Publication Items

National Pipeline Mapping System, Though Hobbled, Can Help Journalists [1]

After a decade of neglect, the NPMS is partly back online and marginally functional. Parts of it don't even work. But if you want to get a general clue about the location of major natural gas and hazardous liquid pipelines in your community, the NPMS is one place to start. And, there are other ways to get the info you need.

SEJ Publication Types:
WatchDog TipSheet [2]
Topics on the Beat:
Environmental Politics [3]
Energy & Fuel [4]
Visibility:
Public [5]
- Read more about National Pipeline Mapping System, Though Hobbled, Can Help Journalists [1]
Exxon Seeks To Keep Pegasus Inspections Secret As KXL Twists in Wind [6]

Exxon claims trade secrecy in its bid to hide inspection results for the pipeline that leaked 5,000 barrels of Canadian oil sands crude in Arkansas last spring, spurring debate over transparency and spill readiness. EnergyWire's Elana Schor has the story, raising questions that have still to be answered.

SEJ Publication Types:
WatchDog TipSheet [2]
Topics on the Beat:
Laws & Regulations [7]
Environmental Politics [3]
Energy & Fuel [4]
Disasters [8]
Visibility:
Public [5]
- Read more about Exxon Seeks To Keep Pegasus Inspections Secret As KXL Twists in Wind [6]
Elephant Wrangling on the Energy Beat [9]

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 [10]
Topics on the Beat:
Energy & Fuel [4]
Environmental Politics [3]
Journalism & Media [11]
Nuclear Power & Radiation [12]
Visibility:
Public [5]
- Read more about Elephant Wrangling on the Energy Beat [9]
Secret White House Review Paralyzes Chemical Safety [13]

An EPA initiative to protect American consumers from toxic chemicals, especially endocrine disruptors, has run into a brick wall put up by the Obama White House three years ago due to secret urging of the chemical industry — even though the law requires information and arguments on which federal regulations are based to be open and on the record.

SEJ Publication Types:
WatchDog TipSheet [2]
Topics on the Beat:
Laws & Regulations [7]
Environmental Politics [3]
Consumer [14]
Chemicals [15]
Visibility:
Public [5]
- Read more about Secret White House Review Paralyzes Chemical Safety [13]
Obama Admin Says It Won't Charge Reporters with Conspiracy to Commit Journalism [16]

In the wake of the Justice Department's chilling seizure of AP phone records, the Department asserted that a Fox reporter violated the law by reporting the news. The unprecedented assertion was made by FBI agent Reginald B. Reyes in a search warrant application that was ultimately approved by a judge, allowing Reyes to snoop through the phone records of Fox News correspondent James Rosen.

SEJ Publication Types:
WatchDog TipSheet [2]
Topics on the Beat:
Laws & Regulations [7]
Journalism & Media [11]
Environmental Politics [3]
Visibility:
Public [5]
- Read more about Obama Admin Says It Won't Charge Reporters with Conspiracy to Commit Journalism [16]
What’s Coming in Energy? Veteran Reporters Look Ahead [17]

What big energy issues will emerge on the reporting agenda for the year to come? To find out, the SEJ convened a panel of top-flight environmental journalists at the Wilson International Center for Scholars in Washington D.C. Jan. 25, 2013.

SEJ Publication Types:
Features [18]
Topics on the Beat:
Climate Change [19]
Energy & Fuel [4]
Environmental Health [20]
Environmental Politics [3]
Government [21]
Journalism & Media [11]
Laws & Regulations [7]
Other or All [22]
Policy [23]
Science [24]
Region:
Asia [25]
Visibility:
Public [5]
- Read more about What’s Coming in Energy? Veteran Reporters Look Ahead [17]
White House Met in Secret with Industry Before Frack Rule [26]

Government rulemaking takes place with everything on the record in a public docket, right? Well ... actually not. EnergyWire reporter Mike Soraghan revealed in an April 12, 2013 story that presidential aide Heather Zichal met more than 20 times with industry groups lobbying on the proposed rule for fracking on federal lands.

SEJ Publication Types:
WatchDog TipSheet [2]
Topics on the Beat:
Laws & Regulations [7]
Government [21]
Environmental Politics [3]
Energy & Fuel [4]
Economy & Business [27]
Visibility:
Public [5]
- Read more about White House Met in Secret with Industry Before Frack Rule [26]
Texas Fertilizer Explosion Re-Raises Buried Hazmat Disclosure Issues [28]

News stories about the April 17, 2013, explosion of a fertilizer storage plant in the town of West, Texas that killed 15 people have so far focused on the plant operator's risk-disclosure failure, instead of the likely fact that government agencies knew the nature and magnitude of the hazard — or should have known. The bigger story is the regulatory failure — and industry's decades-long campaign to keep the public ignorant of the threats they face. Photo: AP/LM Otero/Available through Creative Commons.

SEJ Publication Types:
WatchDog TipSheet [2]
Topics on the Beat:
Planning & Growth [29]
Laws & Regulations [7]
Environmental Politics [3]
Disasters [8]
Chemicals [15]
Agriculture [30]
Region:
Southwest (AZ NM OK TX) [31]
Visibility:
Public [5]
- Read more about Texas Fertilizer Explosion Re-Raises Buried Hazmat Disclosure Issues [28]
"The New New Deal: The Hidden Story of Change in the Obama Era" [32]

SEJ Publication Types:
BookShelf [33]
Topics on the Beat:
Energy & Fuel [4]
Environmental Politics [3]
Visibility:
Public [5]
- Read more about "The New New Deal: The Hidden Story of Change in the Obama Era" [32]
White House OMB Secretly Weakened Food Safety Rule [34]

It may come as little surprise that an unknown number of Americans could die as a result of White House weakening of food safety rules mandated by Congress. The Office of Management and Budget has been secretly weakening environmental health and safety at industry request for years. The surprise is that we found out.

SEJ Publication Types:
WatchDog TipSheet [2]
Topics on the Beat:
People & Population [35]
Laws & Regulations [7]
Health [36]
Government [21]
Food [37]
Environmental Politics [3]
Visibility:
Public [5]
- Read more about White House OMB Secretly Weakened Food Safety Rule [34]

Pages