Publication Items

Canadian Public Not Allowed To Know Kinder Morgan Pipeline Emergency Plan [1]

The expansion of the Trans Mountain Pipeline in Canada by the multibillion-dollar Houston firm Kinder Morgan is, to say the least, controversial. So it did not help instill public confidence when Canada's National Energy Board on Jan 16, 2015, ruled that Kinder Morgan did not have to make public its emergency response plans for spills and fires.

SEJ Publication Types:
WatchDog TipSheet [2]
Topics on the Beat:
Activism [3]
Energy & Fuel [4]
Region:
Canada [5]
Visibility:
Public [6]
- Read more about Canadian Public Not Allowed To Know Kinder Morgan Pipeline Emergency Plan [1]
With Environmental Rules at Stake, Dark Money Set To Flood 2016 U.S. Elections [7]

Are megabucks from fossil fuels and other big industries corrupting the election of federal government officials? The U.S. public has little chance of knowing under current rules that are bringing "dark money" to ascendancy in American politics.
SEJ Publication Types:
WatchDog TipSheet [2]
Topics on the Beat:
Activism [3]
Environmental Politics [8]
Visibility:
Public [6]
- Read more about With Environmental Rules at Stake, Dark Money Set To Flood 2016 U.S. Elections [7]
Arrest of Four Near Hog Farm Tests Utah's "Ag Gag" Law [9]

One way to deal with bad press is to make it illegal. Exposés of inhumane conditions at feedlots and slaughterhouses are being made illegal by state legislatures that pass "ag gag" laws. Now a case in Utah is challenging whether industrial agriculture's claims of secrecy trump the eating public's right to know. Image: Sows in 7'x2' Smithfield Foods gestation crates. By Humane Society of the US [CC], 2010. [10]

SEJ Publication Types:
WatchDog TipSheet [2]
Topics on the Beat:
Activism [3]
Agriculture [11]
Consumer [12]
Health [13]
Journalism & Media [14]
Laws & Regulations [15]
Pollution [16]
Region:
Mountain West (CO ID MT NV UT WY) [17]
Northwest (OR WA) [18]
Visibility:
Public [6]
- Read more about Arrest of Four Near Hog Farm Tests Utah's "Ag Gag" Law [9]
Lobbyists Can Now Join Federal Advisory Committees [19]

The Obama White House released a new rule reversing its ban on lobbyists in government. The Office of Management and Budget (OMB) rule allows registered lobbyists to participate as members on panels covered by the Federal Advisory Committee Act (FACA). The rule change was forced by a court decision.

SEJ Publication Types:
WatchDog TipSheet [2]
Topics on the Beat:
Activism [3]
Laws & Regulations [15]
Visibility:
Public [6]
- Read more about Lobbyists Can Now Join Federal Advisory Committees [19]
"Breaking New Ground: A Personal History" [20]

SEJ Publication Types:
BookShelf [21]
Topics on the Beat:
Activism [3]
Agriculture [11]
Climate Change [22]
Food [23]
Journalism & Media [14]
People & Population [24]
Water & Oceans [25]
Visibility:
Public [6]
- Read more about "Breaking New Ground: A Personal History" [20]
Kentucky Legislature Weighs "Ag-Gag" Bill [26]

Kentucky is the latest state to consider legislation criminalizing undercover photography of animal abuse in farm operations, which often ends up in the news. But Democratic Rep. Joni Jenkins (pictured), who sponsored the measure to which the Senate attached the Ag-Gag language, says she won't call it up in the House.

SEJ Publication Types:
WatchDog TipSheet [2]
Topics on the Beat:
Activism [3]
Agriculture [11]
Food [23]
Laws & Regulations [15]
Region:
SE (AL AR FL GA KY LA MS NC PR SC TN) [27]
Visibility:
Public [6]
- Read more about Kentucky Legislature Weighs "Ag-Gag" Bill [26]
Animal Rights Activist Charged for Video Exposing Cruelty [28]

Reporting on abuse of animals is now officially a crime — at least under Colorado law. Animal-rights activist Taylor Radig was charged after she made public a video showing employees of a Colorado ranch abusing calves.

SEJ Publication Types:
WatchDog TipSheet [2]
Topics on the Beat:
Laws & Regulations [15]
Agriculture [11]
Activism [3]
Region:
Mountain West (CO ID MT NV UT WY) [17]
Visibility:
Public [6]
- Read more about Animal Rights Activist Charged for Video Exposing Cruelty [28]
"The Genius of Earth Day: How a 1970 Teach-In Unexpectedly Made the First Green Generation" [29]

SEJ Publication Types:
BookShelf [21]
Topics on the Beat:
Activism [3]
Journalism & Media [14]
Visibility:
Public [6]
- Read more about "The Genius of Earth Day: How a 1970 Teach-In Unexpectedly Made the First Green Generation" [29]
CREW Wins Big for All FOIA Requesters [30]

The US Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia ruled in favor of the watchdog group Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington, saying that agencies had 20 days to respond to FOIA requests, stating "what documents would or wouldn’t be handed over and why," according to the Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press.

SEJ Publication Types:
WatchDog TipSheet [2]
Topics on the Beat:
Laws & Regulations [15]
Government [31]
Activism [3]
Region:
Mid-Atlantic (DC DE MD PA VA WV) [32]
Visibility:
Public [6]
- Read more about CREW Wins Big for All FOIA Requesters [30]
Open-Access Science Publishing: Good for Journalists, and Good for Public [33]

The suicide earlier this month of open-access activist Aaron Swartz brings again to the fore the ongoing difficulty journalists have accessing published scientific studies that bear on key current and future policy issues. Photo of Swartz, credit Flickr/peretzp.

SEJ Publication Types:
WatchDog TipSheet [2]
Topics on the Beat:
Science [34]
Policy [35]
Government [31]
Activism [3]
Visibility:
Public [6]
- Read more about Open-Access Science Publishing: Good for Journalists, and Good for Public [33]

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