Appeals Court Orders Release of Timber-Trade Records

September 21, 2011–Details and documents on the 2006 US-Canada Softwood Lumber Agreement will be released after a federal appeals court ruled Sept. 16, 2011, against claims by the Office of the US Trade Representative that the documents, sought by the Center for Biological Diversity and Conservation Northwest, were exempt from the Freedom of Information Act.

Florida Court Won't Order OSHA To Withhold Images of Orca-Trainer Death

September 21, 2011–Judge Gregory Presnell ruled that the federal Freedom of Information Act did not allow an injunction before the agency itself had made its decision on whether to release the records.

Indiana GOPer Reintroduces Federal Shield Law

September 21, 2011–Rep. Mike Pence (R-IN) has reintroduced a bill that would establish a limited federal protection for journalists when prosecutor and courts seek to compel them to disclose their confidential sources. A similar measure died on the Senate floor at the end of the last Congress.

TVA Public Relations Staff Edited Engineer's Report on Failed Coal-Ash Dam

September 21, 2011–Dam inspections began before the Dec. 2008 spill incident of 5.4 million cubic yards of coal-ash slurry in Tennessee. Afterward, the initial draft engineer's report of the pre-spill inspection noted several eroded areas needed to be fixed "immediately;" the word was subsequently struck from the report.

Urban Forest Projects Address Energy, Health, Education, More

August 31, 2011–Organizations in IL, NY, and TX received substantial funding from the US Forest Service so they can work on projects related to urban forests. The products and efforts are available for use by others around the country, making them of interest to any journalist covering urban environmental or health issues.

Projects in 6 States Selected To Help Pioneer 3 Biofuels

August 17, 2011–USDA continues to expand its Biomass Crop Assistance Program that provides financial incentives for producers of various biomass products with the latest selected project areas for growing camelina in CA, OR, WA, and MT, poplar trees in OR, and switchgrass in KS and OK.

Voluntary Sage-Grouse Protection Efforts Awarded $71 Million

August 17, 2011–Greater sage-grouse are at just 3% of their historical numbers, and warrant protection, according to the Bureau of Land Management. But since other species are in even more dire straits, the birds haven't been declared a threatened or endangered species. The US Dept. of Agriculture money is a work-around aimed at saving the birds and their habitat.

FWS Proposes To Expand Hunting at 10 Wildlife Refuges

August 3, 2011–Hunting, under certain conditions, is already allowed at more than 300 of the 553 sites in the National Wildlife Refuge System. Contact local environmental, animal rights, and hunting groups for opinions for or against these proposals that would allow additional species to be killed at 10 refuges in 8 states.

BP Blowout

July 15, 2011–

California Weekly Newspaper Scores by Unraveling Green Claims from Corporate and Enviro Groups

July 15, 2011–In the Summer issue of SEJournal, Bill Dawson gets the inside story from the Monterey County Weekly's assistant editor Kera Abraham (pictured at left) and her award-winning stories involving clashing shades of green.