A woman with gray hair holds a clear container with a small tree sapling inside.
Amy Brunner, associate professor at Virginia Tech, holds a small chestnut seeding growing in a plastic box. Her lab is researching the genes that provide blight resistance in chestnut trees. Credit: Roxy Todd / Radio IQ

Episode for March 8, 2024

American chestnut trees once thrived in the Appalachian Mountains, but no longer. Now researchers and advocates disagree on plan to bring them back. We’ll also hear about how families experienced severe symptoms living near an EQT fracking site in West Virginia. The company is expanding into the state and looking to dominate exports of liquified natural gas. Plus, a peak into the springtime mating dance of a somewhat elusive bird.

We have news about yet another U.S. Steel fine, an update to a controversial plan to build near a wetland and what a transportation safety official has to say about the decision to vent and burn vinyl chloride in East Palestine.

Listen on: Apple Podcasts | Spotify | Google | TuneIn

Additional links:

WPSU: Opponents of proposed Rutter’s in Huntingdon County plan to appeal DEP decision

Washington Post: East Palestine ‘controlled burn’ could have been avoided, NTSB chair says