SEJ Watchdog TipSheet

SEJ Watchdog TipSheet http://www.sej.org/foia/index7.htm Freedom of Information news tips from the Society of Environmental Journalists and the Radio and Television News Directors Foundation. en-us Copyright 2008 Society of Environmental Journalists Thu, 3 Jul 2008 17:27:13 CST rssFeeds http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/tech/rss PHP sej@sej.org (webmaster) sej@sej.org (webmaster) PRESS RELEASES COULD GET SECURITY STAMP FROM WHITE HOUSE http://members.sej.org/sej/tipsheet.php?rssID=2308&viewt=watchdoghttp://members.sej.org/sej/tipsheet.php?rssID=2308&viewt=watchdogUnder a new White House directive, embargoed press releases could be guarded as "Controlled Unclassified Information." President Bush on May 9, 2008, issued a "Memorandum For The Heads Of Executive Departments And Agencies" ostensibly meant to regularize the patchwork of extra-legal secrecy stamps that have proliferated over the last 7 years.A background paper accompanying the memo said embargoed press releases could be withheld using the CUI stamp temporarily, according to the Federation of American Scientists' Government Secrecy Project.<ul><li><a href="http://www.fas.org/blog/secrecy/2008/05/press_releases.html" target="_blank">"Press Releases Could Become 'Controlled Unclassified Info',"</a> Secrecy News, Federation of American Scientists, May 28, 2008, by Steven Aftergood.<li><a href="http://www.fas.org/blog/secrecy/2008/05/white_house_issues.html" target="_blank">"White House Issues Policy on 'Controlled Unclassified Info',"</a> Secrecy News, Federation of American Scientists, May 12, 2008, by Steven Aftergood.<li><a href="http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2008/05/20080509-6.html" target="_blank">"Memorandum For The Heads Of Executive Departments And Agencies,"</a> Executive Office of the President, May 9, 2008.<li>Previous Story: <a href="http://members.sej.org/sej/tipsheet.php?viewt=tipsheet&ID=1785">WatchDog of May 21, 2008.</a>Thu, 3 Jul 2008 17:27:13 CST HOUSE PASSES BILL TO OPEN UP FEDERAL ADVISORY COMMITTEES http://members.sej.org/sej/tipsheet.php?rssID=2307&viewt=watchdoghttp://members.sej.org/sej/tipsheet.php?rssID=2307&viewt=watchdogThe House passed a bill June 24, 2008, with amendments to strengthen the Federal Advisory Committee Act, which was intended to ensure that meetings and records of federally established advisory committees are open to the public and news media.The bill, HR 5687, was passed by voice vote under suspension of the rules, a procedure reserved for noncontroversial measures.The bill requires agencies to set new procedures to ensure advisory committee members do not have conflicts of interest. It also requires disclosure of communications between advisory committees established by the White House and private lobby groups.<ul><li><a href="http://www.fas.org/blog/secrecy/2008/06/faca_amendments.html" target="_blank">"House Approves FACA Amendments in Response to 'Abuses',"</a> Secrecy News, Federation of American Scientists, June 25, 2008, by Steven Aftergood.<li><a href="http://www.fas.org/sgp/congress/2008/faca-amend.html" target="_blank">Text of HR 5687.</a>Thu, 3 Jul 2008 17:26:23 CST BILL WOULD END SNEAKY FOIA EXEMPTIONS BY CONGRESS http://members.sej.org/sej/tipsheet.php?rssID=2306&viewt=watchdoghttp://members.sej.org/sej/tipsheet.php?rssID=2306&viewt=watchdogA Senate bill would require members of Congress who add FOIA exemptions to legislation to flag them so that committees whose job is to oversee FOIA can find and challenge them before they are enacted.The bill, S 2746, was introduced by Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Patrick Leahy (D-VT) and John Cornyn (R-TX). It is currently pending before the Judiciary Committee.A number of open government groups, led by OpenTheGovernment.org, are supporting the bill.Thu, 3 Jul 2008 17:25:27 CST JUSTICE SETTLES HATFILL CASE, LOCY JAIL THREAT STILL PENDS http://members.sej.org/sej/tipsheet.php?rssID=2305&viewt=watchdoghttp://members.sej.org/sej/tipsheet.php?rssID=2305&viewt=watchdogThe Justice Department will pay $5.8 million to the person it implied might be responsible for the 2001 anthrax mailings, former Army scientist Steven Hatfill, the AP reports.The settlement would seem to end the case, in which former USA Today reporter Toni Locy was threatened with jail and $5,000 per day in fines if she did not reveal confidential sources who leaked to her the Justice Department's suspicions. Contempt charges against Locy, however, have not yet been formally dismissed.The settlement comes as an embarrassment to the Justice Department not only for its bungling of the anthrax case, but also for its hostility toward journalists who get information from confidential sources, often inside government.Meanwhile, nearly two-thirds of the states' attorneys general have gone on record supporting passage of a pending federal bill to shield reporters from having to identify confidential sources. The Bush administration has opposed the bill. Most states have shield laws. <ul><li><a href="http://www.firstamendmentcenter.org/news.aspx?id=20239" target="_blank">"Justice Dept. To Pay Hatfill $5.8 Million To Settle Lawsuit,"</a> Associated Press via First Amendment Center, June 30, 2008.