Publication Items

Will Safety Trump Secrecy in Oil-by-Rail? [1]

Should firefighters and residents know whether trains loaded with explosive oil are routed through the heart of residential districts? Many railroads say no, claiming it is a security issue. But on June 18, 2014, the Federal Railroad Administration (FRA) dismissed that claim, saying that oil train routing was not sensitive security information. Yet the railroads are fighting back.

SEJ Publication Types:
WatchDog TipSheet [2]
Topics on the Beat:
Disasters [3]
Energy & Fuel [4]
People & Population [5]
Transportation [6]
Visibility:
Public [7]
- Read more about Will Safety Trump Secrecy in Oil-by-Rail? [1]
Ashtracker Database Helps Journos Dig Up Stories on Coal Ash Problems [8]

Local reporters can find information about coal-ash situations in their own areas using a newly improved database compiled by the Environmental Integrity Project which goes well beyond anything previously available because it includes large amounts of painstaking research by EIP. The site is important for its focus on contamination of groundwater that people may drink by the toxic heavy metals in coal combustion wastes.

SEJ Publication Types:
WatchDog TipSheet [2]
Topics on the Beat:
Disasters [3]
Energy & Fuel [4]
People & Population [5]
Technology [9]
Visibility:
Public [7]
- Read more about Ashtracker Database Helps Journos Dig Up Stories on Coal Ash Problems [8]
Special Edition TipSheet: Coastal Risk and Resilience in the Gulf Region [10]

From 1970 until 2010, 34.8 million more people decided to move towards the coast of the United States and that population is expected to grow just as sea-level rise and climate change continue to increase the risk of living there. Amy Wold, a reporter with The Advocate in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, covers change and adaptation; locks and floodgates; levees and marshes; communities at risk; insurance issues; and lessons learned. Photo (click to enlarge [11]): In 2012, Wold took this shot of the rapidly disappearing Cat Island in Barataria Basin in south Louisiana. She returned there in 2014 to find barely any land left above water. © Amy Wold, The (Baton Rouge) Advocate.

SEJ Publication Types:
TipSheet [12]
Topics on the Beat:
Climate Change [13]
Disasters [3]
People & Population [5]
Planning & Growth [14]
Water & Oceans [15]
Region:
National (U.S.) [16]
SE (AL AR FL GA KY LA MS NC PR SC TN) [17]
Visibility:
Public [7]
- Read more about Special Edition TipSheet: Coastal Risk and Resilience in the Gulf Region [10]
You Can Hide Oil Trains From the Public, But Not From Terrorists [18]

As 100-car trains of explosive crude oil snake through U.S. cities and river gorges, the railroad industry continues to tell the public they are being kept secret from terrorists. But now a series of articles by Rob Davis for the The (Portland) Oregonian seems to have caught the railroads and the feds in their own contradictions.

SEJ Publication Types:
WatchDog TipSheet [2]
Topics on the Beat:
Disasters [3]
Energy & Fuel [4]
People & Population [5]
Transportation [6]
Region:
National (U.S.) [16]
Mid-Atlantic (DC DE MD PA VA WV) [19]
Visibility:
Public [7]
- Read more about You Can Hide Oil Trains From the Public, But Not From Terrorists [18]
Are Your Schoolkids Threatened by Chemical Plants? An App for That [20]

When the fertilizer depot in West, Texas, blew up, some schools were damaged beyond repair. Fortunately, none of the kids died. But it raised an issue that has been obvious — and too often ignored by news media — for years. A new tool from the Center for Effective Government will help environmental journalists learn which schools in their area are near facilities that handle toxic, hazardous, explosive, or combustible materials.

SEJ Publication Types:
WatchDog TipSheet [2]
Topics on the Beat:
Chemicals [21]
Disasters [3]
People & Population [5]
Visibility:
Public [7]
- Read more about Are Your Schoolkids Threatened by Chemical Plants? An App for That [20]
Chevron Blocks Access by State Regulators to Gas Well Explosion Site [22]

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 [3]
Energy & Fuel [4]
People & Population [5]
Region:
California [23]
Mid-Atlantic (DC DE MD PA VA WV) [19]
Southwest (AZ NM OK TX) [24]
Visibility:
Public [7]
- Read more about Chevron Blocks Access by State Regulators to Gas Well Explosion Site [22]
"Breaking New Ground: A Personal History" [25]

SEJ Publication Types:
BookShelf [26]
Topics on the Beat:
Activism [27]
Agriculture [28]
Climate Change [13]
Food [29]
Journalism & Media [30]
People & Population [5]
Water & Oceans [15]
Visibility:
Public [7]
- Read more about "Breaking New Ground: A Personal History" [25]
"The Bet: Paul Ehrlich, Julian Simon, and Our Gamble over Earth’s Future" [31]

SEJ Publication Types:
BookShelf [26]
Topics on the Beat:
Climate Change [13]
Economy & Business [32]
Natural Resources [33]
People & Population [5]
Technology [9]
Visibility:
Public [7]
- Read more about "The Bet: Paul Ehrlich, Julian Simon, and Our Gamble over Earth’s Future" [31]
Press, Public Thirsty for Information, But Agencies Turning Off Spigot [34]

People care about the information they get. But the public isn’t getting what it needs from federal and state agencies where, during crisis events and day-to-day operations, agencies work harder at controlling the information that reaches the public than they do at gathering and making it available. Read more from SEJ President Don Hopey.

SEJ Publication Types:
SEJ Presidents Report [35]
Topics on the Beat:
Environmental Politics [36]
Journalism & Media [30]
People & Population [5]
Visibility:
Public [7]
- Read more about Press, Public Thirsty for Information, But Agencies Turning Off Spigot [34]
"State of the Heart: South Carolina Writers on the Places They Love" [37]

SEJ Publication Types:
BookShelf [26]
Topics on the Beat:
People & Population [5]
Region:
SE (AL AR FL GA KY LA MS NC PR SC TN) [17]
Visibility:
Public [7]
- Read more about "State of the Heart: South Carolina Writers on the Places They Love" [37]

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