP Continues to Apply Toxic Dispersant
The head of the EPA has criticized BP's response on the use of oil dispersants in the Gulf of Mexico disaster. BP argues that despite an EPA order to switch to a less toxic dispersant, the product being used, Corexit, is the best option.
Inform Your Opinion on Arizona's New Law By Reading It First
Plenty of people, including some in the Obama administration, have taken sides on Arizona's new immigration law without having read it. The full text is posted online, along with notes from a law professor.
BP Resists EPA's Order to Use Less Toxic Dispersant
With oil still flowing into the Gulf of Mexico, BP says it will keep using a dispersant that has been linked to health problems. Now the government is warning that it could push BP aside in the effort to solve the problem.
Coast Guard Flagged Potential Problems With Spill Response in 2004
Coast Guard officials have known for years about potential problems with federal and industry response to an oil spill, the Alabama Press-Register reported, and the Deepwater Horizon may have had less scrutiny because it was registered under the Marshall Islands.
BP: Oil Flow "Might Be a Little More" Than Earlier Estimate
BP says it's collecting about the same amount of oil as it had earlier said was spilling into the Gulf, acknowledging, at least obliquely, that its earlier numbers were off. The company insists there is no reliable way to measure the flow.
After Approving Toxic Dispersants, EPA Orders BP to Use Less Toxic Ones
The EPA has given BP 24 hours to choose less toxic dispersants to apply to the Gulf oil spill, a published report says. The products being used appear to be more toxic and less effective than other approved dispersants.
While BP's Oil Gushes, Company Keeps Information to a Trickle
BP has been tightly restricting public access to details about the oil disaster in the Gulf of Mexico. And in some cases, the federal government has deferred to the oil company when asked for information.
In Gulf Spill, BP Using Dispersants Banned in U.K.
The oil dispersants that BP is using after the Deepwater Horizon disaster are more toxic than other such products, EPA data indicate. The dispersants have not been allowed in Britain for more than a decade.
Damaged Equipment, Feuding Between BP and Transocean in Lead-Up to Explosion
In the weeks before the Deepwater Horizon spill, a worker on the rig told "60 Minutes" that part of the blowout preventer's seal broke in an accident weeks before the explosion that caused the Gulf spill, and that a supervisor said it was "no big deal."
BP Turns Down Offers to Better Measure Gulf Disaster
Scientists believe there is much more oil spilling into the Gulf of Mexico than the government estimates. But BP says that there is no way to measure the leak accurately, and that efforts to do so are "not relevant."
