Publication Items

Need to Know? Eight Reports from the Congressional Research Service [1]

Congress does not release reports done by the Congressional Research Service to the public, even though taxpayers fund them. Thanks to the Federation of American Scientists' Government Secrecy Project, you can read them anyway.

SEJ Publication Types:
WatchDog TipSheet [2]
Topics on the Beat:
Disasters [3]
Economy & Business [4]
Energy & Fuel [5]
Natural Resources [6]
Nuclear Power & Radiation [7]
Science [8]
Technology [9]
Region:
Antarctica & Arctic [10]
Visibility:
Public [11]
- Read more about Need to Know? Eight Reports from the Congressional Research Service [1]
Americans Can't Know Whether Chemicals in Products They Use Are Unsafe [12]

As Congress limps toward revisions of the badly broken Toxic Substances Control Act, it's clear that only a small fraction of the roughly 84,000 chemicals in commerce in the U.S. have actually been tested for health effects. Now an environmental health group has rated some household cleaning products firms.

SEJ Publication Types:
WatchDog TipSheet [2]
Topics on the Beat:
Chemicals [13]
Consumer [14]
Health [15]
Visibility:
Public [11]
- Read more about Americans Can't Know Whether Chemicals in Products They Use Are Unsafe [12]
New Oil Train Regs Go Backward on Public's Right to Know Risks [16]

Since U.S. oil production started booming, the news has been full of tanker trains blowing up. Under a May 2014 emergency order, the Federal Railway Administration increased requirements that railroads disclose oil train routes. But a new regulation issued May 1, 2015, leaves the public — and firefighters — with less information about the risks they face. Photo: The latest oil train derailment and explosion, today, in ND/Curt Bemson via AP.

SEJ Publication Types:
WatchDog TipSheet [2]
Topics on the Beat:
Disasters [3]
Energy & Fuel [5]
Laws & Regulations [17]
People & Population [18]
Planning & Growth [19]
Transportation [20]
Region:
Great Plains (IA KS ND NE MO SD) [21]
Northwest (OR WA) [22]
Visibility:
Public [11]
- Read more about New Oil Train Regs Go Backward on Public's Right to Know Risks [16]
Despite FOIA, EPA Press Policy Remains a Puzzle Palace [23]

In response to the WatchDog's request for the U.S. EPA's press policy, EPA seems to be saying that it doesn't have one. Or that paradoxically EPA staff can talk to reporters but are forbidden to talk to reporters. Or that EPA does not respond to requests for information. Even though the WatchDog finally got a partial response to its June 10, 2014, FOIA request for EPA policies on news media access to EPA employees on April 29, 2015, nothing was revealed. Puzzled? So are we.

SEJ Publication Types:
WatchDog TipSheet [2]
Topics on the Beat:
Environmental Politics [24]
Government [25]
Journalism & Media [26]
Visibility:
Public [11]
- Read more about Despite FOIA, EPA Press Policy Remains a Puzzle Palace [23]
Old-School Reporting in a New-Style Package [27]

"Inside Story" editor Beth Daley speaks with J. Carl Ganter, director of Circle of Blue, a Michigan-based team of journalists and researchers that reports on the global intersection of water, food and energy. Photo: Punjabi farmers who use free water and energy are causing food waste and power shortages in India. Credit: © J. Carl Ganter, Circle of Blue.

SEJ Publication Types:
Inside Story [28]
Topics on the Beat:
Journalism & Media [26]
Water & Oceans [29]
Visibility:
Public [11]
- Read more about Old-School Reporting in a New-Style Package [27]
Freelancers as Founders: Potential, Pitfalls of Digital Journalism Startups [30]

Writer/editor Amy Westervelt relates lessons learned by herself and her freelance colleagues on the road to financial stability for their reporting endeavour, Climate Confidential. Photo: Westervelt speaks at the Nov 13, 2014, “Food Fight” in Brooklyn. Credit: Mariya Pylayev, Climate Nexus.

SEJ Publication Types:
Freelance Files [31]
Topics on the Beat:
Economy & Business [4]
Journalism & Media [26]
Visibility:
Public [11]
- Read more about Freelancers as Founders: Potential, Pitfalls of Digital Journalism Startups [30]
Florida Employee Sues over Right To Use "C-Word" (Climate) [32]

Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility (PEER), representing Florida Department of Environmental Protection employee Barton Bibler, is calling for an investigation by the DEP's Inspector General into whether the term "climate change" is actually forbidden to be used by state employees — and whether this violates Florida's open government law.

SEJ Publication Types:
WatchDog TipSheet [2]
Topics on the Beat:
Climate Change [33]
Environmental Politics [24]
Policy [34]
Region:
SE (AL AR FL GA KY LA MS NC PR SC TN) [35]
Visibility:
Public [11]
- Read more about Florida Employee Sues over Right To Use "C-Word" (Climate) [32]
Fracking Chemicals: What We Know — and What We Don't [36]

You have to give the U.S. EPA some credit. The agency has done quite a bit to let the public know about some of the toxic chemicals used in hydraulic fracturing. EPA on March 27, 2015, published a database of nearly 700 of those chemicals, which is a good start and shows how open-source and non-governmental efforts can overcome industry efforts to hide data on toxics.

SEJ Publication Types:
WatchDog TipSheet [2]
Topics on the Beat:
Chemicals [13]
Energy & Fuel [5]
Pollution [37]
Water & Oceans [29]
Visibility:
Public [11]
- Read more about Fracking Chemicals: What We Know — and What We Don't [36]
News Media Complaints About PIO "Minders" Won't Go Away [38]

Washington Post reporter Paul Farhi has published a story detailing the unfolding of the Obama spin-control saga and the resulting uneasy standoff. Several SEJ members are mentioned, as is Tom Reynolds (pictured), Associate Administrator for EPA's Office of Public Affairs, who justified press office chaperoning of agency experts and portrayed the typical reporter as inexperienced and ignorant.

SEJ Publication Types:
WatchDog TipSheet [2]
Topics on the Beat:
Environmental Politics [24]
Government [25]
Visibility:
Public [11]
- Read more about News Media Complaints About PIO "Minders" Won't Go Away [38]
SEJ Appeals EPA Stonewalling of FOIA on Media Policy [39]

The U.S. EPA has been stonewalling a June 2014 SEJ request for documents describing its policies for dealing with news media. Now SEJ is appealing the long delay in responding to a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request by calling it what it is — a denial of information.

SEJ Publication Types:
WatchDog TipSheet [2]
Topics on the Beat:
Environmental Politics [24]
Government [25]
Policy [34]
Visibility:
Public [11]
- Read more about SEJ Appeals EPA Stonewalling of FOIA on Media Policy [39]

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