Sharon Lerner
I cover health and the environment and the agencies that govern them, including the Environmental Protection Agency.
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What I Cover
My beat is health and the environment. Specifically, I cover the Environmental Protection Agency, charting its handling of pesticides, plastic-based fuels and other chemicals. I have reported on EPA whistleblowers who were pressured to downplay the harms posed by new chemicals, as well as on plastic, greenwashing and biosafety.
I have also written extensively about PFAS, a family of industrial pollutants linked to cancer, infertility, developmental harm and immune dysfunction. My reporting has focused on corporate irresponsibility and on the knowledge that PFAS manufacturers 3M and DuPont had of the chemicals’ harms.
My Background
I joined ProPublica in 2022 after seven years as an investigative reporter at The Intercept.
I’ve received numerous local and national awards for my reporting, including being honored by the Society of Environmental Journalists 12 times and by the Newswomen’s Club of New York, which named me its journalist of the year in 2021.
Heritage Foundation Staffers Flood Federal Agencies With Thousands of Information Requests
The conservative think tank’s requests are clogging the pipeline at federal agencies in an apparent attempt to find employees a potential Trump administration would want to purge.
EPA Says It Plans to Withdraw Approval for Chevron’s Plastic-Based Fuels That Are Likely to Cause Cancer
The decision comes after a ProPublica investigation revealed that the EPA had found that one of the fuels had a cancer risk more than 1 million times higher than the agency usually considers acceptable.
EPA Scientists Said They Were Pressured to Downplay Harms From Chemicals. A Watchdog Found They Were Retaliated Against.
Three reports issued by the agency’s inspector general detailed personal attacks suffered by the scientists — including being called “stupid,” “piranhas” and “pot-stirrers” — and called on the EPA to take “appropriate corrective action” in response.
EPA Proposes Ban on Pesticide Widely Used on Fruits and Vegetables
The ban on acephate comes a week after a ProPublica investigation highlighted the EPA’s controversial finding that the bug killer doesn’t harm the developing brains of children.
10 Times as Much of This Toxic Pesticide Could End Up on Your Tomatoes and Celery Under a New EPA Proposal
Against the guidance of scientific advisory panels, the EPA is relying on industry-backed tests to relax regulations on acephate, which has been linked to neurodevelopmental disorders. “It’s exactly what we recommended against,” one panelist said.
The U.S. Banned Farmers From Using a Brain-Harming Pesticide on Food. Why Has It Slowed a Global Ban?
Chlorpyrifos is so harmful that America banned its use on food. But a top EPA official made it clear that the U.S. was not ready to support similar protections for the rest of the world under a treaty that restricts pollutants that travel the globe.
The EPA Faces Questions About Its Approval of a Plastic-Based Fuel With an Astronomical Cancer Risk
A senator questioned the EPA chief and a group sued the agency after ProPublica and the Guardian revealed that the EPA gave a Chevron refinery approval to make a fuel that could leave people nearby with a 1-in-4 lifetime risk of cancer.
The Company Testing Air in East Palestine Homes Was Hired by Norfolk Southern. Experts Say That Testing Isn’t Enough.
“It’s almost like if you want to find nothing, you run in and run out,” says one expert.
This “Climate-Friendly” Fuel Comes With an Astronomical Cancer Risk
Almost half of products cleared so far under the new federal biofuels program are not in fact biofuels — and the EPA acknowledges that the plastic-based ones may present an “unreasonable risk” to human health or the environment.
As Workers Battle Cancer, The Government Admits Its Limit for a Deadly Chemical Is Too High
The U.S. agency that is supposed to safeguard worker health has all but given up on setting limits to protect them from dangerous chemicals. Meanwhile, workers are dying.