Publication Items

Baker Hughes Vows To Disclose Frack Chemicals. Will Others? [1]

It may be good PR. Baker Hughes has not only been a leader in oilfield technology, but has also been a leader in the inexact science of producing benign media coverage. The company says it will disclose the identities of all the chemicals it uses, but not the exact amounts or proportions. This move might also be a shrewd way of getting a jump on the inevitable, ahead of possible EPA mandatory disclosure requirements.

SEJ Publication Types:
WatchDog TipSheet [2]
Topics on the Beat:
Energy & Fuel [3]
Environmental Health [4]
Pollution [5]
Water & Oceans [6]
Visibility:
Public [7]
- Read more about Baker Hughes Vows To Disclose Frack Chemicals. Will Others? [1]
Chevron Blocks Access by State Regulators to Gas Well Explosion Site [8]

One worker was killed February 11, 2014, when a Chevron gas well exploded near Bobtown, Pennsylvania, and burned for five days. But inspectors from the state's Department of Environmental Protection were stopped by Chevron from approaching the site — thus keeping them from seeing possible safety violations. The DEP acquiesced at the time, but later cited Chevron for nine violations at the site.

SEJ Publication Types:
WatchDog TipSheet [2]
Topics on the Beat:
Disasters [9]
Energy & Fuel [3]
People & Population [10]
Region:
California [11]
Mid-Atlantic (DC DE MD PA VA WV) [12]
Southwest (AZ NM OK TX) [13]
Visibility:
Public [7]
- Read more about Chevron Blocks Access by State Regulators to Gas Well Explosion Site [8]
In Covering Chemical Spill, Ward Zags When Others Zig [14]

"Inside Story" editor Beth Daley interviews Charleston (WV) Gazette reporter Ken Ward Jr. — who is recognized nationally for his reporting on coal mining, the environment and workplace safety — about his unique work on the Freedom Industries spill story. Photo: The FI tank which leaked a coal-cleaning chemical into the river on Jan. 9, 2014, contaminating the drinking water of 300,000 West Virginians for weeks. Credit: Commercial Photography Services of WV via USCSB.

SEJ Publication Types:
Inside Story [15]
Topics on the Beat:
Chemicals [16]
Disasters [9]
Energy & Fuel [3]
Environmental Health [4]
Health [17]
Water & Oceans [6]
Region:
Mid-Atlantic (DC DE MD PA VA WV) [12]
Visibility:
Public [7]
- Read more about In Covering Chemical Spill, Ward Zags When Others Zig [14]
New Oil-Gas Well Database Offers Tool for Environmental Reporters [18]

The federal government certainly won't tell you. But the nonprofit research group FracTracker will give you data and maps on some 1.1 million oil and gas wells in 36 U.S. states. It's a great starting point for stories on the environmental impacts of drilling and fracking in your area.
SEJ Publication Types:
WatchDog TipSheet [2]
Topics on the Beat:
Energy & Fuel [3]
Technology [19]
Visibility:
Public [7]
- Read more about New Oil-Gas Well Database Offers Tool for Environmental Reporters [18]
Wyoming Supreme Court Doubts 'Trade Secret' Loophole on Fracking Disclosure [20]

Just claiming something as "confidential business information" is not enough. Wyoming's Supreme Court said the state's drillers, and state regulators, bear the burden of showing why they are withholding disclosure of the often-toxic chemicals pumped underground in fracking operations.
SEJ Publication Types:
WatchDog TipSheet [2]
Topics on the Beat:
Chemicals [16]
Energy & Fuel [3]
Laws & Regulations [21]
Region:
Mountain West (CO ID MT NV UT WY) [22]
Visibility:
Public [7]
- Read more about Wyoming Supreme Court Doubts 'Trade Secret' Loophole on Fracking Disclosure [20]
Sunshine Week 2014: Hard Fight for Open Government Far from Won [23]

Spin control and the security state may have taken large bites out of the First Amendment in recent years, but the pushback celebration known as Sunshine Week has never been more robust. Pushing for open government is a trend. Nowhere is this more true than on the environment and energy beats.

SEJ Publication Types:
WatchDog TipSheet [2]
Topics on the Beat:
Energy & Fuel [3]
Environmental Politics [24]
Journalism & Media [25]
Visibility:
Public [7]
- Read more about Sunshine Week 2014: Hard Fight for Open Government Far from Won [23]
More Data Resources for Reporting on Energy [26]

A new USGS database gives you downloadable information on some 47,000 wind turbines in the United States. This allows environmental journalists to come up with all kinds of local, regional, or national stories about wind energy and its impacts.

SEJ Publication Types:
WatchDog TipSheet [2]
Topics on the Beat:
Energy & Fuel [3]
Technology [19]
Visibility:
Public [7]
- Read more about More Data Resources for Reporting on Energy [26]
Groups Urge TRI Reporting on Oil and Gas Extraction [27]

The oil and gas industry is not currently required to report toxic emissions from certain smaller operations — such as wells — because they do not fit EPA's definition of a TRI "facility." Yet 14 groups, led by the Environmental Integrity Project, have compiled and released data showing that oil and gas extraction facilities in just six states emitted ~8.5 million tons of toxic chemicals yearly.

SEJ Publication Types:
WatchDog TipSheet [2]
Topics on the Beat:
Energy & Fuel [3]
Pollution [5]
Visibility:
Public [7]
- Read more about Groups Urge TRI Reporting on Oil and Gas Extraction [27]
Secret CRS Reports on Environment Published [28]

Taxpayers' money funds the Congressional Research Service as it produces objective and authoritative reports on issues facing Congress — many on subjects of interest to environmental journalists. Congress, however, does not share these reports with the public who paid for them. Thanks to the Project on Government Secrecy, another batch of the reports has been leaked and published.

SEJ Publication Types:
WatchDog TipSheet [2]
Topics on the Beat:
Technology [19]
Natural Resources [29]
Laws & Regulations [21]
Government [30]
Energy & Fuel [3]
Visibility:
Public [7]
- Read more about Secret CRS Reports on Environment Published [28]
Database: Fracking Yields Gushers of Cash to Congress Power Brokers [31]

A study issued by the watchdog group Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW) using campaign contribution data found the fracking industry gave increasingly more in districts hosting fracking than in nonfracking districts between 2004 and 2012.

SEJ Publication Types:
WatchDog TipSheet [2]
Topics on the Beat:
Environmental Politics [24]
Energy & Fuel [3]
Visibility:
Public [7]
- Read more about Database: Fracking Yields Gushers of Cash to Congress Power Brokers [31]

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