Jeff Brady
Jeff Brady is a National Desk Correspondent based in Philadelphia, where he covers energy issues and climate change. Brady helped establish NPR's environment and energy collaborative which brings together NPR and Member station reporters from across the country to cover the big stories involving the natural world.
Brady approaches stories from the consumer side of the light switch and the gas pump in an effort to demystify an energy system that can seem complicated and opaque. Brady has reported on natural gas utilities fighting to preserve their business in a world more concerned about climate change, the long saga over the Keystone XL oil pipeline, the closing of a light bulb factory in Pennsylvania and how gas ranges pollute homes and make climate change worse.
In 2017 his reporting showed a history of racism and sexism that have made it difficult for the oil business to diversify its workforce. A union at the center of that reporting now faces a class-action lawsuit from its Black members.
In 2011 Brady led NPR's coverage of the Jerry Sandusky child sexual abuse scandal at Penn State—from the night legendary football coach Joe Paterno was fired to the trial where Sandusky was found guilty.
In 2005, Brady was among the NPR reporters who covered the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. His reporting on flooded cars left behind after the storm exposed efforts to stall the implementation of a national car titling system. Today, the National Motor Vehicle Title Information System is operational and the Department of Justice estimates it could save car buyers up to $11 billion a year.
Before coming to NPR in September 2003, Brady was a reporter at Oregon Public Broadcasting (OPB) in Portland. He has also worked in commercial television as an anchor and a reporter, and in commercial radio as a talk-show host and reporter.
Brady graduated with a Bachelor of Arts in Communications from Southern Oregon State College (now Southern Oregon University). In 2018 SOU honored Brady with its annual "Distinguished Alumni" award.
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The proposal to address climate change is short on specifics and wildly ambitious. Seasoned energy experts doubt it can work, but give it credit for energizing young activists. -
As Pennsylvania farmers gather for the state's annual farm show, some are feeling a pinch from the partial shutdown of the federal government.
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Democrats will soon take control of the U.S. House and are vowing to put climate change on the agenda. Some are calling for a "green new deal," while others support a growing push for a tax on carbon.
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The EPA says it will keep limits on toxic mercury emissions from coal plants but now deems them not cost-effective. Environmental groups worry the move could hinder future regulations. -
Philadelphia Eagles fans are known for passionately — sometimes rudely — backing their team. That reputation was cemented on a cold Sunday in 1968, when disgruntled fans pelted Santa with snowballs. -
The Trump administration wants to reverse a rule that would have required new coal plants to have expensive technology to capture their carbon dioxide emissions. -
Legal battles and local tensions persist two years after the North Dakota prairie was filled with thousands of indigenous and environmental protesters opposed to the Dakota Access Pipeline. -
In North Dakota, the Republican-controlled government has changed voter identification requirements. That's prompting confusion for many Democratic-leaning Native Americans.
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Inmates and staff at a a number of U.S. prisons have gotten sick recently, apparently due to exposure to illegal drugs. More than two dozen workers at Pennsylvania prisons became ill, prompting a lockdown of all the state's prisons.
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A group dubbed "QAnon" has emerged at Trump campaign events recently. They follow and try to decipher the online posts of someone named "Q", who traffics in conspiracy theories focused on people in government and media. NPR's Jeff Brady went to a Trump rally in Pennsylvania to speak with some QAnon followers.
