The New Whistleblower: Using Satellite Images to Spot Environmental Damage

West Virginia-based SkyTruth is culling satellite and aerial images to blow the whistle on unreported damage to the environment.

1 minute read

November 24, 2014, 7:00 AM PST

By James Brasuell @CasualBrasuell


"Since 2001, West Virginia-based SkyTruth has been compiling published satellite and aerial images, then tasking computers and citizen volunteers to sort them to uncover potential environmental damage," according to an article by Rob Wile.

SkyTruth's big finds include revealing the true scope of the BP oil spill in 2010 as well as a Canadian mine in 2014 that spewed 1.3 billion gallons of toxic waste into the environment.

Wile goes on to detail SkyTruth's current project—the FrackFinder project, which is "plotting fracking activity across Pennsylvania and Ohio to better allow researchers to pinpoint where fracking is occurring." That effort uses publicly available satellite images from the U.S. Department of Agriculture. Another current project is tracking the disappearance of Louisiana's land mass.

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