Publication Items

Shouldn't "Trade Secrets" Face a Sunset in Interests of Public Health? [1]

One of the oldest tricks U.S. industry has used to hide the potential harm to public health done by chemicals it puts into the environment is to claim that their identities are trade secrets via a loophole established under the antiquated Toxic Substance Control Act of 1976. On August 21st, a coalition of groups petitioned EPA for toxic trade secrets to have an expiration date.

SEJ Publication Types:
WatchDog TipSheet [2]
Topics on the Beat:
Chemicals [3]
Economy & Business [4]
Environmental Health [5]
Health [6]
Laws & Regulations [7]
Visibility:
Public [8]
- Read more about Shouldn't "Trade Secrets" Face a Sunset in Interests of Public Health? [1]
Fresh Secret Reports from the Congressional Research Service [9]

Here are some recent explainers of interest to environmental journalists from the CRS, which Congress does not allow to be released to the taxpaying public who paid for them. The WatchDog thanks those who leaked them and the Federation of American Scientists' Project on Government Secrecy for publishing them.

SEJ Publication Types:
WatchDog TipSheet [2]
Topics on the Beat:
Agriculture [10]
Chemicals [3]
Climate Change [11]
Economy & Business [4]
Energy & Fuel [12]
Laws & Regulations [7]
Natural Resources [13]
People & Population [14]
Policy [15]
Pollution [16]
Transportation [17]
Water & Oceans [18]
Visibility:
Public [8]
- Read more about Fresh Secret Reports from the Congressional Research Service [9]
"The Bet: Paul Ehrlich, Julian Simon, and Our Gamble over Earth’s Future" [19]

SEJ Publication Types:
BookShelf [20]
Topics on the Beat:
Climate Change [11]
Economy & Business [4]
Natural Resources [13]
People & Population [14]
Technology [21]
Visibility:
Public [8]
- Read more about "The Bet: Paul Ehrlich, Julian Simon, and Our Gamble over Earth’s Future" [19]
"For God, Country & Coca-Cola" [22]

SEJ Publication Types:
BookShelf [20]
Topics on the Beat:
Chemicals [3]
Consumer [23]
Economy & Business [4]
Forests [24]
Pollution [16]
Water & Oceans [18]
Region:
SE (AL AR FL GA KY LA MS NC PR SC TN) [25]
Visibility:
Public [8]
- Read more about "For God, Country & Coca-Cola" [22]
WikiLeaks Exposes Secret Obama Trade Pact on Environment [26]

Corporate lobby groups? Yeah, they can read it. Big campaign donors? They can read it, too. But can the news media and U.S. public read it? — No way! That would be un-American. Welcome to the secretly negotiated trade treaty known as the Trans-Pacific Partnership.

SEJ Publication Types:
WatchDog TipSheet [2]
Topics on the Beat:
Planning & Growth [27]
Environmental Politics [28]
Environmental Health [5]
Economy & Business [4]
Visibility:
Public [8]
- Read more about WikiLeaks Exposes Secret Obama Trade Pact on Environment [26]
Dark Money Dominates Climate Change Denial Discourse [29]

Much of the public discourse denying the science of climate change and the need to take action to slow it seems to be funded by shadowy oil companies and conservative billionaires funneling hundreds of millions of dollars secretly through dummy organizations, according to a new report.

SEJ Publication Types:
WatchDog TipSheet [2]
Topics on the Beat:
Economy & Business [4]
Climate Change [11]
Visibility:
Public [8]
- Read more about Dark Money Dominates Climate Change Denial Discourse [29]
Corporations Spy on Environmental Nonprofits: Report [30]

The report documents the startling breadth of corporate spying on nonprofit groups that oppose corporate policies — especially environmental groups. Much of the spying is done by contractors using former government security agency employees — and some is done with complicity or help from the FBI or CIA.

SEJ Publication Types:
WatchDog TipSheet [2]
Topics on the Beat:
Economy & Business [4]
Visibility:
Public [8]
- Read more about Corporations Spy on Environmental Nonprofits: Report [30]
EPA Fines Company for Withholding Info on Toxic Chromium [31]

A New Jersey chemical company, Elementis Chromium, will have to pay a $2.6 million fine for failing to disclose information about the toxicity of hexavalent chromium to workers, in violation of the Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA).

SEJ Publication Types:
WatchDog TipSheet [2]
Topics on the Beat:
Health [6]
Economy & Business [4]
Chemicals [3]
Visibility:
Public [8]
- Read more about EPA Fines Company for Withholding Info on Toxic Chromium [31]
Koch Dark Money Influences Environmental Politics [32]

News broken this month by Politico revealed the existence of a Koch brothers fund that quietly handed out some $250 million to conservative causes during the 2012 elections. Under U.S. law, such groups are tax-exempt, can raise unlimited amounts of money, and do not have to disclose their donors.

SEJ Publication Types:
WatchDog TipSheet [2]
Topics on the Beat:
Environmental Politics [28]
Economy & Business [4]
Visibility:
Public [8]
- Read more about Koch Dark Money Influences Environmental Politics [32]
Most US Public Companies Ignore Rule on Climate Risk Disclosure [33]

In 2010, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) required publicly traded companies to disclose to their stockholders (and the public) what business risks they might face from climate change. Almost three-quarters of the companies are still ignoring the rule, and their shareholders are flying blind.

SEJ Publication Types:
WatchDog TipSheet [2]
Topics on the Beat:
Economy & Business [4]
Disasters [34]
Climate Change [11]
Visibility:
Public [8]
- Read more about Most US Public Companies Ignore Rule on Climate Risk Disclosure [33]

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