Publication Items

Pennsylvania Blocks Report Criticizing Shale Gas [1]

Under law, Pennsylvania was supposed to publish a report outlining climate change impacts on the state by Spring 2012. But the Department of Environmental Protection says it is still being reviewed, and nobody will say when it might be published.

SEJ Publication Types:
WatchDog TipSheet [2]
Topics on the Beat:
Energy & Fuel [3]
Climate Change [4]
Region:
Mid-Atlantic (DC DE MD PA VA WV) [5]
Visibility:
Public [6]
- Read more about Pennsylvania Blocks Report Criticizing Shale Gas [1]
Enviros Sue EPA for Dropping Collection of Livestock Data [7]

The groups said that EPA's proposed rule was needed to control pollution, under the Clean Water Act, from more than 20,000 concentrated animal feeding operations across the country. EPA initially published the rule in October 2011, but then withdrew it July 20, 2012.

SEJ Publication Types:
WatchDog TipSheet [2]
Topics on the Beat:
Agriculture [8]
Visibility:
Public [6]
- Read more about Enviros Sue EPA for Dropping Collection of Livestock Data [7]
Lisa Jackson Emails: Transparency Crisis or Political Nothingburger? [9]

A hearing September 10, 2013, before the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform featured former EPA Administrator Lisa P. Jackson and other Obama administration officials in a theatrical stare-down with House Oversight Chairman Darrell Issa (R-CA, pictured) that garnered buckets of news media coverage.

SEJ Publication Types:
WatchDog TipSheet [2]
Topics on the Beat:
Environmental Politics [10]
Visibility:
Public [6]
- Read more about Lisa Jackson Emails: Transparency Crisis or Political Nothingburger? [9]
Calif. Highway Patrol Sort of Backs Down — Questions Remain [11]

SEJ complained in an August 7 letter to CHP that the arrest of Willits News photog Steven Eberhard for attempting to document a protest was a violation of constitutionally guaranteed freedom of the press. CHP responded August 28, noting that its policies for news media access to the Willits highway bypass construction site had changed. However, several assertions in the letter are not true, according to Eberhard and a video of the incident. © Photo by Steve Eberhard: CHP arrests demonstrators Sept. 10, 2013, at the Willits, Calif., bypass construction site.

SEJ Publication Types:
WatchDog TipSheet [2]
Topics on the Beat:
Laws & Regulations [12]
Journalism & Media [13]
Region:
California [14]
Visibility:
Public [6]
- Read more about Calif. Highway Patrol Sort of Backs Down — Questions Remain [11]
The Endangered Species Act at 40: Forty Things Journalists Should Know [15]

John Platt, author of Scientific American's Extinction Countdown blog, offers up a great list of things that may help environmental journalists illuminate some of the issues in question as the Act prepares for its second 40 years. Photo: A California condor outfitted with tracking tags, courtesy USFWS.

SEJ Publication Types:
Backgrounders [17]
Topics on the Beat:
Laws & Regulations [12]
Wildlife [18]
Visibility:
Public [6]
- Read more about The Endangered Species Act at 40: Forty Things Journalists Should Know [15]
Toolbox: Scraping App for the Digital Gumshoe [19]

Try this free, open-source add-on to Mozilla's Firefox web browser for "web-scraping" — meaning a methodical effort to capture data disclosed on the web and put it into useable form, typically a database.

SEJ Publication Types:
WatchDog TipSheet [2]
Topics on the Beat:
Technology [20]
Visibility:
Public [6]
- Read more about Toolbox: Scraping App for the Digital Gumshoe [19]
PEER Sues NRC for Docs on Dam-Failure Inundation of Nuke Plants [21]

See the list of US nuclear facilities that could be endangered by dam failure, thanks to a document that the Nuclear Regulatory Commission does not want to release, made public by the Huffington Post. Watchdog group Public Employees for Environmental Responsiblity filed suit August 15, 2013, under the FOIA to force the NRC to disclose more of what it knows.

SEJ Publication Types:
WatchDog TipSheet [2]
Topics on the Beat:
Water & Oceans [22]
Nuclear Power & Radiation [23]
Energy & Fuel [3]
Disasters [24]
Visibility:
Public [6]
- Read more about PEER Sues NRC for Docs on Dam-Failure Inundation of Nuke Plants [21]
Pipeline Safety Agency Says Public Shouldn't Know Spill Response Plans [25]

Remember that March 29, 2013, oil pipeline spill that slimed a major piece of Mayflower, Arkansas? Well we now learn that neither Mayflower residents nor the US public are allowed to know how Exxon planned to clean up such a spill.

SEJ Publication Types:
WatchDog TipSheet [2]
Topics on the Beat:
People & Population [26]
Energy & Fuel [3]
Disasters [24]
Visibility:
Public [6]
- Read more about Pipeline Safety Agency Says Public Shouldn't Know Spill Response Plans [25]
Environmental Whistleblowers May Be Losing Their Rights [27]

Can a federal employee who discloses lax safety inspections of gas pipelines or terminals be fired? That might be the case under a new federal appeals court decision that limits the whistleblower protections for federal employees who disclose "sensitive," but noncritical national security information.

SEJ Publication Types:
WatchDog TipSheet [2]
Topics on the Beat:
Laws & Regulations [12]
Government [28]
Visibility:
Public [6]
- Read more about Environmental Whistleblowers May Be Losing Their Rights [27]
Is Poor Safety Data a Bigger Threat Than Terrorists? [29]

A Dallas Morning News investigation published August 24, 2013, found that nine times out of ten, government information about chemical safety was wrong or missing. It's a story of government's incompetence at keeping the public safe.

SEJ Publication Types:
WatchDog TipSheet [2]
Topics on the Beat:
Health [30]
Government [28]
Disasters [24]
Chemicals [31]
Visibility:
Public [6]
- Read more about Is Poor Safety Data a Bigger Threat Than Terrorists? [29]

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