Publication Items

Read the Congressional Reports You're Not Supposed To Read [1]

Journalists hurrying to get up to speed on environmental or energy issues can get objective background from reports by the Congressional Research Service (an arm of the Library of Congress), which does not release them to the taxpaying public that funded them. We thank the Federation of American Scientists' Government Secrecy Project for publishing them.

SEJ Publication Types:
WatchDog TipSheet [2]
Topics on the Beat:
Climate Change [3]
Disasters [4]
Energy & Fuel [5]
Health [6]
Laws & Regulations [7]
Military [8]
Nuclear Power & Radiation [9]
Science [10]
Transportation [11]
Wildlife [12]
Visibility:
Public [13]
- Read more about Read the Congressional Reports You're Not Supposed To Read [1]
A Crack is a Crack: Making the Complex Simple [14]

"Inside Story" editor Beth Daley interviews Tampa (FL) Bay Times' Ivan Penn about his reporting on nuclear power, including the closing of the Crystal River Nuclear Plant, problems with cooling tubes at another facility and the risk to ratepayers for new nuclear power generation in Florida. Photo: Cooling towers at Crystal River nuclear plant in Florida. © Maurice Rivenbark, Tampa Bay Times.

SEJ Publication Types:
Inside Story [15]
Topics on the Beat:
Journalism & Media [16]
Laws & Regulations [7]
Nuclear Power & Radiation [9]
Region:
SE (AL AR FL GA KY LA MS NC PR SC TN) [17]
Visibility:
Public [13]
- Read more about A Crack is a Crack: Making the Complex Simple [14]
SEJournal Summer 2014, Vol. 24 No. 2 [18]

In this issue: Covering the environment, health fallout of unexploded ordnance; special report on risk and resilience/lessons from Louisiana on the realities of coastal iving; freelancers and fellowships, a path for growth; utilizing the National Weather Service to track storm intensity; tapping the environmental journalism 'power grid'; book reviews; and classroom research on long-term relevance of front-page stories.

SEJ Publication Types:
SEJournal Online [19]
Topics on the Beat:
Disasters [4]
Journalism & Media [16]
Nuclear Power & Radiation [9]
People & Population [20]
Visibility:
Public [13]
- Read more about SEJournal Summer 2014, Vol. 24 No. 2 [18]
Peace Group Calls for NEPA Disclosure on Construction at Bangor Base [21]

Ground Zero Center for Nonviolent Action wants higher courts to hear its argument that the Navy is required by the National Environmental Policy Act to disclose more information about the impacts of a nuclear submarine facility upgrade at the Kitsap-Bangor Naval Base in Washington state, especially the risk of explosion.

SEJ Publication Types:
WatchDog TipSheet [2]
Topics on the Beat:
Laws & Regulations [7]
Military [8]
Nuclear Power & Radiation [9]
Region:
Northwest (OR WA) [22]
Visibility:
Public [13]
- Read more about Peace Group Calls for NEPA Disclosure on Construction at Bangor Base [21]
Toolbox: Data Resources for Dams, Impoundments, and Levees [23]

A key set of tools for reporters probing dam issues at any level, local to national, are the available databases on various kinds of dams, levees, and impoundments. The WatchDog in this issue presents a special "Reporters' Toolbox" on these data sets. We hope at least to help reporters find and access them.

SEJ Publication Types:
WatchDog TipSheet [2]
Topics on the Beat:
Water & Oceans [24]
Nuclear Power & Radiation [9]
Disasters [4]
Visibility:
Public [13]
- Read more about Toolbox: Data Resources for Dams, Impoundments, and Levees [23]
Dams and Levees: What You Don't Know Might Kill You [25]

Tens of thousands of U.S. citizens are at risk from potential dam disasters, yet state and federal agencies hold to a policy that amounts to "out of sight, out of mind." The biggest danger, apparently, is that the public might find out about the dangers, and criticize insufficient dam safety measures, inconvenience private dam owners, depress real estate values, or demand public spending that is politically painful for those in office.

SEJ Publication Types:
WatchDog TipSheet [2]
Topics on the Beat:
Water & Oceans [24]
Planning & Growth [26]
People & Population [20]
Nuclear Power & Radiation [9]
Disasters [4]
Visibility:
Public [13]
- Read more about Dams and Levees: What You Don't Know Might Kill You [25]
Dams and Levees: Introduction [27]

This special issue of the WatchDog focuses on the transparency of safety information related to dams, levees, impoundments, and related water-control structures. For environmental journalists, these subjects offer a goldmine of great story possibilities. These are stories that have not been covered much in the past decade, and stories that fit well at the local, state, or regional level.

SEJ Publication Types:
WatchDog TipSheet [2]
Topics on the Beat:
Water & Oceans [24]
Planning & Growth [26]
People & Population [20]
Nuclear Power & Radiation [9]
Energy & Fuel [5]
Disasters [4]
Visibility:
Public [13]
- Read more about Dams and Levees: Introduction [27]
PEER Sues NRC for Docs on Dam-Failure Inundation of Nuke Plants [28]

See the list of US nuclear facilities that could be endangered by dam failure, thanks to a document that the Nuclear Regulatory Commission does not want to release, made public by the Huffington Post. Watchdog group Public Employees for Environmental Responsiblity filed suit August 15, 2013, under the FOIA to force the NRC to disclose more of what it knows.

SEJ Publication Types:
WatchDog TipSheet [2]
Topics on the Beat:
Water & Oceans [24]
Nuclear Power & Radiation [9]
Energy & Fuel [5]
Disasters [4]
Visibility:
Public [13]
- Read more about PEER Sues NRC for Docs on Dam-Failure Inundation of Nuke Plants [28]
Elephant Wrangling on the Energy Beat [29]

More than one observer has compared covering energy to the folk tale about the blind men who try to describe an elephant, and end up shouting at each other because they’ve each grasped a different part of the beast and believe their portion represents the whole thing. Freelancer Jennifer Weeks reports.

SEJ Publication Types:
Backgrounders [30]
Topics on the Beat:
Energy & Fuel [5]
Environmental Politics [31]
Journalism & Media [16]
Nuclear Power & Radiation [9]
Visibility:
Public [13]
- Read more about Elephant Wrangling on the Energy Beat [29]
Is Environmental Journalism Ready for the Path Ahead? [32]

As SEJournal editors started to put together seemingly disparate stories for this issue on climate change and energy policy, we began to see how deeply interconnected they actually were. To help our readers reflect on their interlocking facets, we’ve grouped a series of stories together in this special report to help make your reporting on energy and climate change more effective.

SEJ Publication Types:
Features [34]
Topics on the Beat:
Climate Change [3]
Energy & Fuel [5]
Journalism & Media [16]
Nuclear Power & Radiation [9]
Visibility:
Public [13]
- Read more about Is Environmental Journalism Ready for the Path Ahead? [32]

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