Publication Items

Arrest of Four Near Hog Farm Tests Utah's "Ag Gag" Law [1]

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. [2]

SEJ Publication Types:
WatchDog TipSheet [3]
Topics on the Beat:
Activism [4]
Agriculture [5]
Consumer [6]
Health [7]
Journalism & Media [8]
Laws & Regulations [9]
Pollution [10]
Region:
Mountain West (CO ID MT NV UT WY) [11]
Northwest (OR WA) [12]
Visibility:
Public [13]
- Read more about Arrest of Four Near Hog Farm Tests Utah's "Ag Gag" Law [1]
Ohio Utilities Seek To Keep Reasons for Public "Bailout" Secret from Public [14]

Three major electric utilities want the Public Utilities Commission of Ohio (PUCO) to make ratepayers pay for aging and unprofitable coal and nuclear generation plants in that state. But the ratepayers — the utilities claim — aren't entitled to know whether they might be ripped off.

SEJ Publication Types:
WatchDog TipSheet [3]
Topics on the Beat:
Consumer [6]
Economy & Business [15]
Energy & Fuel [16]
Nuclear Power & Radiation [17]
Region:
Great Lakes (IL IN MI MN OH WI) [18]
Visibility:
Public [13]
- Read more about Ohio Utilities Seek To Keep Reasons for Public "Bailout" Secret from Public [14]
"Fukushima: The Story of a Nuclear Disaster" [19]

SEJ Publication Types:
BookShelf [20]
Topics on the Beat:
Disasters [21]
Energy & Fuel [16]
Environmental Health [22]
Health [7]
Nuclear Power & Radiation [17]
People & Population [23]
Region:
National (U.S.) [24]
Asia [25]
Visibility:
Public [13]
- Read more about "Fukushima: The Story of a Nuclear Disaster" [19]
From Classroom to Bookshelf: Publishing a DIY Guide to Local Environmental Issues [26]

In this excerpt from the latest issue of SEJournal (Fall), Webster University journalism professor Don Corrigan shares how he used his classroom as a focal point for generating material with student inquiry and invitations to local experts, resulting in publication of a guide to St. Louis' environmental issues — and how the book can serve as a template for other professors to write a book for other states or regions.

SEJ Publication Types:
EJ Academy [27]
Region:
National (U.S.) [24]
Great Plains (IA KS ND NE MO SD) [28]
Visibility:
Public [13]
- Read more about From Classroom to Bookshelf: Publishing a DIY Guide to Local Environmental Issues [26]
Pacificorp Claims the Birds Its Turbines Kill Are Trade Secret [29]

Power company Pacificorp has gone to court to prevent the Interior Department from disclosing how many birds are found dead at its wind-energy turbine sites. AP reporter Dina Cappiello has been writing an investigative series on the birds, including eagles, killed at wind farms in the U.S. The series found that federal regulators have not prosecuted or penalized wind-energy companies when their turbines kill birds and — the government has helped keep the scope of bird mortality secret.

SEJ Publication Types:
WatchDog TipSheet [3]
Topics on the Beat:
Biodiversity [30]
Energy & Fuel [16]
Wildlife [31]
Region:
Mountain West (CO ID MT NV UT WY) [11]
Northwest (OR WA) [12]
Visibility:
Public [13]
- Read more about Pacificorp Claims the Birds Its Turbines Kill Are Trade Secret [29]
Washington Cities Map Crude-By-Rail Routes. Other States? [32]

Here's an idea: let people know where 100-car trainloads of crude oil might be threatening their safety. After the July 2013 Lac-Mégantic disaster that killed 47, people might want to know about this. And the Federal Railroad Administration officially agrees — saying railroads can't hide this information. Now the Association of Washington Cities has an online map for that.

SEJ Publication Types:
WatchDog TipSheet [3]
Topics on the Beat:
Disasters [21]
Energy & Fuel [16]
Transportation [33]
Region:
Northwest (OR WA) [12]
Visibility:
Public [13]
- Read more about Washington Cities Map Crude-By-Rail Routes. Other States? [32]
Exxon Claims 900,000 Pages of Secrets on Arkansas Spill [34]

Yes, the pipeline is publicly regulated. Yes, the March 2013 rupture of Exxon's Pegasus Pipeline in Mayflower, Arkansas, quite publicly polluted people's yards and homes. Yes, it is publicly known that there were defects and poor maintenance on the pipeline. But 900,000 pages of documents that might show Exxon's neglect are being claimed as "confidential" by the company as it tries to defend against a class-action lawsuit.

SEJ Publication Types:
WatchDog TipSheet [3]
Topics on the Beat:
Disasters [21]
Economy & Business [15]
Energy & Fuel [16]
Pollution [10]
Region:
SE (AL AR FL GA KY LA MS NC PR SC TN) [35]
Visibility:
Public [13]
- Read more about Exxon Claims 900,000 Pages of Secrets on Arkansas Spill [34]
BLM FOIA Office "Fails To Provide Public Records" [36]

The growing number of threats and assaults against employees of federal land agencies in the West is certainly the public's business. But efforts to document it by High Country News using the Freedom of Information Act have been thwarted by the Bureau of Land Management's central FOIA office. Veteran journalist Ray Ring tells the sad tale in HCN.

SEJ Publication Types:
WatchDog TipSheet [3]
Topics on the Beat:
Environmental Studies [37]
Journalism & Media [8]
Laws & Regulations [9]
Region:
Mountain West (CO ID MT NV UT WY) [11]
Visibility:
Public [13]
- Read more about BLM FOIA Office "Fails To Provide Public Records" [36]
Living in Harm’s Way: Louisiana’s Struggle Between Land and Sea [38]

After Katrina, Louisiana may have hit the national spotlight for a time, but coastal communities elsewhere around the country will have to find their own answers to the question “Why does anyone still live there in harm’s way?” — even as more and more people move toward the coast and the water moves ever closer to them.

SEJ Publication Types:
Backgrounders [39]
Topics on the Beat:
Disasters [21]
Economy & Business [15]
Environmental Health [22]
Fish & Fisheries [40]
People & Population [23]
Planning & Growth [41]
Water & Oceans [42]
Region:
SE (AL AR FL GA KY LA MS NC PR SC TN) [35]
Visibility:
Public [13]
- Read more about Living in Harm’s Way: Louisiana’s Struggle Between Land and Sea [38]
Realities of Coastal Living Often Forgotten, Until the Worst Hits [43]

In the effort to help all coastal communities face with the realities that the Gulf of Mexico is their neighbor and sea level rise is inching up relentlessly, lessons can be learned from Louisiana as it works to adapt and to mitigate flood risk.

SEJ Publication Types:
Backgrounders [39]
Topics on the Beat:
Disasters [21]
People & Population [23]
Planning & Growth [41]
Water & Oceans [42]
Region:
SE (AL AR FL GA KY LA MS NC PR SC TN) [35]
Visibility:
Public [13]
- Read more about Realities of Coastal Living Often Forgotten, Until the Worst Hits [43]

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