Publication Items

EWG Database Helps Public, Journos Find Drinking Water Threats [1]

While EPA and local utilities make much data available online, the Environmental Working Group has compiled a tap water database that is much easier to use. It gathers data from the states as well as from EPA, and compiles city-by-city rankings of the best and worst drinking water quality. It also explains the health significance of contaminants and lists contaminants not regulated by EPA.

SEJ Publication Types:
WatchDog TipSheet [2]
Topics on the Beat:
Water & Oceans [3]
Technology [4]
Laws & Regulations [5]
Health [6]
Region:
Mid-Atlantic (DC DE MD PA VA WV) [7]
Visibility:
Public [8]
- Read more about EWG Database Helps Public, Journos Find Drinking Water Threats [1]
Feds Raise Fee Barrier to FOIA about Shipbreaking of US Ship Abroad [9]

Maritime historian Jon Ottman has been denied a fee waiver on records he's requested about an aged U.S. Coast Guard cutter that was auctioned to a shipbreaker in Mexico without, he says, being thoroughly checked for toxic and hazardous materials. Photo: America's Queen — Coast Guard Cutter Storis, [10] courtesy US Coast Guard.

SEJ Publication Types:
WatchDog TipSheet [2]
Topics on the Beat:
Water & Oceans [3]
Environmental Politics [11]
Region:
Mexico [12]
Alaska and Hawaii [13]
Visibility:
Public [8]
- Read more about Feds Raise Fee Barrier to FOIA about Shipbreaking of US Ship Abroad [9]
CDC, EPA Respond to SEJ Complaints about Press Office Obstacles [14]

After the SEJ and the Society of Professional Journalists complained January 20, 2014, about federal agency press office stonewalling in the face of the Charleston, WV, drinking water disaster, the agencies responded. Read the text of their replies here.

SEJ Publication Types:
WatchDog TipSheet [2]
Topics on the Beat:
Water & Oceans [3]
Environmental Politics [11]
Disasters [15]
Region:
Mid-Atlantic (DC DE MD PA VA WV) [7]
Visibility:
Public [8]
- Read more about CDC, EPA Respond to SEJ Complaints about Press Office Obstacles [14]
Photog Claims Damages from CalTrans, CHP for Arrest, False Report [16]

The California Highway Patrol lied in reports when it violated the First Amendment rights of news photographer Steve Eberhard of the Willitts News by illegally arresting him to intimidate newsgatherers at a protest site in July 2013, Eberhard says in a legal claim against CHP and Caltrans.

SEJ Publication Types:
WatchDog TipSheet [2]
Topics on the Beat:
Laws & Regulations [5]
Journalism & Media [17]
Region:
California [18]
Visibility:
Public [8]
- Read more about Photog Claims Damages from CalTrans, CHP for Arrest, False Report [16]
FAA Nixes Drones for Journos [19]

Drones might count as new media — and certainly have journalistic uses in covering everything from prairie fires to chemical emergencies. The federal government, which devotes enormous technical resources to spying on its citizens, now says this is illegal. The Federal Aviation Administration issued the ruling, saying there was no grey area: hobbyists can legally fly video drones. But journalists can not. Image: Cade Cleavelin, a science/ag journalism senior at U of Missouri, demonstrates a DJY Phantom quadcopter at the 2013 SEJ Conference in Chattanooga, TN. © Roger Archibald.

SEJ Publication Types:
WatchDog TipSheet [2]
Topics on the Beat:
Technology [4]
Laws & Regulations [5]
Journalism & Media [17]
Government [20]
Visibility:
Public [8]
- Read more about FAA Nixes Drones for Journos [19]
Drinking Water Crisis Reveals Knowledge Gaps [21]

You read about the 300,000 West Virginians who don't know if they are drinking safe water — and ask "Could it happen here?" The answer is "You betcha!" Environmental journalists have many tools for discovering drinking-water disasters-waiting-to-happen in their own bailiwicks.

SEJ Publication Types:
WatchDog TipSheet [2]
Topics on the Beat:
Water & Oceans [3]
Laws & Regulations [5]
Disasters [15]
Chemicals [22]
Region:
Mid-Atlantic (DC DE MD PA VA WV) [7]
National (U.S.) [23]
Visibility:
Public [8]
- Read more about Drinking Water Crisis Reveals Knowledge Gaps [21]
WikiLeaks Exposes Secret Obama Trade Pact on Environment [24]

Corporate lobby groups? Yeah, they can read it. Big campaign donors? They can read it, too. But can the news media and U.S. public read it? — No way! That would be un-American. Welcome to the secretly negotiated trade treaty known as the Trans-Pacific Partnership.

SEJ Publication Types:
WatchDog TipSheet [2]
Topics on the Beat:
Planning & Growth [25]
Environmental Politics [11]
Environmental Health [26]
Economy & Business [27]
Visibility:
Public [8]
- Read more about WikiLeaks Exposes Secret Obama Trade Pact on Environment [24]
SEJ, SPJ Urge EPA, CDC to End Press Office Obstacles in Public Health Crises [28]

Reporters scrambling to inform the 300,000 citizens of Charleston, West Virginia, about why they could not drink their tap water, what health threats it presented, and who was responsible faced a stone wall from most of the responsible government agencies in the early days of the crisis.

SEJ Publication Types:
WatchDog TipSheet [2]
Topics on the Beat:
Water & Oceans [3]
Health [6]
Environmental Health [26]
Disasters [15]
Region:
Mid-Atlantic (DC DE MD PA VA WV) [7]
National (U.S.) [23]
Visibility:
Public [8]
- Read more about SEJ, SPJ Urge EPA, CDC to End Press Office Obstacles in Public Health Crises [28]
Secret CRS Reports on Environment Published [29]

Taxpayers' money funds the Congressional Research Service as it produces objective and authoritative reports on issues facing Congress — many on subjects of interest to environmental journalists. Congress, however, does not share these reports with the public who paid for them. Thanks to the Project on Government Secrecy, another batch of the reports has been leaked and published.

SEJ Publication Types:
WatchDog TipSheet [2]
Topics on the Beat:
Technology [4]
Natural Resources [30]
Laws & Regulations [5]
Government [20]
Energy & Fuel [31]
Visibility:
Public [8]
- Read more about Secret CRS Reports on Environment Published [29]
Environment Canada Denied 22% of Requests for Scientist Interviews in 2013 [32]

The startling admission only bolsters critics who say the conservative Harper government is suppressing science which does not support its politics — for example, its policies on global warming or oil sands.

SEJ Publication Types:
WatchDog TipSheet [2]
Topics on the Beat:
Science [33]
Environmental Politics [11]
Region:
Canada [34]
Visibility:
Public [8]
- Read more about Environment Canada Denied 22% of Requests for Scientist Interviews in 2013 [32]

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