Shannon Kelleher
Environmental journalist
Shannon is an environmental journalist based in Washington, DC. As a reporter for The New Lede, she writes about PFAS and other toxic chemicals, renewable energy, climate change, and environmental justice. Her work has also appeared in The Guardian, Environmental Health News, The Atlantic, Mongabay, and AAAS.org. She has a master’s degree in science journalism from Boston University.
Shannon’s love of telling science stories began at the Duke University Marine Lab, where she wrote a guest post for the ocean blog Southern Fried Science recounting her “harrowing” tale of hermit crab research.
Featured Stories
Napa Valley has lush vineyards and wineries — and a pollution problem
The Guardian/The New Lede
Famous for its lush vineyards and cherished local wineries, Napa valley is where people go to escape their problems. What the more than 3 million annual tourists don’t see, however, is that California’s wine country has a brewing problem — one that has spurred multiple ongoing government investigations and created deep divisions.
“No man’s land”: The Texas colonias waiting decades for running water
The Guardian/The New Lede
The plot of land 25-year-old Joaquin Duran’s parents bought in Texas lacked running water when they settled in, but they were promised service was coming – only a year or two away. Now, a quarter-century later, water still has not arrived — for the Durans or for anyone else in the immigrant community of Cochran.
Farmers facing PFAS pollution struggle for solutions
The New Lede
When Jim Buckle and his wife, Hannah Hamilton, started their 18-acre organic vegetable farm in Unity, Maine more than a decade ago, they wanted to grow the healthiest food possible. But after a wholesale buyer asked them to test their operation for toxic chemicals called per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) in 2022, the couple was in for a shock.