Marian Wang
Marian Wang was a reporter for ProPublica, covering education and college debt.
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.
A Picture's Worth a Thousand Words ... and Millions of Barrels of Oil
Pictures of the Gulf oil spill can be more powerful than the words.
by Marian Wang,
Gulf Oil Spill Update: Way Worse Than They Told Us
The estimates of the amount of oil spilling in the Gulf of Mexico keep going up, amid BP statements that the amount can't be measured easily, and aren't important, anyway.
by Marian Wang,
Does Inquiry into Morgan Stanley Implicate Citi and UBS?
The Justice Department is looking into some CDOs designed -- and then bet against -- by Morgan Stanley, a report says. Those CDOs were marketed by Citibank and UBS, raising the question of whether they'll come under scrutiny as well.
by Marian Wang,
Does Administration's Proposed Break-up of Offshore Oil Regulator Go Far Enough?
The Minerals Management Service, the agency regulating offshore drilling, would be split, separating its safety responsibilities from its leasing and royalties responsibilities.
by Marian Wang,
After Spill, More Gulf Drilling Plans Got Environmental Exemptions
Even as oil was spilling into the Gulf of Mexico, companies were granted 27 exemptions from in-depth environmental analysis for proposed drilling, McClatchy reported. The exemptions don't mean the wells will be drilled, and there is a temporary moratorium on new wells.
by Marian Wang,
Despite Previous Equipment Failure, BP Says Spill 'Seemed Inconceivable'
BP says the blowout preventer whose failure led to the Gulf oil spill has not had any problems in the past, but Minerals Management Service records suggest otherwise.
by Marian Wang,
EPA Approves BP's Use of Questionable Chemicals to Break Up Oil
BP has resumed spraying dispersants to break up the Gulf oil spill with EPA approval, even though the chemicals pose their own hazards to the environment and sealife.
by Marian Wang,
Regulators Let Industry Drill Deeper, Despite Safety Concerns and Unproven Fixes
The Gulf oil disaster spotlights the dangers in deepwater drilling, which has been increasing with little regulatory oversight or testing of new technologies to deal with the incredible water pressures the equipment must operate under.
by Marian Wang,
Offshore Drilling Regulators Had Concerns, but Let Industry Self-Police
Drilling regulators had concerns about the reliability of blowout protection devices on oil rigs, but accepted industry assurances that they weren't needed, two reports show.
by Marian Wang,
Govt Agency: Offshore Drilling Regulator Understated Risks of Oil Spills in Plans to Expand Drilling
In 2009, the Minerals Management Service submitted a five-year plan for expanding drilling off the coast of Alaska. But the plan ran into criticism from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, the agency the monitors oceans.
by Marian Wang,