Publication Items

Get Wise on Water Rule [1]

Wondering what WOTUS is? Or how the Clean Water Rule relates to the Clean Water Act and to the Section 404 permitting program meant to prevent the destruction of U.S. wetlands? Our Beat Basics column explains the history and background of the rule to help you cover White House, EPA and court action likely ahead.

SEJ Publication Types:
Backgrounders [2]
Topics on the Beat:
Economy & Business [3]
Environmental Politics [4]
Fish & Fisheries [5]
Government [6]
Laws & Regulations [7]
Natural Resources [8]
Planning & Growth [9]
Water & Oceans [10]
Region:
National (U.S.) [11]
Visibility:
Public [12]
- Read more about Get Wise on Water Rule [1]
Omnibus Politics: Building an Infrastructure Program [13]

Democrats and Republications may agree on a vast federal program to build and repair the nation's crumbling infrastructure, but still uncertain is what will be built, how it will be paid for and who will vote for it. TipSheet looks at the politics of public works (what journalists used to call "pork").

SEJ Publication Types:
TipSheet [14]
Topics on the Beat:
Economy & Business [3]
Energy & Fuel [15]
Environmental Politics [4]
Government [6]
Laws & Regulations [7]
Planning & Growth [9]
Policy [16]
Transportation [17]
Waste [18]
Water & Oceans [10]
Region:
National (U.S.) [11]
Visibility:
Public [12]
- Read more about Omnibus Politics: Building an Infrastructure Program [13]
"Streetfight: Handbook for an Urban Revolution" [19]

SEJ Publication Types:
BookShelf [20]
Topics on the Beat:
Planning & Growth [9]
Region:
Northeast (CT MA ME NH NJ NY RI VT) [21]
Visibility:
Public [12]
- Read more about "Streetfight: Handbook for an Urban Revolution" [19]
Finding Stories With the National Inventory of Dams [22]

IRE/NICAR's Liz Lucas and Andrew Kreighbaum provide a plethora of tips for using the NID database to cover infrastructure or breaking news involving one of the nation's >85,000 dams.

SEJ Publication Types:
Reporters Toolbox [23]
Topics on the Beat:
Disasters [24]
Planning & Growth [9]
Water & Oceans [10]
Visibility:
Public [12]
- Read more about Finding Stories With the National Inventory of Dams [22]
Between the Lines: When the Cure Is Worse Than the Disease [25]

For the latest Between the Lines – a question-and-answer feature in which published authors provide advice to SEJ members – SEJournal Book Editor Tom Henry interviewed Jörg Friedrichs, author of “The Future Is Not What It Used to Be: Climate Change and Energy Scarcity,” which received an honorable mention in the Rachel Carson Environment Book Award category [26] of SEJ’s 2014 annual awards contest. The book offers a unique perspective by explaining how transitions between climatic eras of the past are unlikely to happen again because infinite growth is not possible. Friedrichs, a native of Germany, is an associate professor in politics at the University of Oxford in England.

SEJ Publication Types:
BookShelf [20]
Topics on the Beat:
Climate Change [27]
Journalism & Media [28]
Planning & Growth [9]
Visibility:
Public [12]
- Read more about Between the Lines: When the Cure Is Worse Than the Disease [25]
New Oil Train Regs Go Backward on Public's Right to Know Risks [29]

Since U.S. oil production started booming, the news has been full of tanker trains blowing up. Under a May 2014 emergency order, the Federal Railway Administration increased requirements that railroads disclose oil train routes. But a new regulation issued May 1, 2015, leaves the public — and firefighters — with less information about the risks they face. Photo: The latest oil train derailment and explosion, today, in ND/Curt Bemson via AP.

SEJ Publication Types:
WatchDog TipSheet [30]
Topics on the Beat:
Disasters [24]
Energy & Fuel [15]
Laws & Regulations [7]
People & Population [31]
Planning & Growth [9]
Transportation [17]
Region:
Great Plains (IA KS ND NE MO SD) [32]
Northwest (OR WA) [33]
Visibility:
Public [12]
- Read more about New Oil Train Regs Go Backward on Public's Right to Know Risks [29]
"Eternal Harvest: The Legacy of American Bombs in Laos" [34]

SEJ Publication Types:
BookShelf [20]
Topics on the Beat:
Disasters [24]
Environmental Health [35]
Health [36]
Military [37]
People & Population [31]
Planning & Growth [9]
Pollution [38]
Region:
Asia [39]
Visibility:
Public [12]
- Read more about "Eternal Harvest: The Legacy of American Bombs in Laos" [34]
Living in Harm’s Way: Louisiana’s Struggle Between Land and Sea [40]

After Katrina, Louisiana may have hit the national spotlight for a time, but coastal communities elsewhere around the country will have to find their own answers to the question “Why does anyone still live there in harm’s way?” — even as more and more people move toward the coast and the water moves ever closer to them.

SEJ Publication Types:
Backgrounders [2]
Topics on the Beat:
Disasters [24]
Economy & Business [3]
Environmental Health [35]
Fish & Fisheries [5]
People & Population [31]
Planning & Growth [9]
Water & Oceans [10]
Region:
SE (AL AR FL GA KY LA MS NC PR SC TN) [41]
Visibility:
Public [12]
- Read more about Living in Harm’s Way: Louisiana’s Struggle Between Land and Sea [40]
Realities of Coastal Living Often Forgotten, Until the Worst Hits [42]

In the effort to help all coastal communities face with the realities that the Gulf of Mexico is their neighbor and sea level rise is inching up relentlessly, lessons can be learned from Louisiana as it works to adapt and to mitigate flood risk.

SEJ Publication Types:
Backgrounders [2]
Topics on the Beat:
Disasters [24]
People & Population [31]
Planning & Growth [9]
Water & Oceans [10]
Region:
SE (AL AR FL GA KY LA MS NC PR SC TN) [41]
Visibility:
Public [12]
- Read more about Realities of Coastal Living Often Forgotten, Until the Worst Hits [42]
Pipeline Data, Maps Could Be a Reporting Resource — If Open [43]

There are many good investigative stories to be done about natural gas pipelines in your local area. You can get some maps and data about these pipelines if you try. Hard. The government is not going to help too much. One resource is the National Pipeline Mapping System (NPMS), which allows the general public to see geodata on a county-by-county basis.

SEJ Publication Types:
WatchDog TipSheet [30]
Topics on the Beat:
Energy & Fuel [15]
Planning & Growth [9]
Visibility:
Public [12]
- Read more about Pipeline Data, Maps Could Be a Reporting Resource — If Open [43]

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