EJToday is SEJ's selection of new and outstanding stories on environmental topics in print and on the air, updated every weekday. SEJ also offers a free e-mailed digest of the day's EJToday postings, called SEJ-beat. SEJ members are subscribed automatically, but may opt out here. Non-members may subscribe here. EJToday is also available via RSS feed. Please see Editorial Guidelines for EJToday content.
Canada's New Confidentiality Rules on Arctic Project Called 'Chilling'
Postmedia, 02/14/2013"A bid by [Canada's] federal government to impose sweeping confidentiality rules on an Arctic science project has run into serious resistance in the United States."
"Manager Says Safety Issues Are Ignored at Hanford Nuclear Site"
LA Times, 02/14/2013"Donna Busche, a nuclear engineer and health physicist, files a suit alleging that executives tried to dissuade her from raising warnings about serious problems with the waste site's design."
"Art Pope Still Funding Climate Disinformation"
Facing South, 02/07/2013"As North Carolina Gov. Pat McCrory's budget director, Art Pope will help make important fiscal decisions for a state facing serious threats due to climate disruption, from destructive storms and more intense hurricanes to unusually fast-rising seas. But he will carry out that work in a political context that's been shaped by disinformation about climate science -- thanks to efforts Pope himself has generously funded."
Weather Service Firing Official Who Hit Budget Cuts in Post Interview
Wash Post, 02/05/2013"The National Weather Service moved to fire one of its top managers Friday, four days after he was quoted in an article in The Washington Post lamenting that budget cuts and the threat of further reductions in March were forcing him to pare back a public safety service."
TV News Mentioned Donald Trump Nearly 20x More Than Fracking in 2011
Mother Jones, 02/01/2013"A paltry 1.2 percent of headlines in prominent media outlets focus on environment. That's the depressing finding from a study out today that surveyed headlines from 43 news and related organizations between January 2011 and May of 2012. Interestingly, Fox News devoted significantly more time to covering the environment, including healthy doses of climate change-denial, than did MSNBC and CNN ...."
Justice Asks Judge for Documents Showing How BP Low-Balled Oil Flow
New Orleans Times-Picayune, 02/01/2013"The Justice Department on Wednesday asked a federal judge in New Orleans to require BP to produce documents that outline how it low-balled the amount of oil flowing into the Gulf of Mexico from its Macondo well in 2010. The estimates were sent to the Coast Guard and Congress."
"Dems: GOP Clean Energy Report Misleads"
Hill/E2 Wire, 02/01/2013"Three senior Democrats on the House Energy and Commerce Committee defended a clean-energy grant program Wednesday, saying Republicans used misleading figures in a report earlier this month to slam the initiative."
3 States Push ALEC Bill To Teach Climate Change Denial In Schools
DeSmogBlog, 02/01/2013"The American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) - known by its critics as a 'corporate bill mill' - has hit the ground running in 2013, pushing 'models bills' mandating the teaching of climate change denial in public school systems."
"CHART: Which Kills More Birds, Cats or Turbines?"
Mother Jones, 01/30/2013"Last month Fox News reported on the 'grizzly deaths' of 500 songbirds in West Virginia. Behind the fell deed: a wind farm, caught red-turbined. 'To date, the Obama administration... has not prosecuted a single case against the wind industry,' the Fox reporter laments. Opponents of renewable energy love to trot out the risk wind turbines pose to birds, and some engineering work has gone into making them more avian-friendly. But a new study released today in Nature shows that if you really want to protect birds, forget about wind: You need to lock up Kitty."
"How the 'Kochtopus' Stifled Green Debate"
Independent, 01/25/2013It's not just that the billionaire Koch brothers have spent tens of millions to undermine science and stifle debate on climate change. It's that they do it in secret.
"After Failed Climate Coverage, CNN Reports Americans Don't Understand Climate Change"
Media Matters, 01/24/2013"Promoting a recent poll, CNN is treating climate change as a matter of opinion, saying Americans are divided over whether or not it is real. But the network itself has fueled such confusion, often failing to report that manmade emissions are driving climate change or giving credence to those who deny the science behind it."
"About a Dozen Environment Reporters Left at Top 5 U.S. Papers"
InsideClimate News, 01/18/2013"As NYT dismantles its environment desk, increased pressure on a handful of remaining journalists covering complexity of climate change."
"Court Faults EPA For Bush-Era Soot Regulations"
Reuters, 01/15/2013Do electoral politics and industry lobbying sometimes trump science when it comes to protecting people's health? In an unusual admission, a federal appeals court rules "Yes." And EPA agrees.
"An appeals court is siding with environmental groups that had challenged Environmental Protection Agency regulations on soot as too weak.
The three-judge panel ruled Friday that the EPA regulated soot of a certain size under weaker cleanup requirements than it should have.
"China Lets Media Report on Air Pollution Crisis"
NY Times, 01/15/2013"BEIJING — The Chinese state news media on Monday published aggressive reports on what they described as the sickening and dangerous air pollution in Beijing and other parts of northern China, indicating that popular anger over air quality had reached a level where Communist Party propaganda officials felt that they had to allow the officially sanctioned press to address the growing concerns of ordinary citizens."
Analysis: "Why the NYTimes 'Green Blog' Is Now Essential"
Scientific American, 01/15/2013Despite New York Times execs' assurances that abolition of Times' the environment desk will not affect its own coverage, it is already changing the conversation at other news media.

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