Publication Items

Farm Bill Conferees May Decree Blackout on Farm Pollution Info [1]

You may smell that stench from a feedlot near your home, but the farm lobby and some of your elected representatives in Congress don't think you have any right to know who is creating it. This year's Farm Bill could include the most sweeping censorship ever of public information on agricultural pollution and the identities of the corporations that profit from it.

SEJ Publication Types:
WatchDog TipSheet [2]
Topics on the Beat:
Pollution [3]
Agriculture [4]
Visibility:
Public [5]
- Read more about Farm Bill Conferees May Decree Blackout on Farm Pollution Info [1]
Enviros Sue EPA for Dropping Collection of Livestock Data [6]

The groups said that EPA's proposed rule was needed to control pollution, under the Clean Water Act, from more than 20,000 concentrated animal feeding operations across the country. EPA initially published the rule in October 2011, but then withdrew it July 20, 2012.

SEJ Publication Types:
WatchDog TipSheet [2]
Topics on the Beat:
Agriculture [4]
Visibility:
Public [5]
- Read more about Enviros Sue EPA for Dropping Collection of Livestock Data [6]
Paragliding Photojournalist Arrested Near Kansas Feedlot [7]

Award-winning photojournalist George Steinmetz was arrested June 28, 2013, after flying a motorized paraglider over a cattle feedlot in Finney County, Kansas, while on assignment for National Geographic magazine.

SEJ Publication Types:
WatchDog TipSheet [2]
Topics on the Beat:
Transportation [8]
Laws & Regulations [9]
Journalism & Media [10]
Agriculture [4]
Region:
Great Plains (IA KS ND NE MO SD) [11]
Visibility:
Public [5]
- Read more about Paragliding Photojournalist Arrested Near Kansas Feedlot [7]
Congressional Research Service Reports on Environment Leaked [12]

Topics of the latest CRS reports shared by the Federation of American Scientist's Project on Government Secrecy include GMO wheat, earthquake risk and highway infrastructure, carbon capture and sequestration, the regional greenhouse gas initiative, regulation of fertilizers, and more.

SEJ Publication Types:
WatchDog TipSheet [2]
Topics on the Beat:
Water & Oceans [13]
Transportation [8]
Energy & Fuel [14]
Disasters [15]
Climate Change [16]
Chemicals [17]
Agriculture [4]
Visibility:
Public [5]
- Read more about Congressional Research Service Reports on Environment Leaked [12]
Groups Oppose North Carolina "Ag-Gag" Bill [18]

NC's Senate is considering an industry-sponsored bill that would extend restrictions on undercover investigations beyond livestock operations to include other categories of industry. The state's Chamber of Commerce supports it, saying industries beyond agriculture want protection from the reporting of workplace abuses.

SEJ Publication Types:
WatchDog TipSheet [2]
Topics on the Beat:
Laws & Regulations [9]
Agriculture [4]
Region:
SE (AL AR FL GA KY LA MS NC PR SC TN) [19]
Visibility:
Public [5]
- Read more about Groups Oppose North Carolina "Ag-Gag" Bill [18]
State 'Ag-Gag' Laws Spreading, Protect Misdeeds from Scrutiny [20]

While a Tennessee governor vetoed "ag-gag" legislation in that state, bills criminalizing the collection of information about abuses in livestock operations are still being pushed in other states — and the mechanism may be extended to stifle reporting on other environmental abuses.

SEJ Publication Types:
WatchDog TipSheet [2]
Topics on the Beat:
Laws & Regulations [9]
Agriculture [4]
Region:
SE (AL AR FL GA KY LA MS NC PR SC TN) [19]
Mid-Atlantic (DC DE MD PA VA WV) [21]
Visibility:
Public [5]
- Read more about State 'Ag-Gag' Laws Spreading, Protect Misdeeds from Scrutiny [20]
Covering Sprawl, Science, and Chickens [22]

SEJ Publication Types:
SEJ News [23]
Topics on the Beat:
Agriculture [4]
Disasters [15]
Journalism & Media [10]
People & Population [24]
Planning & Growth [25]
Science [26]
Water & Oceans [13]
Visibility:
Public [5]
- Read more about Covering Sprawl, Science, and Chickens [22]
Texas Fertilizer Explosion Re-Raises Buried Hazmat Disclosure Issues [27]

News stories about the April 17, 2013, explosion of a fertilizer storage plant in the town of West, Texas that killed 15 people have so far focused on the plant operator's risk-disclosure failure, instead of the likely fact that government agencies knew the nature and magnitude of the hazard — or should have known. The bigger story is the regulatory failure — and industry's decades-long campaign to keep the public ignorant of the threats they face. Photo: AP/LM Otero/Available through Creative Commons.

SEJ Publication Types:
WatchDog TipSheet [2]
Topics on the Beat:
Planning & Growth [25]
Laws & Regulations [9]
Environmental Politics [28]
Disasters [15]
Chemicals [17]
Agriculture [4]
Region:
Southwest (AZ NM OK TX) [29]
Visibility:
Public [5]
- Read more about Texas Fertilizer Explosion Re-Raises Buried Hazmat Disclosure Issues [27]
SEJournal Spring 2013, Vol. 23 No. 1 [30]

In this issue: Special report on energy and climate change; first installment of new column 'Freelance Files' on goal setting; database helps track illegal parkland conversions; members cover sprawl, science and chickens; annual Sundance Film Festival report; and six book reviews.

SEJ Publication Types:
SEJournal Online [31]
Topics on the Beat:
Agriculture [4]
Climate Change [16]
Energy & Fuel [14]
Journalism & Media [10]
Natural Resources [32]
Planning & Growth [25]
Science [26]
Visibility:
Public [5]
- Read more about SEJournal Spring 2013, Vol. 23 No. 1 [30]
Recent Secret CRS Reports Liberated [33]

Now you can read reports on key topics on the environmental beat — compiled by the Congressional Research Service and paid for with your tax dollars. Congress does not allow CRS to release them to the public. Thanks to the Government Secrecy Project at the Federation of American Scientists for making them available.

SEJ Publication Types:
WatchDog TipSheet [2]
Topics on the Beat:
Government [34]
Food [35]
Environmental Politics [28]
Energy & Fuel [14]
Economy & Business [36]
Agriculture [4]
Visibility:
Public [5]
- Read more about Recent Secret CRS Reports Liberated [33]

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