Publication Items

Photojournalist Asks Court for Access to Wild Horse Operations [1]

A wild horse journalist, photojournalist and correspondent for Horseback Magazine is petitioning the US Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco to redress the inaction of a federal district court in Nevada on her request that restrictions on her access to the roundups and warehouses be lifted.
SEJ Publication Types:
WatchDog TipSheet [2]
Topics on the Beat:
Natural Resources [3]
Region:
Mountain West (CO ID MT NV UT WY) [4]
Visibility:
Public [5]
- Read more about Photojournalist Asks Court for Access to Wild Horse Operations [1]
Court Upholds Firing of Custodian for Warning of Asbestos in School [6]

The asbestos came to the attention of the head custodian at Somers Central High School in New York, when a chunk fell from the gymnasium ceiling onto the floor and he was asked to clean it up. Morey warned school authorities that he feared it could be asbestos. They told him to put tape over it and to drop the subject.
SEJ Publication Types:
WatchDog TipSheet [2]
Topics on the Beat:
Chemicals [7]
Visibility:
Public [5]
- Read more about Court Upholds Firing of Custodian for Warning of Asbestos in School [6]
House De-Funds Greenhouse Gas Registry [8]

As part of the continuing resolution (HR 1) the House approved largely along party lines an amendment sponsored by Rep. Mike Pompeo (R-KS) to cut an additional $8.5 million from the budget for EPA's Greenhouse Gas Registry.
SEJ Publication Types:
WatchDog TipSheet [2]
Topics on the Beat:
Climate Change [9]
Air [10]
Government [11]
Pollution [12]
Visibility:
Public [5]
- Read more about House De-Funds Greenhouse Gas Registry [8]
Interior Integrity Policy: Is Science Door Half-Open or Half-Closed? [13]

The good news, perhaps, is that Interior felt a need to take some policy action in response to the White House's Dec. 17, 2010, memo on science integrity. The bad news? The Interior policy seems to rehash a 2010 decree that scientists criticized, to punish the innocent, and to reward the uninvolved.
SEJ Publication Types:
WatchDog TipSheet [2]
Topics on the Beat:
Science [14]
Policy [15]
Government [11]
Visibility:
Public [5]
- Read more about Interior Integrity Policy: Is Science Door Half-Open or Half-Closed? [13]
Would You Friend House Energy on Facebook? Or Poke Them? [16]

You can easily find the Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, and Flickr accounts of committees, federal agencies, and others on the Government & Social Media Wiki. As in the real world, however, the existence of these channels may not necessarily mean they carry any substantial information.
SEJ Publication Types:
WatchDog TipSheet [2]
Topics on the Beat:
Government [11]
Visibility:
Public [5]
- Read more about Would You Friend House Energy on Facebook? Or Poke Them? [16]
Enviros Claim "Secret Plan" To Use Weapons Plutonium in Reactors [17]

The environmental group Friends of the Earth got the information that an electric utility wants to use surplus weapons plutonium in a commercial power reactor through a Freedom of Information Act request to the Energy Department.
SEJ Publication Types:
WatchDog TipSheet [2]
Topics on the Beat:
Military [18]
Energy & Fuel [19]
Visibility:
Public [5]
- Read more about Enviros Claim "Secret Plan" To Use Weapons Plutonium in Reactors [17]
Wikileaks Cables Confirm Secret US-China Climate Talks [20]

The massive trove of diplomatic cables disclosed by Wikileaks disclosed one of the Obama administration's darkest environmental secrets — that the U.S. held secret diplomatic talks on climate change during the run-up to the December 2009 Copenhagen meeting.
SEJ Publication Types:
WatchDog TipSheet [2]
Topics on the Beat:
Environmental Politics [21]
Climate Change [9]
Region:
National (U.S.) [22]
Asia [23]
Visibility:
Public [5]
- Read more about Wikileaks Cables Confirm Secret US-China Climate Talks [20]
Issa's Push on Homeland Security FOIA Raises Worries [24]

The House Oversight Committee Chair's method of investigating whether DHS was politically screening its responses to FOIA requests has at least one member of his committee worried about the privacy of the FOIA requesters due to Issa's demand for specifics of information.
SEJ Publication Types:
WatchDog TipSheet [2]
Topics on the Beat:
Laws & Regulations [25]
Government [11]
Visibility:
Public [5]
- Read more about Issa's Push on Homeland Security FOIA Raises Worries [24]
Some Industry Hit-List Letters to Issa Remain Secret [26]

House Oversight Committee Chairman Darrell Issa on February 7, 2011, released some of the letters in an unsearchable 20 MB pdf file, which hardly made it easy to research the results. The watchdog group Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW) has released a searchable version.
SEJ Publication Types:
WatchDog TipSheet [2]
Visibility:
Public [5]
- Read more about Some Industry Hit-List Letters to Issa Remain Secret [26]
Another Flawed Tool: Planned Contractor Database [27]

Project on Government Oversight says federal plans for contractor database omit exactly the information investigative types want most, including past wrongdoing by contractors. POGO's own database still the best tool available.
SEJ Publication Types:
WatchDog TipSheet [2]
Topics on the Beat:
Government [11]
Visibility:
Public [5]
- Read more about Another Flawed Tool: Planned Contractor Database [27]

Pages