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.
Virginia: "Lawmakers Avoid Buzzwords on Climate Change Bills"
Norfolk Virginian-Pilot, 06/11/2012"State lawmakers ran into a problem this year when recommending a study on rising sea levels and their potential impacts on coastal Virginia. It was not a scientific problem or a financial one. It was linguistic."
"B.C. Taken To Task for Failure To Inform Public"
Vancouver Sun, 06/07/2012"The [British Columbia] provincial government routinely fails its legal duty to promptly inform citizens of risks to public health and safety, warn legal scholars at the University of Victoria."
"Failures to disclose include air pollution, deteriorating infrastructure, parasite infestations, contaminated water and disease risk. Relevant information has been withheld from potential victims, scientists and the media — in some cases for almost a decade, says the university’s Environmental Law Clinic following a study of six cases across B.C.
GOP Ally of Big Coal Smears Activist With Kiddie Porn Accusation
Mother Jones, 06/06/2012"When award-winning West Virginia anti-coal activist Maria Gunnoe went to Washington, DC, last week, she was prepared for obstructionist tactics. She was prepared to face icy stares and hard questions from Republican lawmakers. She was not prepared to be branded a pedophile."
"BP Sends a Chill Through the Scientific Community"
Mother Jones, 06/05/2012Two scientists say BP's aggressive efforts to subpoena e-mails related to their estimate of the oil flow rate during the 2010 Deepwater Horizon Gulf oil spill invade their privacy and threaten the integrity of the scientific deliberative process.
"Frack-Friendly New Report Debunked"
Mother Jones, 05/25/2012"Earlier this month, the State University of New York at Buffalo released a report concluding that fracking is getting safer, as both industry and regulators are doing a better job. The study got plenty of coverage--the Associated Press, Forbes, WGRZ, Buffalo News--but in the week since it was released, it's been attacked for a number of flaws."
"OH Docs Can't Reveal Drilling Chemicals To Public"
AP, 05/24/2012"COLUMBUS, Ohio -- Doctors given new access to the proprietary chemical recipes that oil and gas drillers use to crack into Ohio shale would be prohibited from sharing the information with the public under an energy proposal moving through the Ohio House."
"Heartland Reflects on Its Beating"
Guardian, 05/23/2012"The ultra-conservative group's climate conference showed how far it has fallen after an internet sting and a disastrous ad."
"It was an odd choice of icon for the ultra-conservative Heartland Institute. But there he was in round glasses, beard, and halo of curls staring out from T-shirts and coffee mugs at their gathering of climate change contrarians this week, the scientist whose internet sting set Heartland on its current course of collapse.
"NASCAR Enters Green Partnership with U.S. EPA"
ENS, 05/23/2012"WASHINGTON, DC -- The National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing (NASCAR) signed an agreement with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency on Monday to raise awareness of environmentally-friendly products and solutions."
"Bat Advocate: 'The Public Needs To Know' About White-Nose Syndrome"
AP, 05/21/2012"HELENA, Mont. -- A wildlife advocacy group is suing the U.S. Forest Service to seek the release of documents about how the agency plans to keep a disease that already has killed millions of bats in the U.S. and Canada from spreading to the Northern Rocky Mountains."
Heartland Facing Uncertain Future as Staff Depart and Cash Dries Up
Guardian, 05/21/2012"Free-market thinktank's conference opens in Chicago with president admitting defections are hurting group's finances."
"The Book Big Tobacco Doesn't Want You to Read"
Mother Jones, 05/21/2012"With "Golden Holocaust," historian Robert Proctor deconstructs an industry that still kills more than 400,000 Americans a year."
"Billboard Wars, Chapter 2 (or Is It 3?)"
Green (NYT), 05/18/2012"Chicago commuters have all the fun. Two weeks ago, there was the Heartland Institute’s Unabomber billboard likening a belief in climate change to psychopathy. This week, those stuck in traffic missed out on one larger-than-life retort to the Heartland campaign but will get to view another."
"Pennsylvania Doctors Worry Over Fracking 'Gag Rule'"
NPR, 05/18/2012"A new law in Pennsylvania has doctors nervous."
"Advocacy: For Heartland Board, Failed Climate Attack Was a Surprise"
ClimateWire, 05/14/2012"The Heartland Institute's board of directors was not consulted before the group launched an explosive billboard campaign last week, resulting in the resignation of one director and dismaying others, sources said."
"Toxic Roulette" -- EPA Suppressed Science at Odds With Chemical Sales
Chicago Tribune, 05/11/2012"Firemaster 550, touted as safe, is the latest in a long line of flame retardants allowed onto the market without thorough study of health risks"

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