<li><a href="http://www.firstamendmentcenter.org/news.aspx?id=20200" target="_blank">"Attorneys General Back Federal Media Shield,"</a> Associated Press via First Amendment Center, June 20, 2008.Thu, 3 Jul 2008 17:24:17 CST CORPS WITHHOLDS DAM INVENTORY DATA http://members.sej.org/sej/tipsheet.php?rssID=2304&viewt=watchdoghttp://members.sej.org/sej/tipsheet.php?rssID=2304&viewt=watchdogThe Army Corps of Engineers is refusing access to the National Inventory of Dams, a database that it had published online for years, according to the Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press.The inventory of some 79,000 U.S. dams is key for public evaluation of how well federal, state, and local governments are performing the job of protecting the public from dam failures.The Des Moines Register had sought the database from IRE after this spring's spate of floods. Historically, the group Investigative Reporters and Editors has acquired the database from the Corps every year and made it available to journalists. In recent years, however, the Corps has denied FOIA requests from IRE for the information and has stopped publishing the complete database on its Web site.<ul><li><a href="http://www.rcfp.org/newsitems/index.php?i=6829" target="_blank">"IRE Denied Dam Inspection Records Since 2002,"</a> Quicklink, June 25, 2008, by Kathleen Cullinan.<li><a href="http://www.editorandpublisher.com/eandp/news/article_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1003820422" target="_blank">"Dam Inspection Data Withheld From Press Under Patriot Act,"</a> Editor and Publisher, June 25, 2008, by Joe Strupp.Thu, 3 Jul 2008 17:22:46 CST UNIV. OF CALIFORNIA BEGINS WITHHOLDING DETAILS ON ANIMAL RESEARCH http://members.sej.org/sej/tipsheet.php?rssID=2300&viewt=watchdoghttp://members.sej.org/sej/tipsheet.php?rssID=2300&viewt=watchdogThe University of California "has begun withholding public records that detail how animal research is done and what scientists hope to learn, saying when people know such things, it leads to crime," according to a story in the Sacramento Bee. The university cites recent attacks on researchers in Los Angeles and Santa Cruz by animal rights activists as a reason.<ul><li><a href="http://www.cfac.org/content/flash/June16/22.php" target="_blank">"UC Holds Back Details on Animal Research,"</a> Sacramento Bee, May 21, 2008, by Carrie Peyton Dahlberg, reprinted by California First Amendment Coalition/.Wed, 18 Jun 2008 16:48:30 CST MCCLELLAN MISLED ON CLIMATE SCIENCE CENSORSHIP: WATCHDOG http://members.sej.org/sej/tipsheet.php?rssID=2299&viewt=watchdoghttp://members.sej.org/sej/tipsheet.php?rssID=2299&viewt=watchdogNeed another reason not to go through the "press office?" Try reading the transcript from the White House briefing of June 8, 2005, the day Andrew C. Revkin of the New York Times broke the story of White House editing of climate science documents.Former White House Press Secretary Scott McClellan faced a barrage of questions that day — although the incident was not mentioned in his book, "What Happened." Now making talk-show rounds, McClellan says in his book that the truth and full information were frequent casualties in the White House press operation.There is considerable uncertainty among experts over whether any true information — or any information at all — emerged from McClellan's mouth that day. The relevant transcript, still available at the White House, was thoughtfully reprinted by whistleblower Rick Piltz, whose resignation over political manipulation of science brought the whole matter to light. It's on his Web site, <a href="http://www.climatesciencewatch.org/index.php/csw/details/scott_mcclellan_global_warming_spin/" target="_blank">ClimateScienceWatch.org.</a><ul><li>Previous Stories: WatchDogs of <a href="http://members.sej.org/sej/tipsheet.php?viewt=tipsheet&ID=1764">April 23, 2008,</a> <a href="http://members.sej.org/sej/tipsheet.php?ID=1655">Oct. 31, 2007,</a> <a href="http://members.sej.org/sej/tipsheet.php?viewt=tipsheet&ID=1494">March 22, 2007,</a> and <a href="http://members.sej.org/sej/tipsheet.php?viewt=tipsheet&ID=1462">Feb. 8, 2007.