Publication Items

Will Fracking Disclosure Decisions Put Profits Above Health? [1]

Federal agencies are still grinding forward on decisions about disclosure of often-toxic ingredients pumped into the ground during "fracking" to produce gas and oil. Significant decisions may come eventually from the Interior Department, the EPA, and the Obama White House. But don't bet on any courageous decisions until after the November election.

SEJ Publication Types:
WatchDog TipSheet [2]
Topics on the Beat:
Chemicals [3]
Economy & Business [4]
Energy & Fuel [5]
Health [6]
Pollution [7]
Visibility:
Public [8]
- Read more about Will Fracking Disclosure Decisions Put Profits Above Health? [1]
"The Science Beneath the Surface: A Very Short Guide to the Marcellus Shale" [9]

SEJ Publication Types:
BookShelf [10]
Topics on the Beat:
Climate Change [11]
Energy & Fuel [5]
Environmental Health [12]
Health [6]
Pollution [7]
Science [13]
Water & Oceans [14]
Region:
Northeast (CT MA ME NH NJ NY RI VT) [15]
Visibility:
Public [8]
- Read more about "The Science Beneath the Surface: A Very Short Guide to the Marcellus Shale" [9]
Pipeline Data, Maps Could Be a Reporting Resource — If Open [16]

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 [2]
Topics on the Beat:
Energy & Fuel [5]
Planning & Growth [17]
Visibility:
Public [8]
- Read more about Pipeline Data, Maps Could Be a Reporting Resource — If Open [16]
Constitution Wins After Court Imposes Prior Restraint on Pipeline Safety Info [18]

As a nationwide newspaper chain probed safety threats posed to the public by gas pipelines, an Alabama court imposed prior restraint on the Montgomery Advertiser, to prevent it from publishing the Alabama Gas Corporation's safety plan, citing homeland security and trade secrets. Now a judge has ruled that the court erred in granting a temporary restraining order.

SEJ Publication Types:
WatchDog TipSheet [2]
Topics on the Beat:
Disasters [19]
Energy & Fuel [5]
Journalism & Media [20]
Laws & Regulations [21]
People & Population [22]
Region:
National (U.S.) [23]
SE (AL AR FL GA KY LA MS NC PR SC TN) [24]
Visibility:
Public [8]
- Read more about Constitution Wins After Court Imposes Prior Restraint on Pipeline Safety Info [18]
Interior Coal Lease Data Not Available Online [25]

You — as an owner (one of 314 million) of the coal reserves on federal land — might want to know whether the Bureau of Land Management is getting a fair return for your property when it is sold to a coal company. Good luck with that. Certainly, there is a database of federal coal lease activity. It's just that you would have a really hard time getting to it.

SEJ Publication Types:
WatchDog TipSheet [2]
Topics on the Beat:
Economy & Business [4]
Energy & Fuel [5]
Environmental Politics [26]
Visibility:
Public [8]
- Read more about Interior Coal Lease Data Not Available Online [25]
Obama Admin Hides KXL Wildlife Impact Documents [27]

An environmental group is suing the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service for denying a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request for information on the impacts of the proposed Keystone XL pipeline on whooping cranes, piping plovers and other endangered species. Photo: Piping plover/USFWS.

SEJ Publication Types:
WatchDog TipSheet [2]
Topics on the Beat:
Biodiversity [28]
Energy & Fuel [5]
Government [29]
Wildlife [30]
Visibility:
Public [8]
- Read more about Obama Admin Hides KXL Wildlife Impact Documents [27]
Firm Seeks To Silence Fracking Pollution Concerns with Defamation Suit [31]

The video of Steve Lipsky setting his drinking water on fire nearly went viral on You Tube. The fracking company he thinks caused the problem is suing him for defamation. Now that case is headed for the Texas Supreme Court. Oral arguments are scheduled for December 4.

SEJ Publication Types:
WatchDog TipSheet [2]
Topics on the Beat:
Chemicals [3]
Energy & Fuel [5]
Health [6]
Water & Oceans [14]
Region:
Southwest (AZ NM OK TX) [32]
Visibility:
Public [8]
- Read more about Firm Seeks To Silence Fracking Pollution Concerns with Defamation Suit [31]
White House Nears Decision Shielding Frack Chem Disclosure [33]

BLM has drafted a "final" rule — but that must be approved by the White House Office of Management and Budget, which often serves as a backroom channel for industry to change regulations. The final product — still undetermined — is likely to be a disappointment to those who had hoped for Obama administration leadership on fracking disclosure.

SEJ Publication Types:
WatchDog TipSheet [2]
Topics on the Beat:
Chemicals [3]
Energy & Fuel [5]
Laws & Regulations [21]
Visibility:
Public [8]
- Read more about White House Nears Decision Shielding Frack Chem Disclosure [33]
Congress Doesn't Want You To Read These Reports [34]

More evidence of Congress' ineffectiveness comes in its ongoing failure to keep its secrets actually secret. Its official policy is to keep the Congressional Research Service from publicly releasing the handy explainers it produces at taxpayer expense. Thanks again to the Federation of American Scientists' Government Secrecy Project for unauthorized publication of these reports.

SEJ Publication Types:
WatchDog TipSheet [2]
Topics on the Beat:
Climate Change [11]
Disasters [19]
Economy & Business [4]
Energy & Fuel [5]
Government [29]
Health [6]
Laws & Regulations [21]
Policy [35]
Visibility:
Public [8]
- Read more about Congress Doesn't Want You To Read These Reports [34]
States Hide Safety Failures Over Routing Data on Crude Oil Trains [36]

Just over a year after an oil-train explosion in Quebec killed 47 people, information on the threats oil trains present to public safety is starting to seep through a long blackout in which railroads convinced pliable federal regulators that the public was better off not knowing. Journalists from the AP and McClatchy FOIA'd information loose from Amtrak on Maryland and Pennsylvania, two of the states that have been reluctant to disclose.

SEJ Publication Types:
WatchDog TipSheet [2]
Topics on the Beat:
Energy & Fuel [5]
Laws & Regulations [21]
Transportation [37]
Region:
National (U.S.) [23]
Mid-Atlantic (DC DE MD PA VA WV) [38]
Visibility:
Public [8]
- Read more about States Hide Safety Failures Over Routing Data on Crude Oil Trains [36]

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