Publication Items

Whodunit? The Case of the Disappearing Dilbit [1]

InsideClimate News' Lisa Song notes that US EPA's website had originally shown 1,149,460 gallons of oil recovered from the 2010 Enbridge spill near Kalamazoo, Michigan. Sometime in mid-March 2013, she reports, that number was removed from the EPA site and replaced by one much lower, the amount Enbridge claims was spilled.

SEJ Publication Types:
WatchDog TipSheet [2]
Topics on the Beat:
Energy & Fuel [3]
Disasters [4]
Region:
Canada [5]
Great Lakes (IL IN MI MN OH WI) [6]
National (U.S.) [7]
Visibility:
Public [8]
- Read more about Whodunit? The Case of the Disappearing Dilbit [1]
Supreme Court Deals Blow to Out-of-State FOIA Requesters [9]

The unanimous decision turned down a FOIA request by a California resident for records in Virginia. According to the Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press, only a "handful" of states have similar residents-only restrictions to their FOI laws. But the doctrinal impact of the decision is likely to be large, since the court held, among other things, that the First Amendment conveys no right of access to government information.

SEJ Publication Types:
WatchDog TipSheet [2]
Topics on the Beat:
Laws & Regulations [10]
Government [11]
Region:
California [12]
National (U.S.) [7]
Mid-Atlantic (DC DE MD PA VA WV) [13]
Visibility:
Public [8]
- Read more about Supreme Court Deals Blow to Out-of-State FOIA Requesters [9]
Problems with EPA Press Office? Try Calling Public Affairs Director [14]

SEJ members have complained a lot over many years about difficulties getting information and interviews from US EPA. SEJ officers and FOI watchdogs have talked to EPA about the problems for a long time, too. If a regular call to a line press officer brings poor results, try explaining your problem to the boss — here are their numbers!

SEJ Publication Types:
WatchDog TipSheet [2]
Topics on the Beat:
Government [11]
Visibility:
Public [8]
- Read more about Problems with EPA Press Office? Try Calling Public Affairs Director [14]
Got Anhydrous Ammonia? Chlorine? Yeah, You Probably Do [15]

Explosions from ammonium nitrate fertilizer, like the one in West, Texas that killed 15 people in April 2013, are only one of many hazards posed to communities from dangerous materials under the purview of EPA and other agencies. Toxic inhalation hazards could kill tens of thousands of people if released in crowded areas. Here are several tools to help you find local facilities that handle toxic, explosive, flammable, corrosive, and otherwise hazardous materials.

SEJ Publication Types:
WatchDog TipSheet [2]
Topics on the Beat:
Disasters [4]
Chemicals [16]
Visibility:
Public [8]
- Read more about Got Anhydrous Ammonia? Chlorine? Yeah, You Probably Do [15]
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 [3]
Environmental Health [20]
Environmental Politics [21]
Government [11]
Journalism & Media [22]
Laws & Regulations [10]
Other or All [23]
Policy [24]
Science [25]
Region:
Asia [26]
Visibility:
Public [8]
- Read more about What’s Coming in Energy? Veteran Reporters Look Ahead [17]
Is Environmental Journalism Ready for the Path Ahead? [27]

As SEJournal editors started to put together seemingly disparate stories for this issue on climate change and energy policy, we began to see how deeply interconnected they actually were. To help our readers reflect on their interlocking facets, we’ve grouped a series of stories together in this special report to help make your reporting on energy and climate change more effective.

SEJ Publication Types:
Features [18]
Topics on the Beat:
Climate Change [19]
Energy & Fuel [3]
Journalism & Media [22]
Nuclear Power & Radiation [29]
Visibility:
Public [8]
- Read more about Is Environmental Journalism Ready for the Path Ahead? [27]
Toolbox: Database Helps Track Broken Promises on Parkland Conservation [30]

Seattle-based InvestigateWest published a feature package last summer documenting illegal parkland conversions in Michigan, New York City, and Oklahoma. They could not cover all the other states — that was left for you to do, with the assistance of their database of some 40,000 federal grants under the Land and Water Conservation Fund.

SEJ Publication Types:
WatchDog TipSheet [2]
Topics on the Beat:
Planning & Growth [31]
Natural Resources [32]
Laws & Regulations [10]
Government [11]
Economy & Business [33]
Region:
Great Lakes (IL IN MI MN OH WI) [6]
Northeast (CT MA ME NH NJ NY RI VT) [34]
Southwest (AZ NM OK TX) [35]
Visibility:
Public [8]
- Read more about Toolbox: Database Helps Track Broken Promises on Parkland Conservation [30]
White House Met in Secret with Industry Before Frack Rule [36]

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 [10]
Government [11]
Environmental Politics [21]
Energy & Fuel [3]
Economy & Business [33]
Visibility:
Public [8]
- Read more about White House Met in Secret with Industry Before Frack Rule [36]
Voluntary Fracking Disclosure Database Gets 'F' from Harvard Study [37]

We told you so. But now a Harvard study also says it: the FracFocus registry designed and operated by the drilling industry (and its close friends) fails to meet the public's right to accountability and complete disclosure of chemicals pumped into underground formations that may impact people's drinking-water wells.

SEJ Publication Types:
WatchDog TipSheet [2]
Topics on the Beat:
Water & Oceans [38]
Health [39]
Environmental Health [20]
Energy & Fuel [3]
Chemicals [16]
Visibility:
Public [8]
- Read more about Voluntary Fracking Disclosure Database Gets 'F' from Harvard Study [37]
Texas Fertilizer Explosion Re-Raises Buried Hazmat Disclosure Issues [40]

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 [31]
Laws & Regulations [10]
Environmental Politics [21]
Disasters [4]
Chemicals [16]
Agriculture [41]
Region:
Southwest (AZ NM OK TX) [35]
Visibility:
Public [8]
- Read more about Texas Fertilizer Explosion Re-Raises Buried Hazmat Disclosure Issues [40]

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