Alex Brown

Alex Brown

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Alex Brown covers environmental issues for Stateline, reporting from Washington state. Prior to joining Stateline, Brown wrote for The Chronicle in Lewis County, Washington state. He’s won awards for investigative reporting and feature writing from the Pacific Northwest Newspaper Association. In 2017, Brown thru-hiked the 2,650-mile Pacific Crest Trail, which traverses mountain ranges from the Mexican border to the Canadian border. He previously was a congressional correspondent for National Journal, where he covered energy and environment, technology and campaigns. Brown graduated from Union University and is a native of Michigan.

Bear killings skyrocket as garbage, birdfeeders draw them into conflict
Bears are having a very bad year. Across much of the United States, a warm winter and persistent drought have decimated the natural foods that black and brown bears rely on. With nearly every station at the buffet in short...
Data center backlash set to sway midterm elections
In the course of a single election cycle, the backlash against data centers has grown from an issue at local planning commission and city council meetings to become a flashpoint in state and federal races across the country. Candidates who...
With election pressure mounting, states move to suspend fuel taxes
With Election Day less than a month away, lawmakers in several states are suspending gas taxes or rolling back regulations on diesel fuel as voters grow increasingly frustrated with rising fuel costs amid President Donald Trump’s war with Iran. On...
States OK solar panels for balconies. Safety guidelines haven’t caught up.
Over the past year and a half, a dozen states have embraced a new vision for solar power: small, cheap panels that can be hung from a balcony or porch, be plugged into a standard wall outlet and take a...
States file new lawsuits against Trump’s payouts stopping offshore wind
An eight-state coalition filed lawsuits Tuesday challenging the Trump administration’s payments to private companies to cancel offshore wind leases, escalating an ongoing legal battle over the government spending billions of dollars to block wind projects. Attorneys general from eight East...
Trump administration says developers, loggers can kill endangered species
The Trump administration’s top wildlife official issued a directive last week that expands a recent rollback of endangered species protections much further than the feds had told the public. Individuals and industries may kill endangered animals in the course of...
States sue feds over endangered species rollbacks
A coalition of state attorneys general filed a pair of lawsuits Wednesday challenging the Trump administration’s rollbacks of protections for endangered species. The lawsuits, filed by 20 states and the District of Columbia, seek to reinstate rules that protect the...
FEMA is off the chopping block. But disaster aid is still a guessing game.
State leaders are breathing a sigh of relief that the Trump administration’s threats to eliminate the Federal Emergency Management Agency have subsided. But experts say there’s still confusion about President Donald Trump’s decisions to approve or deny disaster declarations, leaving...
Judge blocks New York’s ‘climate Superfund’ law as other states watch closely
A federal judge ruled Monday that New York cannot enforce its landmark “climate Superfund” law, a measure that sought to charge fossil fuel companies $75 billion over 25 years to help the state deal with the costs of climate change...
Feds and 22 states sue Amazon, alleging deceptive advertising scheme
The Federal Trade Commission and attorneys general from 22 states sued Amazon Monday, claiming the online retail company used artificial bids to inflate costs for advertisers, bringing in tens of billions of dollars. The complaint alleges that Amazon used an...
Learning to Burn
AUBURN, Wash. — In the back row of a small community college classroom, I sip my coffee and consider a cumulus cloud, a puffy white pillar over an expanse of blue. I’m not staring out the window, but at a...
Photo essay: Communities embrace fire to protect against out-of-control blazes
Story and photos by Alex Brown ROSLYN, Wash. — In less than an hour, this hillside will be ablaze — sparks flying, smoke swirling, the forest floor turning into a black carpet. That’s all part of the plan. Here in...