Court Lifts Settlement Secrecy in Pennsylvania Fracking Case

March 27, 2013–The unsealed documents revealed that the potential plaintiffs had received $750,000 from frackers Range Resources, which has been accused of high-handed tactics. The case is important in several respects — even beyond the broader controversy over sealing of civil settlements.

Fracking Disclosure Loses a Round in Wyoming

March 27, 2013–Natrona County District Judge Catherine Wilking ruled March 25, 2013, that a company could withhold as trade secret the ingredients used in the fluids it pumped under high pressure to fracture gas- and oil-bearing rock. Environmentalists had sought to make the ingredient list public.

Group Sues California over Enforcement of Fracking Disclosure

January 30, 2013–The Arizona-based Center for Biological Diversity filed suit in Alameda County Superior Court charging that the California Department of Conservation's Division of Oil, Gas and Geothermal Resources was not following the state's own law.

J-Groups Urge Supreme Court To Toss Va. Ban on Out-of-State FOIA Requesters

January 16, 2013–Should state freedom-of-information laws disqualify people or organizations from out of state from getting government records? Led by the Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press, some 53 news media groups have urged the US Supreme Court to say no.

Are We Ready for the Next Superstorm?

January 15, 2013–In this excerpt from the latest issue of SEJournal (Winter), Francesca Lyman asks "What does Hurricane Sandy tell us about coping with human health and consequences of climate change?"

Table of Contents: SEJournal Winter 2012-13

January 15, 2013–New issues of SEJournal are available to members and subscribers only. Non-members and non-subscribers can view the Table of Contents of the current SEJournal issue (Winter), read an excerpt, and get information on how to join or subscribe. Previous issues are publicly available.

Coal Slurry Database May Help Reporters Find Problem Impoundments

December 12, 2012–A fatal November 30, 2012, collapse of part of a coal-slurry impoundment in West Virginia served as a reminder of safety issues that may not be adequately regulated in some states and localities. You can locate local coal-slurry impoundments and information on their status with an online public database.

NRC Board Orders Calif. Nuclear Plant To Turn Over Withheld Records

December 12, 2012–Is the public entitled to see documents that may bear on the safety of a for-profit utility's plan to restart the flaw-stricken San Onofre nuclear plant in California? Maybe not. The Nuclear Regulatory Commission's Atomic Safety and Licensing Board ruled the utility must turn the documents over to the board — but currently plans to keep them secret from the public.

Pennsylvania Newspapers Get Break in Fracking Disclosure Case

December 12, 2012–The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette was joined by the Washington (PA) Observer-Reporter in a suit to unseal records of the July 2011 settlement of a case in which a family had sued four natural gas companies over damages they claimed were caused by hydraulic fracturing. The appeals court said a lower court had erred in throwing out the newspapers' case.

SEJ Backs Member Threatened by Interior Secretary

December 12, 2012–The Society of Environmental Journalists wrote Interior Secretary Ken Salazar about the Election Day incident of attempted intimidation in Colorado, when the Secretary threatened to "punch out" SEJ member Dave Philipps, senior investigative reporter with the Colorado Springs Gazette.