Here are just a few examples of the kinds of stories that can come of asking for public records. There are a lot more — and this list may grow if you send suggestions to the WatchDog.

"Pipelines: The Invisible Danger" (4-Part Series), Austin American-Statesman, July 22, 2001, by Jeff Nesmith, Ralph K.M. Haurwitz, and American-Statesman Staff.

"Spills and Explosions Reveal Lax Regulation of Powerful Industry; Paying for Leaks and Fires Across the Country Is Cheaper for Companies Than Investing in Prevention, Watchdogs Say" (Part 1 of 4).

"WASHINGTON - Out of sight and unnoticed, America's sprawling oil and natural gas pipelines are leaking on the scale of a ruptured supertanker.

"They are fouling the environment and causing fires and explosions that have killed more than 200 people and injured more than 1,000 in the past decade.

"And the numbers are increasing steadily - from 161 serious incidents in 1989 to 222 in 1999.

"Yet the federal government relies on a small, underfunded and understaffed agency to police a powerful and wealthy industry. Together, the largest pipeline companies in America each year earn more than enough to run the agency that regulates them for a century. ...

"There is almost an absence of regulation," said Jim Hall, until recently chairman of the National Transportation Safety Board, the independent federal agency that investigates airliner crashes, train wrecks and other transportation disasters." ...

Read the rest of the article and series (free registration required).

(This series won awards from the National Press Foundation (Thomas L. Stokes award for energy reporting), Texas Headliners Foundation, Washington Press Club Foundation, and the Society of Environmental Journalists. In the aftermath of the 9/11 terrorist attacks, most of the records it was based on were withdrawn from the public record.)

"Airborne Toxic Chemicals Exceed EPA Standards Tenfold," Knight Ridder Newspapers, April 19, 2002, by Seth Borenstein.

"WASHINGTON - Americans have a cancer risk from toxic chemicals in the air that's 10 times the EPA's acceptable level, and 12 million people experience risks 100 times higher, according to an unreleased EPA study.

"Millions of people live in areas where air toxics may pose potentially significant health concerns," says the report, portions of which were obtained by Knight Ridder. "Although air quality continues to improve, we feel that more needs to be done to reduce the potential for harm from exposures to these chemicals.

"The Environmental Protection Agency's study, whose release is nearly a year overdue, modeled the effects of such chemicals as benzene, formaldehyde, arsenic and chromium. These chemicals are produced mainly by vehicles and industry and cause an estimated 150 cancer cases yearly. An additional 350 cases a year are thought to be caused by chemicals in diesel exhaust." ...

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"DEP Won't Release Air Pollution Study; Division Director Rejects Gazette's FOIA Request," The Charleston Gazette, April 5, 2002, by Ken Ward Jr.

"Last week, the state Department of Environmental Protection issued a news release about a toxic air pollution study.

"This week, DEP officials refused to release the study.

"Stephanie Timmermeyer, director of the DEP Division of Air Quality, rejected a Freedom of Information Act request for the report from The Charleston Gazette.

"In a Wednesday letter, Timmermeyer said the study, currently in draft form, is not a "public record," and therefore can be kept secret.

"The study in question was prepared by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. It is part of EPA's National Air Toxics Assessment, a nationwide project to estimate the health risk from toxic air pollutants.

"Previous phases of the project have shown that West Virginians are generally exposed to concentrations of chemicals that pose what EPA considers unacceptable cancer risks." ...

Read the rest of the story in Paid Archive.

"Fewer Polluters Punished Under Bush Administration, Records Show," Knight Ridder Newspapers, by Seth Borenstein, December 8, 2003.

"WASHINGTON - The Bush administration is catching and punishing far fewer polluters than the two previous administrations, according to a Knight Ridder analysis of 15 years of environmental-enforcement records.

"Civil enforcement of pollution laws peaked when the president's father, George H.W. Bush, was in office from 1989-93 and has fallen ever since, but it's plummeted since George W. Bush took office three years ago. That's according to records of 17 different categories of enforcement activity obtained by Knight Ridder through the Freedom of Information Act." ...

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"EPA Hasn't Won the Improvements It Touted," Fort Worth Star-Telegram, December 12, 2004, by Scott Streater.

"The federal government has quietly allowed oil refineries nationwide to miss court-mandated deadlines to reduce air emissions, prolonging the exposure of hundreds of thousands of people to dangerous pollutants.

"In almost every instance, the Environmental Protection Agency did not tell the courts or the public about the deadline changes, even when legal settlements require it to do so, a Star-Telegram investigation has found.

"'That's not appropriate. That's just not appropriate,' said Sylvia Lowrance, a former top EPA enforcement official in President Bush's administration. 'That information should be shared with the public.'" ...

