Publication Items

Data Accumulates Slowly on What's in Fracking Fluid [1]

If you have a fracking story in your beat, getting information about what's in the controversial fracking fluids may be like pulling teeth. But there are a few resources that can help, such as the "FracFocus" chemical disclosure registry.
SEJ Publication Types:
WatchDog TipSheet [2]
Topics on the Beat:
Water & Oceans [3]
Natural Resources [4]
Laws & Regulations [5]
Energy & Fuel [6]
Economy & Business [7]
Chemicals [8]
Visibility:
Public [9]
- Read more about Data Accumulates Slowly on What's in Fracking Fluid [1]
New Arizona Law Limits Disclosure of Companies' Environmental Self-Audits [10]

The information would still have to be provided to the state. Companies would not gain immunity from enforcement merely by auditing themselves.
SEJ Publication Types:
WatchDog TipSheet [2]
Topics on the Beat:
Laws & Regulations [5]
Economy & Business [7]
Region:
Southwest (AZ NM OK TX) [11]
Visibility:
Public [9]
- Read more about New Arizona Law Limits Disclosure of Companies' Environmental Self-Audits [10]
Mexico Moves Toward Federalizing Crimes Against Journalists [12]

The Mexican Senate on March 13, 2012, approved a constitutional amendment making attacks on journalists a federal crime — which would help journalists bypass possibly corrupt local police officials. The measure must now be approved by a majority of Mexico's state legislatures.
SEJ Publication Types:
WatchDog TipSheet [2]
Topics on the Beat:
Laws & Regulations [5]
Journalism & Media [13]
Government [14]
Region:
Mexico [15]
Visibility:
Public [9]
- Read more about Mexico Moves Toward Federalizing Crimes Against Journalists [12]
Va. Supreme Court Denies Cuccinelli Access to Climate Scientist Emails [16]

Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli (R, pictured at left), who avows himself a global warming skeptic, had sought from the University of Virginia grant applications by former U.Va. climate scientist Michael Mann, creator of the "hockey stick" graph, and emails between Mann and other scientists.
SEJ Publication Types:
WatchDog TipSheet [2]
Topics on the Beat:
Laws & Regulations [5]
Climate Change [17]
Region:
Mid-Atlantic (DC DE MD PA VA WV) [18]
Visibility:
Public [9]
- Read more about Va. Supreme Court Denies Cuccinelli Access to Climate Scientist Emails [16]
Despite High Court, Navy Keeps WA Town in Dark on Explosion Threat [19]

A landmark Supreme Court decision awarded Port Townsend residents the right to know about the potential location of explosives on the Indian Island Naval Magazine near their town. After losing the case, the Defense Department bolstered its legal grounds for secrecy by asking Congress to slip into the 2012 Defense Authorization an amendment creating a new statutory exemption to FOIA for the DOD.

SEJ Publication Types:
WatchDog TipSheet [2]
Topics on the Beat:
Military [20]
Laws & Regulations [5]
Disasters [21]
Region:
Northwest (OR WA) [22]
Visibility:
Public [9]
- Read more about Despite High Court, Navy Keeps WA Town in Dark on Explosion Threat [19]
Read the Secret Backgrounder on the Secret 2012 Farm Bill [23]

This year's Farm Bill deliberations have been less transparent than ever before. In that spirit, SEJ's WatchDog shares a backgrounder, published by the Federation of American Scientists, on the 2012 Farm Bill done by the Congressional Research Service — which keeps their taxpayer-funded reports secret from the public.
SEJ Publication Types:
WatchDog TipSheet [2]
Topics on the Beat:
Laws & Regulations [5]
Environmental Politics [24]
Agriculture [25]
Visibility:
Public [9]
- Read more about Read the Secret Backgrounder on the Secret 2012 Farm Bill [23]
Judge Allows Pool Video, Audio Coverage of WV Monsanto Trial [26]

In response to a request for live-streaming of the trial, the judge has expanded the gag order for the case, a class-action lawsuit seeking medical monitoring for people who may have been exposed to hazardous chemicals produced at Monsanto's former plant in Nitro, W.V.
SEJ Publication Types:
WatchDog TipSheet [2]
Topics on the Beat:
Laws & Regulations [5]
Health [27]
Environmental Health [28]
Chemicals [8]
Agriculture [25]
Region:
Mid-Atlantic (DC DE MD PA VA WV) [18]
Visibility:
Public [9]
- Read more about Judge Allows Pool Video, Audio Coverage of WV Monsanto Trial [26]
House Adopts Online Publication Standard [29]

It remains to be seen how successful the House will be in timely posting of electronic versions of bills — especially when they are thousand-page appropriations bills being rammed through at the last minute. The WatchDog will be watching to see if bills are published electronically well before subcommittee markups begin.
SEJ Publication Types:
WatchDog TipSheet [2]
Topics on the Beat:
Laws & Regulations [5]
Government [14]
Visibility:
Public [9]
- Read more about House Adopts Online Publication Standard [29]
Is Documenting Cruelty to Animals a Federal Terrorist Crime? [30]

According to the Los Angeles Times, recent directives from the FBI's Joint Terrorism Task Force suggest that merely filming commercial acts of cruelty to animals could be a terrorist offense — something that now can lead to indefinite military detention without trial.
SEJ Publication Types:
WatchDog TipSheet [2]
Topics on the Beat:
Laws & Regulations [5]
Food [31]
Economy & Business [7]
Visibility:
Public [9]
- Read more about Is Documenting Cruelty to Animals a Federal Terrorist Crime? [30]
States Partly Fill Federal Vacuum on Fracking Fluid Disclosure Law [32]

Colorado, which adopted its disclosure rules December 13, 2011, joins Texas, Pennsylvania, and several other states in requiring some disclosure by drillers of the chemicals they pump into shale formations under high pressures to release natural gas. Scores of chemicals, some very toxic, may be involved.
SEJ Publication Types:
WatchDog TipSheet [2]
Topics on the Beat:
Water & Oceans [3]
Pollution [33]
Laws & Regulations [5]
Energy & Fuel [6]
Chemicals [8]
Region:
Southwest (AZ NM OK TX) [11]
Mountain West (CO ID MT NV UT WY) [34]
Visibility:
Public [9]
- Read more about States Partly Fill Federal Vacuum on Fracking Fluid Disclosure Law [32]

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