Evan Simon
Evan Simon is an investigative producer at Floodlight who focuses on climate accountability stories that use visual reporting to show how powerful interests drive pollution, land use and energy decisions. He leads the newsroom’s visual and video-based storytelling and brings years of broadcast investigative experience and major journalism awards to that work. His recent reporting concentrates on energy-hungry technologies, industrial air pollution and contested land and relocation policies that shape life in communities facing climate risk.
AI data centers and pollution permits
Simon’s current work zeroes in on the rapid buildout of AI data centers and the regulatory gaps that allow their pollution to go largely unchecked. In Texas, he reveals how a permit commonly used for small operations such as dry cleaners is now being used to authorize large AI data centers, creating a loophole that obscures the scale of new emissions and community impacts.
He reports this as part of a broader examination of how the AI boom is being powered by legal loopholes and secret deals that tie vast computing facilities to power plants with limited public oversight.
He extends that scrutiny beyond Texas, investigating one of the East Coast’s largest data centers after it is accused of violating federal environmental rules. In that coverage, he connects local complaints and regulatory findings to national questions about whether existing air-pollution frameworks are equipped to handle the load from massive, always-on data infrastructure.
Across these stories, Simon treats AI infrastructure as a climate and public health issue rather than a purely technology or business subject, grounding his reporting in permits, enforcement records and on-the-ground conditions around the facilities.
Investigating xAI's power plant and EPA rules
Simon also devotes significant reporting to the power plant being developed for Elon Musk’s company xAI, scrutinizing both the company’s actions and the process that allows the project to move forward. He produces a mini-documentary and an “inside the reporting” piece that show how he and his colleagues use a thermal drone to investigate the plant, capturing visual evidence of heat and emissions that are not visible to the naked eye. In a companion video, he documents the company flouting Environmental Protection Agency rules, using the same thermal imagery to make regulatory violations clear to the public.
Alongside the visual investigations, Simon reports on Mississippi regulators who approve xAI’s Southaven power plant despite strong public opposition. He traces how local hearings, public comments and regulatory votes intersect with the company’s timeline and ambitions, highlighting the tension between community concerns and the drive to supply power for AI expansion. Taken together, his xAI coverage combines technical reporting on EPA requirements with visual evidence from drones and detailed tracking of regulatory decisions, showing how a single power project reflects the broader collision of AI growth, air quality and public oversight.
Climate relocation and reshaped public lands
Beyond technology and power plants, Simon reports on climate relocation and the struggle over who controls public lands. In a major investigation into the Isle de Jean Charles relocation effort, he examines the nation’s first attempt at climate relocation and documents how promised protections and support for residents give way to broken commitments and new hardships as millions face similar displacement pressures.
He follows the program from the community’s perspective and through official plans, showing how climate policy on paper translates into real outcomes for people asked to move.
In another video project, Simon looks at a “secret billionaire’s club” reshaping America’s public lands, tracking how wealthy figures use influence and money to steer decisions about conservation, access and development.
That work maps elite networks onto specific landscapes, revealing how land that is formally public can be effectively controlled by a small group of private actors. These stories sit alongside his pollution investigations but widen the lens to include ownership, governance and the social consequences of climate-related policy decisions.
Video-led climate accountability reporting
Simon’s role at Floodlight is defined by bringing accountability journalism into video and other visual formats at scale. He is described as an investigative producer who leads the organization’s visual and video-based storytelling, expanding its climate reporting into broadcast, cable and online formats and making video an integral component of all projects.
Floodlight highlights his work as a key driver of the newsroom’s effort to reach audiences who prefer to get climate news through video.
Professional profiles describe Simon as an award‑winning investigative journalist and documentary filmmaker, a Peabody Award nominee and the winner of two National Emmy Awards among other honors. His career includes investigative, broadcast and digital roles at major national news outlets, where he has worked as an investigative producer, a producer for a late‑night news program, a digital producer, a multimedia producer and a video editor for leading media organizations. At Floodlight and partner newsrooms, including regional outlets that carry his byline, he channels that experience into climate accountability stories that pair rigorous reporting with strong visual narratives, often in collaboration with other reporters and local media.
4 more environment journalists.
Alan Halaly
Alan Halaly is a water reporter at the Las Vegas Review-Journal who treats the Colorado River as a working system, not a backdrop, making its governance, infrastructure and risks central to his beat. He covers how policy decisions and infrastructure projects shape the region’s water future, linking high-level choices on the Colorado River, dams, mining and data centers to everyday consequences under mounting heat and growth pressures. He reports deeply on new laws, lawsuits and regulatory shifts, focusing on on-the-ground impacts. His coverage spans Colorado River cuts, Hoover Dam operations, extreme weather, heat and parks, septic system rules, workplace and public health risks, lithium and gold mines, protected landscapes, data centers, AI infrastructure and public funding. Previously he reported for metropolitan dailies, digital outlets and public media, including the Miami Herald, WUFT, The Daily Beast and Miami New Times, with work recognized by Hearst, ONA and the Society of Environmental Journalists.
Alejandra Borunda
Alejandra Borunda reports on how climate change affects human health for NPR. Her work treats global warming as a direct cause of physical and mental health risks. She covers extreme heat, including undercounted deaths, lost sleep and local efforts to track heat-related fatalities. She also reports on wildfire smoke, hurricanes, disease spread such as dengue fever, trauma, stress and unequal health impacts. Her stories examine how communities protect themselves and recover, as well as practical solutions involving climate-resilient crops, agriculture and diet. Before NPR, she wrote about climate science and environmental issues for National Geographic, including glacier retreat, shade and heat inequity, and shrinking ice-fishing seasons. A former climate scientist, she combines field reporting with scientific data to connect atmospheric research to everyday risks, choices and people’s lived experiences.
Alex Lubben
Alex Lubben is an environment reporter at The Times-Picayune/The Advocate who connects climate risk to policy, industry and community change. He covers Gulf warming, flood protection, coastal restoration, wetlands litigation, industrial projects such as SpaceX’s possible expansion, invasive species and local ecosystems. His reporting tracks how law, politics and corporate decisions shape levees, drainage, marshes and long-term resilience. He also examines climate relocation, housing and labor, showing how hurricanes, floods and wildfires displace vulnerable communities and expose gaps in government systems. He works on a small environment team and brings an investigative background to document work, data analysis, legal and policy research, and field reporting. His work has appeared in VICE News, The Center for Public Integrity, The Nation, Jewish Currents and NBC News.
Alex Wigglesworth
Alex Wigglesworth reports on how climate, land use and public policy shape California communities. She covers the Inland Empire and Mojave Desert for the Los Angeles Times and is part of its environment team. Her beat includes wildfires, megadrought, extreme weather, desert development, conservation, wildlife, industrial hazards, aging infrastructure and regulatory enforcement. She has covered Western Joshua trees, desert tortoises, beaver-led restoration, toxic lead pipes, air-quality concerns after industrial fires and the effects of nuclear war on food systems. Earlier, she was a general assignment reporter for the Philadelphia Inquirer, Daily News and Philly.com. She combines breaking news with detailed reporting grounded in scientific studies, modeling and expert interviews. Her work connects fires, drought and other hazards to climate change, while examining how agencies, companies and land-use decisions affect people and ecosystems.