By Amy Felegy for Arts Midwest.
Broadcast version by Terri Dee for Ohio News Connection reporting for the Arts Midwest-Public News Service Collaboration

Each eight-by-eight feet, two giant paintings look almost like sun eclipses. Chunks of coal fill a circle in one; pigments smear the canvas.

You wouldn't know just by looking at them, but those paintings created by John Sabraw contain paint sourced from longstanding pollution in a nearby stream.

"Iron oxide sludge," says Sabraw an art professor at Ohio University. "All orange and crusty."

Gross ... for a water body. But, beautiful for oil paint.

Sabraw is part of a network of researchers, scientists, and artists cleaning up Sunday Creek in southeastern Ohio, reworking that sludge into usable paint.

The area is part of more than 6,000 miles of streams throughout Central Appalachia that are far from crystal clear, caused by historic acid mine drainage.

Though much of the mining happened more than a century ago, Michelle Shivley says Ohio is still dealing with their environmental legacies. She's a director at True Pigments, a 2018-founded company working to restore seven miles of clean water and welfare along Sunday Creek.

"We still have streams that run orange, coming out of these holes in the ground that are connected to abandoned coal mines," Shivley says.

This particular Sunday Creek segment sees more than two million pounds of iron each year (that's around 13,500 five-gallon buckets every month!), causing high amounts of acidity and metal content in the water.

"The fish, the bugs, all those things that are typically in a stream or river, those things just can't survive in those kinds of conditions."

A branch of the U.S. Department of the Interior partially funds the project, which starts with extracting stream pollution and ends with filling paint tubes.

In between, Sabraw tests pigment for quality and consistency, and frequently takes his students out to the creek. The pigments are a huge part of his art practice.

"As I'm working with these pigments ... I just feel more connected to these kind of primal materials that make up our earth."

Pollution into Solution

Still, Shivley says all this effort hasn't meaningfully improved Sunday Creek water quality. It's why her team is designing a full-scale acid mine drainage treatment facility-and a bonus pigment production facility-expected to open next year.

The goal: Increase jobs in the area and help local stream life thrive.

"How can we use these abandoned mine land spaces and reclaim them," Shivley says. "And then transform them into something that can help with the transition for coal communities from a very extractive industry, energy driven economy, to something different that will carry them into the future in a meaningful way?"

She thinks her team has the answer.

The Process

• Pump water from underground mine pool (some stretching as large as 23 miles)


• Aerate water/remove carbon dioxide at treatment facility


• Use hydrogen peroxide to oxidize the iron, iron falls off


• Clarify water and stabilize pH


• Discharge clean water back into Sunday Creek


• Bring iron sludge to pigment production facility to de-water and dry it


• Sell the pigment! Works just the same as any pigment you pick up in any art store

A local nonprofit with a mission to advance regenerative agriculture is hoping its new video can open up an untapped world of science to a younger audience.

It is not every day kids see animated characters rapping about the importance of soil microbes but the Michael Fields Agricultural Institute created "The Soil Microbe Song" as a way to educate children.

Nicole Tautgus, agroecologist and research director at the institute, said she saw a gap in K-12 science education even she experienced, as she didn't hear the term "soil science" until she was in college. A former professor and her toddler son inspired Tautgus to write the song about soil.

"There's this concept that kids love to put their hands in the dirt, and there's this concept of healthy eating that we talk about," Tautgus outlined. "But I don't think that it gets connected very well to the soil, to the plant, to the kitchen, to the plate."

Studies shows farm soil tends to lack beneficial microbes, which help retain nutrients and suppress disease, and affect crop outcomes. Organic farming enhances microbial activity in soil. She added more people are beginning to see the importance of sharing these topics with children.

"Soil microbes are the hot topic among farming right now, and they're absolutely integral to everything that soil does," Tautgus pointed out. "So, why not introduce children to this concept? We talk to them about germs and washing their hands, but there's also a whole world of beneficial microbes."

Tautgus explained animated soil microbes parade around in the song, describing what each of their roles are, to hopefully engage children and anyone else who watches it.

"I think when you get into the world of soil microbes, it becomes technical really quickly," Tautgus acknowledged. "There's a lot of words in the video and a lot of it whizzes by, but the words weren't my goal."

The institute plans to develop accompanying lesson plans and materials in hopes the video can be used in classrooms across the state.

A Michigan nonprofit is among the groups raising concerns about a potential conflict of interest between President Donald Trump and the Line 5 tunnel project.

President Trump's national "energy emergency" order has fast-tracked more than 600 projects, including Enbridge's Line 5 tunnel, for quicker approval.

According to records from the Federal Election Commission, Trump's campaign last year received more than more than $1 million in donations from Tim Barnard, CEO of the project's contractor, Barnard Construction.

Levi Teitel, communications coordinator for Progress Michigan, called it problematic.

"We're drawing attention to this potential conflict of interest," Teitel explained. "And what it could mean for the integrity of the Great Lakes and also for our government as a whole."

Enbridge has responded in a statement saying, in part, it hired Barnard Construction Company and Civil and Building North America in 2023, during the Biden administration, following a robust and lengthy selection process.

Opponents of Line 5 have cited spill risks, Indigenous rights and the project's contribution to continued reliance on fossil fuels among their concerns.

The Michigan Court of Appeals recently affirmed the state Public Service Commission's decision to grant permits for the underwater pipeline project, rejecting legal challenges from environmental groups and tribes concerned about its ecological and cultural impact. Teitel argued the approval process for Line 5 has been flawed.

"This process should require public input," Teitel contended. "That's usually what really happens when it comes to federal permitting for fossil fuel projects. If this were fast-tracked, it could spell danger and potentially an explosion risk."

The Line 5 project involves constructing a 4.5-mile tunnel beneath the Straits of Mackinac to encase the crude oil pipeline and reduce spill risks.


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Greenpeace has been ordered to pay several hundred million dollars stemming from the Dakota Access Pipeline protests and some are saying the verdict leaves a chilling effect on free-speech matters.

Nearly a decade ago, protests in North Dakota captured worldwide attention as the oil pipeline project advanced, with Indigenous rights serving as a focal point. The events still reverberate today, including a civil trial where an affiliated energy company sued Greenpeace, accusing it of defamation and orchestrating illegal acts within the protests. The global nonprofit argued it had a limited presence.

James Wheaton, founder and senior counsel for the First Amendment Project, a public interest law firm, worries about the verdict's precedent.

"The problem is going to be that anybody who helps to organize a peaceful, lawful protest could face ruinous litigation," Wheaton pointed out.

He suggested activists might worry about being dragged into court versus expressing their First Amendment rights. Greenpeace said it will appeal and has warned a large civil penalty could force it to cease operating in the U.S.

The company behind the case, Energy Transfer, said the outcome is a win for Americans who "understand the difference between the right to free speech and breaking the law."

A broader aspect of the case is what's known as a SLAPP lawsuit, with experts noting these are sometimes brought by corporations against people or nonprofits speaking out on various issues. Even if the plaintiff does not win, the defendant is saddled with mounting legal costs.

Wheaton helped start the movement to usher in anti-SLAPP laws around the country. He explained how they work.

"The court can freeze the case in its tracks at the very beginning and test whether it has enough merit to be allowed to go forward or should be dismissed immediately," Wheaton outlined.

Dozens of states have such laws on the books, but North Dakota is not among them. Critics of anti-SLAPP laws said they make it too easy for a court to quickly dismiss a case. But Wheaton feels they do not prevent plaintiffs from having their day in court, and he would like to see more states adopt them.


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