Publication Items

SkyTruth Launches Online Environmental Accident Mapper [1]

Reporters can now get a better picture of breaking environmental pollution events via SkyTruth Alerts on air and water pollution incidents, toxic spills, and more.
SEJ Publication Types:
WatchDog TipSheet [2]
Topics on the Beat:
Technology [3]
Pollution [4]
Disasters [5]
Visibility:
Public [6]
- Read more about SkyTruth Launches Online Environmental Accident Mapper [1]
J-Groups at Press Club: Obama’s Science Openness Glass Only Half Full [7]

The session, before an audience of journalists at the Press Club and another audience online, included representatives of the Columbia Journalism Review, the Associated Press, Politico, the Society of Environmental Journalists, the Association of Health Care Journalists, Reporters Without Borders, and the National Association of Science Writers. The EPA declined to attend.
SEJ Publication Types:
WatchDog TipSheet [2]
Topics on the Beat:
Journalism & Media [8]
Environmental Politics [9]
Science [10]
Region:
Mid-Atlantic (DC DE MD PA VA WV) [11]
Visibility:
Public [6]
- Read more about J-Groups at Press Club: Obama’s Science Openness Glass Only Half Full [7]
Access to Environmental Info Will Be an Issue at Rio+20 [12]

In June 2012, the nations of the world will convene in Rio de Janiero for the 20th anniversary of the landmark 1992 Rio Conference on Environment and Development that set the stage for a number of important treaties, including the Montreal Protocol to protect the ozone layer and the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change.
SEJ Publication Types:
WatchDog TipSheet [2]
Topics on the Beat:
Policy [13]
Planning & Growth [14]
Climate Change [15]
Region:
South America [16]
Visibility:
Public [6]
- Read more about Access to Environmental Info Will Be an Issue at Rio+20 [12]
DHS: Taking the "Public" Out of Public Affairs [17]

A frustrated Federal Times reporter filed a Freedom-of-Information-Act request for the names and phone numbers of all DHS press officers. When he finally got the 58-page list of names, the agency had blacked out all the work phones, cell phones, and e-mail addresses.
SEJ Publication Types:
WatchDog TipSheet [2]
Topics on the Beat:
Government [18]
Visibility:
Public [6]
- Read more about DHS: Taking the "Public" Out of Public Affairs [17]
Why Does the CIA Keep Climate a Secret? [19]

A historian at the National Security Archives made a Freedom of Information Act request in March 2010 to the CIA’s Center on Climate Change and National Security (CCCNS). On Sept. 16, 2011, the CIA finally responded, telling Richelson that all the material he requested was classified and thus exempt from FOIA.
SEJ Publication Types:
WatchDog TipSheet [2]
Topics on the Beat:
Government [18]
Climate Change [15]
Visibility:
Public [6]
- Read more about Why Does the CIA Keep Climate a Secret? [19]
TVA Public Relations Staff Edited Engineer's Report on Failed Coal-Ash Dam [20]

Dam inspections began before the Dec. 2008 spill incident of 5.4 million cubic yards of coal-ash slurry in Tennessee. Afterward, the initial draft engineer's report of the pre-spill inspection noted several eroded areas needed to be fixed "immediately;" the word was subsequently struck from the report.
SEJ Publication Types:
WatchDog TipSheet [2]
Topics on the Beat:
Disasters [5]
Energy & Fuel [21]
Region:
SE (AL AR FL GA KY LA MS NC PR SC TN) [22]
Visibility:
Public [6]
- Read more about TVA Public Relations Staff Edited Engineer's Report on Failed Coal-Ash Dam [20]
White House, Under Attack for Secrecy, Issues Transparency Report [23]

Under fire from all sides for excessive secrecy, the Obama administration has just issued a status report touting its "open government" achievements. One assessment of the report came from the Federation of American Scientists' long-time secrecy watchdog, Steven Aftergood.
SEJ Publication Types:
WatchDog TipSheet [2]
Topics on the Beat:
Government [18]
Visibility:
Public [6]
- Read more about White House, Under Attack for Secrecy, Issues Transparency Report [23]
Indiana GOPer Reintroduces Federal Shield Law [24]

Rep. Mike Pence (R-IN) has reintroduced a bill that would establish a limited federal protection for journalists when prosecutor and courts seek to compel them to disclose their confidential sources. A similar measure died on the Senate floor at the end of the last Congress.
SEJ Publication Types:
WatchDog TipSheet [2]
Topics on the Beat:
Journalism & Media [8]
Government [18]
Region:
Great Lakes (IL IN MI MN OH WI) [25]
Visibility:
Public [6]
- Read more about Indiana GOPer Reintroduces Federal Shield Law [24]
Florida Court Won't Order OSHA To Withhold Images of Orca-Trainer Death [26]

Judge Gregory Presnell ruled that the federal Freedom of Information Act did not allow an injunction before the agency itself had made its decision on whether to release the records.
SEJ Publication Types:
WatchDog TipSheet [2]
Topics on the Beat:
Laws & Regulations [27]
Region:
SE (AL AR FL GA KY LA MS NC PR SC TN) [22]
Visibility:
Public [6]
- Read more about Florida Court Won't Order OSHA To Withhold Images of Orca-Trainer Death [26]
Appeals Court Orders Release of Timber-Trade Records [28]

Details and documents on the 2006 US-Canada Softwood Lumber Agreement will be released after a federal appeals court ruled Sept. 16, 2011, against claims by the Office of the US Trade Representative that the documents, sought by the Center for Biological Diversity and Conservation Northwest, were exempt from the Freedom of Information Act.
SEJ Publication Types:
WatchDog TipSheet [2]
Topics on the Beat:
Forests [29]
Economy & Business [30]
Region:
National (U.S.) [31]
Canada [32]
Visibility:
Public [6]
- Read more about Appeals Court Orders Release of Timber-Trade Records [28]

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