The latest WatchDog TipSheet details an open-records case against U.S. EPA nominee Scott Pruitt (shown), the scoop on an Agriculture Department animal welfare database that vanished then returned, a reporter busted at Standing Rock, plus items on whistleblowers, coal-ash and more.
"The Mariana Trench in the northern Pacific is the deepest part of the world's oceans. You might think a place that remote would be untouched by human activity. But the Mariana Trench is polluted."
"Joe Pizarchik spent more than seven years working on a regulation to protect streams from mountaintop removal coal mining. It took Congress 25 hours to kill it."
"New research shows a recent three-year surge in methane levels in northeastern Pennsylvania, a hub of the state's natural gas production."
"In public comments following the pipeline company's $61 million fine and billion-dollar cleanup, few believe the money serves as a deterrent to the industry."
"A 2015 explosion at the company's refinery near Los Angeles came frighteningly close to releasing a lethal gas into a neighborhood; a ban may result".
"Construction crews have resumed work on the final segment of the Dakota Access pipeline, and the developer of the long-delayed project said Thursday that the full system could be operational within three months. Meanwhile, an American Indian tribe filed a legal challenge to block the work and protect its water supply."
"Qayyarah, Iraq - Six months after ISIL fighters torched oil wells in Qayyarah, Iraqi fire crews are still battling the flames. Like a scene from a Hollywood blockbuster, a vast and pervasive darkness hangs over Qayyarah, as toxic black smoke billows from the burning wells.
Oil has been a key source of income for the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL, also known as ISIS) group, making Qayyarah an important strategic town. Its recapture last August by Iraqi forces was a significant gain in their advance towards Mosul.
The National Response Center, run by the Coast Guard, takes reports of toxic spills and is supposed to keep a database on spill incidents. But a new study shows that it does nothing of the sort -- putting the public at risk by keeping them in the dark.
"The Environmental Protection Agency has come under constant fire from the Trump administration, enduring both a temporary gag order — which was later partially lifted — and news that President Trump was looking to cut the agency's budget and staff. Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-Fla.) introduced HR 861 Friday to get rid of the agency altogether."
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