</a>Wed, 18 Jun 2008 16:47:36 CST JOURNALIST SUES AG DEPARTMENT OVER FEEDLOT 'PHONE BOOK' SECRECY http://members.sej.org/sej/tipsheet.php?rssID=2298&viewt=watchdoghttp://members.sej.org/sej/tipsheet.php?rssID=2298&viewt=watchdogA freelance journalist is challenging in court the US Department of Agriculture's efforts to keep secret its data on who owns the feedlots Americans can see and smell, but whose pollution the food industry does not want USDA to regulate.In hopes of reassuring beef-importing nations who lack confidence that the USDA is effectively keeping US meat free from mad cow disease, the USDA has launched a "National Animal Identification System" (NAIS), which it hopes will ultimately track every animal in the US. Part of the system is the National Premises Information Repository (NPIR) — a "phone book" of livestock owners that includes major feedlots.At industry urging, the USDA is trying to keep this information secret, arguing that it involves privacy and trade secrets. But consumer and environmental groups have argued that the public needs and has a right to the information.Freelance ag journalist Mary-Louise Zanoni filed a FOIA request for the NPIR database. The USDA effectively denied the request and Zanoni's appeal. So Zanoni, a small New York farm-operator and Yale-trained lawyer, is taking the USDA to court.She is challenging the legitimacy and good faith of USDA's 11th-hour move to shield the NPIR database under the Privacy Act.Despite USDA's representations that the database is "voluntary," Zanoni believes many animal-owners have been placed in it without their knowledge or consent. She is also asking the USDA to reveal how many farmers have asked to be removed from the database and how USDA has responded to their requests.<ul><li><a href="http://www.sej.org/foia/Zanoni_releaseJun208.txt" target="_blank">Zanoni Press Release of June 2, 2008.</a><li><a href="http://www.sej.org/foia/ZvUSDA_Complaint_Jun208.pdf" target="_blank">Text of Complaint in Zanoni v. USDA.</a><li>Previous Story: <a href="http://members.sej.org/sej/tipsheet.php?ID=1784">WatchDog of May 21, 2008.</a>Wed, 18 Jun 2008 16:46:25 CST HOUSE PROBES OMB SUPPRESSION OF CHEMICAL RISK ASSESSMENTS http://members.sej.org/sej/tipsheet.php?rssID=2297&viewt=watchdoghttp://members.sej.org/sej/tipsheet.php?rssID=2297&viewt=watchdogThe House Science Committee is investigating charges that a White House political arm with no scientific expertise is suppressing EPA information about the toxic risks of commercial products.Many of the industries whose products are insulated from consumer scrutiny by the White House actions have been heavy contributors to the campaigns of President Bush and Congressional Republicans. The White House Office of Management and Budget (OMB) has for decades been accused of functioning as a secret back-channel for industry lobbyists to exert illegal influence over regulatory proceedings at EPA and other agencies.The Administrative Procedure Act requires agencies to do rulemaking with notice and comment, in open meetings, and in most cases to base rules solely on a publicly available record of evidence and testimony. Under its own set of rules, OMB prevents agency rules from going final before it has approved them. Officials in OMB's Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs often meet with interest groups, but are not required to disclose details of those meetings.At issue is the EPA database called <a href="http://cfpub.epa.gov/ncea/iris/index.cfm" target="_blank">IRIS</a> (Integrated Risk Information System), a searchable compilation of human health studies on hundreds of chemicals used in industry and commerce. IRIS is not a regulatory activity per se, but information in the database is used in many regulatory decisions.The Senate Environment Committee held hearings on the IRIS matter April 29, 2008. An investigation by the Government Accountability Office found that OMB reviews are creating long delays in getting information about human health effects into the IRIS database.<ul><li><a href="http://epw.senate.gov/public/index.cfm?FuseAction=Hearings.Hearing&Hearing_ID=78361662-802a-23ad-48ec-4d8bfb5ef337" target="_blank">"Hearing: Oversight on EPA Toxic Chemical Policies,"</a> Senate Environment and Public Works Committee, April 29, 2008.<li><a href="http://science.house.gov/publications/hearings_markups_details.aspx?NewsID=2196" target="_blank">"EPA's Restructured IRIS System: Have Polluters and Politics Overwhelmed Science?"</a> House Science Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations, May 21, 2008, hearing statements and submissions.<li><a href="http://www.gao.gov/new.items/d08440.pdf" target="_blank">"Chemical Assessments: Low Productivity and New Interagency Review Process Limit the Usefulness and Credibility of EPA's Integrated Risk Information System,"</a> Government Accountability Office, March 2008, GAO-08-440.<li><a href="http://ombwatch.org/regs/PDFs/IRISfactsheet.pdf" target="_blank">OMB Watch Fact Sheet on IRIS Process.</a><li><a href="http://science.house.gov/press/PRArticle.aspx?NewsID=2223" target="_blank">House Science Committee Release of June 12, 2008,</a> on hearing.<li><a href="http://science.house.gov/press/PRArticle.aspx?NewsID=2221" target="_blank">Miller letter to OMB, June 11, 2008.Wed, 18 Jun 2008 16:43:02 CST