WV Reporter Uses FOIA To Probe Drilling Waste

May 20, 2009–Billy Wolfe, of the Clarksburg Exponent Telegram, learns more about the chemicals in the hydraulic fracturing fluid used by gas-drilling companies.

Congress Chiefs Want Probe into Secret Bayer Poison Gas

May 7, 2009–House Energy Chair Waxman and Senate Commerce Chair Rockefeller call for investigation of whether Bayer could use safer chemicals at its Institute WV plant.

After Secrecy Claims, Bayer's Own Lapses Revealed as Biggest Threat

April 22, 2009–A U.S. Chemical Safety Board public hearing, delayed for a month due to Bayer's pleas for secrecy, finds lack of safety to be contributing factors to the 'accident' that killed two at an Institute, WV, plant in August 2008.

CSB Reschedules W.VA. Meeting After Bayer Secrecy Demands

March 25, 2009–A public meeting regarding the U.S. Chemical Safety Board's investigation of the August 2008 explosion at Bayer CropScience which killed two workers, originally scheduled for March 19, was postponed to April 23, 2009.

Top 10 Endangered Southern Areas

January 21, 2009–The Southern Environmental Law Center's top 10 places in America's South that face "immediate, potentially irreparable threats in 2009" represent a cross-section of the major environmental issues facing these states.

Smithsonian Adopts FOIA-Like Policies

November 20, 2008–The Smithsonian Institution's Board of Regents held its first public meeting in 162 years November 17, 2008. This marks a move away from existing policies that have made the institution's meetings and records less open to public scrutiny than other federal entities.

New Smithsonian Head Pleads To Keep FOIA Exemption

September 10, 2008–The Smithsonian Institution, a federal agency with many environment-related research and public education activities, opposes a Congressional move that would subject it to the same open-records law that applies to other executive branch agencies.

WV Claims Tax Breaks for Coal-To-Liquid Plant Should Be Secret From Taxpayers

August 13, 2008–Should a deal for $200 million in tax breaks for a West Virginia coal-to-liquids plant be kept a secret from taxpayers and voters?

Pennsylvania Reverses Ban On "Hormone-Free" Milk Labeling

January 30, 2008–Pennsylvania Gov. Ed Rendell (D) overruled a ban by the state's Department of Agriculture on the labelling of milk as "hormone free."

PENNSYLVANIA FORBIDS LABELING OF MILK PRODUCED WITHOUT ARTIFICIAL HORMONES

November 28, 2007–Consumers who want to choose milk produced without the use of artificial hormones are out of luck - if they live in Pennsylvania. That is not a choice the state will allow them.