Pipeline Safety Agency Says Public Shouldn't Know Spill Response Plans

August 28, 2013–Remember that March 29, 2013, oil pipeline spill that slimed a major piece of Mayflower, Arkansas? Well we now learn that neither Mayflower residents nor the US public are allowed to know how Exxon planned to clean up such a spill.

Chemical Safety: Right-To-Know? No — Not Exactly

August 14, 2013–The system for informing Americans about the threats to their health and safety posed by chemical plants is seriously broken, a Reuters investigation revealed August 10, 2013. Facilities often misidentify chemicals or their location, or fail to report the existence of the substances. But there are tools to help reporters.

Does Info on Pipeline Hazards Belong to Public They Endanger?

July 17, 2013–A doughty, Pulitzer-winning publication is insisting the public has a right to know when pipeline companies are profiting by endangering people's lives, health, and property. InsideClimate News is pushing back against oil companies and federal regulators who say reports on pipeline flaws and hazards are trade secrets.

NIOSH Withholding Locations Where Fracking Sand Threatens Workers

July 17, 2013–Studies by the National Institute of Occupational Safety and Health show silica used in hydraulic fracturing of tight oil and gas formations can endanger workers. But a FOIA request seeking to know the sites where workers had been endangered has met with no response, independent journalist and SEJ member Elizabeth Grossman reports. 

What the Public Doesn't Know About Treaties Won't Hurt the Corporations

July 3, 2013–If you are looking for yet another category of environmental information that the U.S. public is not allowed to know about, try international trade agreements. A recent court decision — one that got little attention from the news media — upheld the federal government's authority to keep secret some information about the health and environmental impacts of trade treaties.

AP Probe: Keeping Explosive Chemicals Secret May Not Make People Safer

June 5, 2013–Aftershocks of the April 17, 2013, ammonium nitrate explosion in West, Texas, continue — including investigations by news organizations as well as state and federal agencies. A major multistate investigative project by the Associated Press could only get data for 28 of the 50 states, but within those states it found that more than 600,000 people live within a typical blast zone and more had family in schools and hospitals within one.

Cairns: Messengers in Stone

April 15, 2013–

Continental Divide

April 15, 2013–

Covering Sprawl, Science, and Chickens

April 15, 2013–

Gold Rush in the Jungle

April 15, 2013–