Publication Items

Washington Cities Map Crude-By-Rail Routes. Other States? [1]

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 [2]
Topics on the Beat:
Disasters [3]
Energy & Fuel [4]
Transportation [5]
Region:
Northwest (OR WA) [6]
Visibility:
Public [7]
- Read more about Washington Cities Map Crude-By-Rail Routes. Other States? [1]
Exxon Claims 900,000 Pages of Secrets on Arkansas Spill [8]

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 [2]
Topics on the Beat:
Disasters [3]
Economy & Business [9]
Energy & Fuel [4]
Pollution [10]
Region:
SE (AL AR FL GA KY LA MS NC PR SC TN) [11]
Visibility:
Public [7]
- Read more about Exxon Claims 900,000 Pages of Secrets on Arkansas Spill [8]
BLM FOIA Office "Fails To Provide Public Records" [12]

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 [2]
Topics on the Beat:
Environmental Studies [13]
Journalism & Media [14]
Laws & Regulations [15]
Region:
Mountain West (CO ID MT NV UT WY) [16]
Visibility:
Public [7]
- Read more about BLM FOIA Office "Fails To Provide Public Records" [12]
SEJ Urges Obama to Take Stand on Bipartisan FOIA Bills [17]

The Society of Environmental Journalists wrote President Barack Obama October 23, 2014, urging him to take a strong position supporting legislation that would strengthen the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA). Bipartisan FOIA improvements may be one of the few pieces of legislation with a chance to clear the lame duck 113th Congress before control shifts to Republicans in 2015.

SEJ Publication Types:
WatchDog TipSheet [2]
Topics on the Beat:
Government [18]
Journalism & Media [14]
Laws & Regulations [15]
Visibility:
Public [7]
- Read more about SEJ Urges Obama to Take Stand on Bipartisan FOIA Bills [17]
Chief Tidwell Directs Forest Service: No Permits, Fees for Journos [19]

"News coverage on [National Forest System] lands is protected by the Constitution," wrote U.S. Forest Service Chief Thomas L. Tidwell in a November 4, 2014, memo to agency leaders, "and it is our responsibility to safeguard this right on the lands we manage for all Americans. Journalists provide a critical public service, and this agency will ensure their access in the pursuit of that public service."
SEJ Publication Types:
WatchDog TipSheet [2]
Topics on the Beat:
Forests [20]
Journalism & Media [14]
Laws & Regulations [15]
Natural Resources [21]
Policy [22]
Visibility:
Public [7]
- Read more about Chief Tidwell Directs Forest Service: No Permits, Fees for Journos [19]
Living in Harm’s Way: Louisiana’s Struggle Between Land and Sea [23]

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 [24]
Topics on the Beat:
Disasters [3]
Economy & Business [9]
Environmental Health [25]
Fish & Fisheries [26]
People & Population [27]
Planning & Growth [28]
Water & Oceans [29]
Region:
SE (AL AR FL GA KY LA MS NC PR SC TN) [11]
Visibility:
Public [7]
- Read more about Living in Harm’s Way: Louisiana’s Struggle Between Land and Sea [23]
Realities of Coastal Living Often Forgotten, Until the Worst Hits [30]

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 [24]
Topics on the Beat:
Disasters [3]
People & Population [27]
Planning & Growth [28]
Water & Oceans [29]
Region:
SE (AL AR FL GA KY LA MS NC PR SC TN) [11]
Visibility:
Public [7]
- Read more about Realities of Coastal Living Often Forgotten, Until the Worst Hits [30]
Why Doesn't Congress Want You To Read These Reports? [31]

For decades, Congress has refused to release taxpayer-funded reports by the Congressional Research Service. Fortunately, the Federation of American Scientists' Government Secrecy Project gets them and releases them. Here are some new explainers that may be of use to environmental journalists.
SEJ Publication Types:
WatchDog TipSheet [2]
Topics on the Beat:
Agriculture [32]
Air [33]
Climate Change [34]
Energy & Fuel [4]
Natural Resources [21]
Pollution [10]
Visibility:
Public [7]
- Read more about Why Doesn't Congress Want You To Read These Reports? [31]
Getting Past Park Service PIO Harder Than 13-Mile Hike [35]

It's true — some public information officers are really paranoid. High Country News reporter Tristan Baurick, trying to report on preservation of a historic chalet in Olympic National Park, found "a bizarre blockade on press freedom, the likes of which I’d never experienced outside a military base or murder scene."

SEJ Publication Types:
WatchDog TipSheet [2]
Topics on the Beat:
Environmental Politics [36]
Laws & Regulations [15]
Natural Resources [21]
Transportation [5]
Region:
Northwest (OR WA) [6]
Visibility:
Public [7]
- Read more about Getting Past Park Service PIO Harder Than 13-Mile Hike [35]
Interior IG Releases Few Investigative Reports [37]

Of the 457 investigations closed by the Interior Department's Inspector General's office last year, the office released public reports on only three. Not only were many of the reports withheld or redacted, but even the list of investigations was redacted before it was released.

SEJ Publication Types:
WatchDog TipSheet [2]
Topics on the Beat:
Environmental Politics [36]
Government [18]
Visibility:
Public [7]
- Read more about Interior IG Releases Few Investigative Reports [37]

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