Publication Items

You Aren't Allowed To Know How Much of Your Coal Is Being Sold (Cheap?) [1]

The vast coal seams below federally owned lands in the West are a resource owned by the American people as a whole — and when rights to mine them are sold to coal companies, it is supposed to be on terms that are in the public interest. So you'd think public scrutiny via open information would be a given. The Interior Department says not, recently denying a FOIA request for this information. Image: © Clipart.com [2].

SEJ Publication Types:
WatchDog TipSheet [3]
Topics on the Beat:
Energy & Fuel [4]
Laws & Regulations [5]
Visibility:
Public [6]
- Read more about You Aren't Allowed To Know How Much of Your Coal Is Being Sold (Cheap?) [1]
SEJ Objects To Prosecution of Journalists Covering Pipeline Protests [7]

UPDATE: The Society of Environmental Journalists (SEJ) on Oct 19, 2016 wrote law enforcement officials at the state and federal levels, objecting to prosecution of journalists who have been covering protests against the Dakota Access Pipe Line and other pipelines. The prosecutor who charged Democracy Now's Amy Goodman has responded to SEJ's letter.

SEJ Publication Types:
WatchDog TipSheet [3]
Topics on the Beat:
Energy & Fuel [4]
Journalism & Media [8]
Laws & Regulations [5]
Visibility:
Public [6]
- Read more about SEJ Objects To Prosecution of Journalists Covering Pipeline Protests [7]
Newly Leaked: CRS Explainers To Help Environmental Journalists [9]

The Federation of American Scientists' Project on Government Secrecy publishes leaked copies of Congressional Research Service research papers. Here are a few recent ones of use to environmental journalists.

SEJ Publication Types:
WatchDog TipSheet [3]
Topics on the Beat:
Agriculture [10]
Biodiversity [11]
Climate Change [12]
Energy & Fuel [4]
Health [13]
Technology [14]
Visibility:
Public [6]
- Read more about Newly Leaked: CRS Explainers To Help Environmental Journalists [9]
Investigative Journalism Lives! — CMD Exposes GOP on Clean Air Plan [15]

Patience, attention to detail, and public-records requests can still get you a bombshell story on the environmental beat. One recently tied coal and oil company megabucks to Republican attorneys general challenging the Clean Power Plan (CPP) in court.

SEJ Publication Types:
WatchDog TipSheet [3]
Topics on the Beat:
Climate Change [12]
Energy & Fuel [4]
Environmental Politics [16]
Visibility:
Public [6]
- Read more about Investigative Journalism Lives! — CMD Exposes GOP on Clean Air Plan [15]
What Congress Won't Let You Read: Latest CRS Explainers Leaked [17]

The Congressional Research Service produces expert nonpartisan backgrounders on many subjects of interest to environment and energy journalists. But Congress won't release them. Thanks to the Federation of American Scientists' Project on Government Secrecy, you can read them now.

SEJ Publication Types:
WatchDog TipSheet [3]
Topics on the Beat:
Agriculture [10]
Climate Change [12]
Disasters [18]
Economy & Business [19]
Energy & Fuel [4]
Health [13]
Laws & Regulations [5]
Pollution [20]
Transportation [21]
Visibility:
Public [6]
- Read more about What Congress Won't Let You Read: Latest CRS Explainers Leaked [17]
Caught Fudging Science, Duke Power Attacks Reporters Privilege [22]

Embroiled in a growing scandal about efforts to cover up the science on the threat posed by coal ash to North Carolinians' drinking water, Duke Energy is asking a court to hold a hearing to discover the source of a document leaked to the Associated Press.

SEJ Publication Types:
WatchDog TipSheet [3]
Topics on the Beat:
Chemicals [23]
Consumer [24]
Energy & Fuel [4]
Environmental Politics [16]
Laws & Regulations [5]
Pollution [20]
Science [25]
Water & Oceans [26]
Visibility:
Public [6]
- Read more about Caught Fudging Science, Duke Power Attacks Reporters Privilege [22]
Reporters Mine a Rich Vein of Who Knew What, When, on Climate [27]

SEJ Publication Types:
Inside Story [28]
Topics on the Beat:
Climate Change [12]
Energy & Fuel [4]
Environmental Politics [16]
Science [25]
Visibility:
Public [6]
- Read more about Reporters Mine a Rich Vein of Who Knew What, When, on Climate [27]
Canadian Journo Forces Release of Docs on Pipeline Impact [29]

Previously secret information about the safety and environmental impact of Enbridge pipeline operations was released in July as a result of efforts by journalist Mike De Souza (pictured), managing editor of the National Observer, and an independent Canadian government watchdog.

SEJ Publication Types:
WatchDog TipSheet [3]
Topics on the Beat:
Energy & Fuel [4]
Environmental Health [30]
Laws & Regulations [5]
Visibility:
Public [6]
- Read more about Canadian Journo Forces Release of Docs on Pipeline Impact [29]
House GOPers in Standoff with State AGs Over Exxon Climate Probe Docs [31]

Transparency is at the core of an escalating confrontation between House Republicans and some state Attorney Generals over Exxon's support for climate change denial. The AGs in July defied a subpoena from the House Science Committee, chaired by Lamar Smith (R-TX, pictured).

SEJ Publication Types:
WatchDog TipSheet [3]
Topics on the Beat:
Climate Change [12]
Economy & Business [19]
Energy & Fuel [4]
Laws & Regulations [5]
Visibility:
Public [6]
- Read more about House GOPers in Standoff with State AGs Over Exxon Climate Probe Docs [31]
Court Docs in Bankruptcy Disclose Peabody Funding of Climate Denial [32]

Peabody, the documents show, funded at least two dozen groups that sowed doubt about whether climate change is caused by human emissions and that opposed regulating climate emissions. Most of that funding had been kept secret until now.

SEJ Publication Types:
WatchDog TipSheet [3]
Topics on the Beat:
Climate Change [12]
Energy & Fuel [4]
Environmental Politics [16]
Laws & Regulations [5]
Pollution [20]
Visibility:
Public [6]
- Read more about Court Docs in Bankruptcy Disclose Peabody Funding of Climate Denial [32]

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