Lecturer

Education

Ted Scripps Journalism Fellowship, University of Colorado
Graduate School of Journalism, Pennsylvania State University
BA (Political Science), Indiana University of Pennsylvania

Telephone

412-263-1983

E-mail

dhopey@post-gazette.com

Don Hopey, instructor for Topics in Environmental Geology, has been covering environmental issues for the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette since 1992. A Pittsburgh native and Indiana University of Pennsylvania graduate, he wasted a year at Duquesne University Law School before enrolling in the graduate journalism program at the Pennsylvania State University.

He worked at The Pittsburgh Press for 12 years, and then was hired by the Post-Gazette. He has reported on an 80-mile canoe trip through the wild and scenic sections of the Allegheny River, the Wise-Use/Property Rights movement in Pennsylvania, and problems with the nation's hazardous waste incinerators. Other stories of note include investigative reports on how state Sen. William Slocum caused 12 years of sewage pollution on Brokenstraw Creek in Warren County; the intentional pollution of the Casselman River by Action Mining Co., which had a federal grant to clean it up; shortcomings in the state's regulation of longwall mining operations in Washington and Greene counties; problems with Pennsylvania's air quality reporting to the federal government; the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers failure to enforce wetland protections, and the environmental health of Lake Erie.

Courses

• Issues in Environmental Policy (GEOL 1904)