Michael Hawthorne

Michael Hawthorne is a Pulitzer-finalist investigative reporter who focuses on the environment and public health for the Chicago Tribune. A downstate Illinois native, Hawthorne joined the Tribune in 2004 after covering the environment and state government in Ohio, Illinois and Florida.

3M’s Cordova chemical plant on the Mississippi River upstream from the Quad Cities, Dec. 7, 2022. The company said it will stop making PFAS chemicals in 2025. (E. Jason Wambsgans/Chicago Tribune)

Legislation would ban most uses of toxic forever chemicals within a decade

April 18, 2024 at 5:06 p.m.

U.S. Sen. Dick Durbin's bill also would attempt to prevent corporations from seeking protection under bankruptcy laws to avoid lawsuits seeking compensation for health damages.

The downtown Chicago skyline can be seen beyond the Harrison-Dever water intake crib in Lake Michigan on Wednesday, June 22, 2022. (Erin Hooley/Chicago Tribune)

Biden EPA limits toxic forever chemicals in drinking water for the first time

April 10, 2024 at 4:21 p.m.

More than 100 million Americans are expected to benefit, including at least 660,000 in Illinois who get their drinking water from a utility that violates the new standards for PFAS.

The Medline Industries facilities can be seen on May 12, 2021, in Waukegan. People living near Medline Industries in north suburban Waukegan had higher levels of the cancer-causing chemical ethylene oxide in their bloodstream than others who lived farther away, according to test results from a federally funded study in 2019. (Erin Hooley/Chicago Tribune)

EPA moves to set stricter rules for Sterigenics, other sterilization companies using cancer-causing ethylene oxide

March 14, 2024 at 6:19 p.m.

Regulations would require commercial sterilization operations to reduce EtO emissions by 90%, largely by installing pollution-control equipment already required in Illinois.

3M's Cordova chemical plant on the Mississippi River upstream from the Quad Cities, Wednesday, Dec. 7, 2022. The company said it will stop making PFAS chemicals in 2025. (E. Jason Wambsgans/Chicago Tribune)

Illinois moves to limit toxic forever chemicals contaminating wells throughout the state

March 8, 2024 at 11:17 a.m.

Nearly 300,000 Illinoisans rely on utilities where PFAS in well water exceed the state's proposed standards, according to a Chicago Tribune analysis.

The now-closed General Iron Industries scrap yard along Cortland Street in Lincoln Park on April 9, 2019. (Brian Cassella/Chicago Tribune)

Illinois agrees to tougher oversight of polluters in low-income communities, resolving civil rights complaint about Chicago scrap shredder

February 23, 2024 at 10:13 p.m.

Gov. J.B. Pritzker’s administration vowed Friday to take a more rigorous look at polluters before allowing them to operate or expand in low-income communities.

A truck enters the Norfolk Southern rail yard on 47th Street near Shields Avenue in Chicago on Wednesday, Jan. 19, 2022. A study found the Chicago metropolitan area trails only Los Angeles and New York City in deaths and disease from breathing diesel soot pollution. (Terrence Antonio James/Chicago Tribune)

EPA’s proposed limits on soot would lead to cleaner factories and vehicles in Chicago and other cities

February 7, 2024 at 11:40 a.m.

Studies have determined that reducing soot pollution would particularly benefit low-income Black and Latino communities near highways, railways and industrial facilities.

Contractor Diego Rodriguez works to uncover lead pipe and waste line in the 3100 block of South Ridgeway Avenue on April 10, 2023.

Chicago hears from Cincinnati and Newark officials on how to speed up replacement of toxic lead pipes

December 7, 2023 at 1:37 a.m.

With Mayor Brandon Johnson's administration projecting it will take 40 years and up to $12 billion to replace toxic lead water pipes throughout the city, aldermen are pressing for changes...

Blackhawk Sewer & Water contractor Khaild Waarith fixes a leaking lead service pipe ahead of service line replacement in the 3100 block of South Ridgeway Avenue on April 10, 2023.

Biden EPA proposes requirements for utilities to remove toxic lead water pipes within a decade; Chicago likely to get more time

November 30, 2023 at 11:00 a.m.

President Joe Biden's administration is moving to require utilities to replace every toxic lead pipe connecting homes to water mains during the next decade, though Chicago and several other cities...

A view from a neighborhood near the Oak Creek coal-fired power plant on Sept. 8, 2020, in Wisconsin.

Soot pollution from coal-fired power plants is more deadly than soot from other sources, study shows

November 23, 2023 at 7:03 p.m.

Burning coal to generate electricity is on the way out in the United States, but the nation's long dependence on the fossil fuel took a devastating toll. A new study...

U.S. Sen. Tammy Duckworth (D-IL) speaks during a press conference in the 9000 block of South Luella Avenue in Chicago where a $336 million federal loan to replace 30,000 lead water service lines was announced on Nov. 3, 2023.

Chicago to get $336 million loan from EPA to replace 30,000 lead water pipes

November 4, 2023 at 12:52 a.m.

As recently as 2018 Chicago officials denied the nation's third largest city has a widespread problem with brain-damaging lead in drinking water, even though testing kits distributed by the city...

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