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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Coal-fired power plants keep closing, and communities around the country must decide what to do with those sites. Pennsylvania has a plan, aiming to create new jobs where old ones have been lost. -
An Oregon company plans a new kind of nuclear power plant that many consider the future of the industry. It's smaller and cheaper and could work well with renewable energy. -
Nuclear power plants around the country are running out of room to store spent fuel. Federal plans for a permanent disposal site are stalled, so private companies come up with their own solutions. -
In suburban Philadelphia, voters react to the release of Robert Mueller's report on his probe into whether President Trump's campaign conspired with the Russians to interfere in the 2016 election.
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The Trump administration wants to reverse a rule designed to make lightbulbs more efficient. Environmental groups say the change will cost consumers and waste energy. -
In Berks County, Pa., Republican and Democratic voters respond to the conclusion of special counsel Robert Mueller's investigation.
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Students around the world and across the U.S. skipped classes Friday to protest inaction on climate change. It's part of a wave of pressure from young people who say their future is at stake. -
Nearly 130,000 homes in the U.S. still burn coal for heat. Despite decades of decline and concerns about climate change, companies in the coal home-heating business are optimistic about the future. -
President Trump and other Republicans are pressuring the Tennessee Valley Authority not to close a coal plant in Kentucky. A major Trump backer supplies the plant with most of its coal. -
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.