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"Censored Science: Ag Scientists Feel the Heat," Des Moines Register, December 1, 2002, by Perry Beeman.

"Ames, Ia. - University and government scientists studying health threats associated with agricultural pollution say they are harassed by farmers and trade groups and silenced by superiors afraid to offend the powerful industry.

"The heat comes from individual farmers, commodity groups and the U.S. Department of Agriculture, which finances and controls much of the research.

"And the pressure is growing, some scientists say." ...

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The article above was part of a four-part package on "Censored Science." Read the rest of the package.

"Rat-Poison Makers Stall Safety Rules; EPA Had Drafted Regulations To Protect Children, Animals," Washington Post, April 15, 2004, by Juliet Eilperin.

"Over the past six years, the pesticide industry has fought off or stalled two regulatory initiatives designed to protect children and wildlife from becoming unintended victims of rat poisons, and public health and environmental groups charge that the industry had unusual access to block federal action. ...

"In the interim, the critics say, the toll has grown. Poison-control centers reported last year that more than 15,000 children younger than 6 accidentally ingested rat poison, up from fewer than 11,000 a decade ago. Wildlife organizations, meanwhile, charge that dozens of endangered animals die every year after ingesting rat poison spread to protect crops.

"Officials from industry groups and the EPA, which first proposed new child safety regulations in 1998, reject the accusation of undue influence ...

"But EPA documents obtained by an environmental group indicate that the agency consulted heavily with the industry before seeking comment from opponents and that manufacturers got officials to tone down their assessment of the risks associated with rat poison. ...

"Aaron Colangelo, a staff attorney at the Natural Resources Defense Council, who obtained the EPA's internal documents for the environmental advocacy group under a Freedom of Information Act request, said the documents highlight how the agency mishandled its effort to protect humans and animals." ...

Read the rest of the story (paid archive/free preview).

"Wood Water Woes May Be Worse; Contamination May Be More Harmful Than Dupont Says, Records Show," (Charleston, WV) Sunday Gazette-Mail, March 17, 2002, by Ken Ward Jr.

"Last week, DuPont Co. officials announced that they would replace drinking water for all Parkersburg-area residents whose water contains more than 14 parts per billion of a mysterious chemical called C-8.

"But public records and DuPont's own studies indicate that much smaller concentrations of C-8 than that could cause a variety of serious health problems.

"For more than a decade, internal DuPont policy has mandated a "community exposure guideline," or CEG, of 1 part per billion, according to documents on file with the federal Environmental Protection Agency and the state Department of Environmental Protection.

"C-8 is another name for ammonium perfluorooctanoate. At its Washington Works factory outside Parkersburg, DuPont uses C-8 to make polymers that are later used in the production of Teflon.

"Last November, state and federal agencies formed a team to investigate concerns that C-8 from Washington Works had polluted water supplies in Wood County and across the river in Ohio." ...

Read the rest of the story in Paid Archive.

"Critics Say EPA Won't Analyze Clean Air Proposals Conflicting With President's Policies," New York Times, July 14, 2003, by Jennifer 8. Lee.

"In the last several months, the Environmental Protection Agency has delayed or refused to do analysis on proposals that conflict with the president's air pollution agenda, say members of Congress, their aides, environmental advocates and agency employees.

"Agency employees say they have been told either not to analyze or not to release information about mercury, carbon dioxide and other air pollutants. This has prompted inquiries and complaints from environmental groups, as well as Democrats and Republicans in Congress. ...

"The question is whether the agency is deciding which analyses to release based on which side the studies favor in environmental debates." ...

Read the rest of the story (paid archive/free preview).

"Plants Detail Impact of Toxic Releases; Worst-Case Scenarios Unlikely, Industry Says" (and related sidebars), Louisville Courier-Journal, June 10, 2004, by James Bruggers and Gregory A. Hall.

"An unchecked release of toxic chemicals from any one of dozens of plants in the Louisville metropolitan area - from chemical plants to a commercial bakery - could sicken thousands of residents.

"And the potential impact can go far beyond a company's property, according to risk-management plans filed by the companies with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.

"The plans outline what might happen if there's a spill or some other kind of chemical release if everything goes wrong - a scenario that companies and emergency responders agree is not likely and has never happened in the metro area. ...

"For this article, the newspaper reviewed all the risk-management plans for plants that have the ability to jeopardize people in six Louisville-area counties on both sides of the Ohio River. Plants were first required to file the plans in 1999, but some have updated them since. Plant managers are preparing to file updated submissions for a deadline this month. ...

(See related 1200-word sidebar in this feature package: "PUBLIC ACCESS; Some Want Worst-Case Data Off-Limits," Louisville Courier-Journal, June 10, 2004.)

Read the rest of the story in Paid Archive.