Publication Items

Lejeune Secrecy May Have Caused Dead Marines [1]

CDC's Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry has been investigating a Navy cover-up of cancer-causing drinking water at its Lejeune, NC, base. Now, Project on Government Oversight has released a January 5, 2012, letter from Marine Major General J.A. Kessler asking ATSDR to redact its report in the name of "force protection."
SEJ Publication Types:
WatchDog TipSheet [2]
Topics on the Beat:
Pollution [3]
People & Population [4]
Military [5]
Environmental Politics [6]
Disasters [7]
Chemicals [8]
Region:
SE (AL AR FL GA KY LA MS NC PR SC TN) [9]
Visibility:
Public [10]
- Read more about Lejeune Secrecy May Have Caused Dead Marines [1]
Press Access Issues in Agency Science Policies Still Unclear, Imperfect [11]

Environmental journalists are still waiting to see whether EPA revises the draft Scientific Integrity Policy in which it claims the right to keep scientists from talking to reporters without press office permission — and have Saddam-style "minders" sit in on interviews.
SEJ Publication Types:
WatchDog TipSheet [2]
Topics on the Beat:
Science [12]
Policy [13]
Visibility:
Public [10]
- Read more about Press Access Issues in Agency Science Policies Still Unclear, Imperfect [11]
Judge Allows Pool Video, Audio Coverage of WV Monsanto Trial [14]

In response to a request for live-streaming of the trial, the judge has expanded the gag order for the case, a class-action lawsuit seeking medical monitoring for people who may have been exposed to hazardous chemicals produced at Monsanto's former plant in Nitro, W.V.
SEJ Publication Types:
WatchDog TipSheet [2]
Topics on the Beat:
Laws & Regulations [15]
Health [16]
Environmental Health [17]
Chemicals [8]
Agriculture [18]
Region:
Mid-Atlantic (DC DE MD PA VA WV) [19]
Visibility:
Public [10]
- Read more about Judge Allows Pool Video, Audio Coverage of WV Monsanto Trial [14]
Who Are Your Local "Sunshine" Heroes? [20]

Somewhere near you there is probably an activist who has been doggedly seeking documents from a local, state, or federal agency which has been reluctant to provide them. Their story might well be worth telling. Sunshine Week, March 11-17, 2012, will celebrate "Local Heroes" with a roundup of such stories.
SEJ Publication Types:
WatchDog TipSheet [2]
Topics on the Beat:
Government [21]
Visibility:
Public [10]
- Read more about Who Are Your Local "Sunshine" Heroes? [20]
House Adopts Online Publication Standard [22]

It remains to be seen how successful the House will be in timely posting of electronic versions of bills — especially when they are thousand-page appropriations bills being rammed through at the last minute. The WatchDog will be watching to see if bills are published electronically well before subcommittee markups begin.
SEJ Publication Types:
WatchDog TipSheet [2]
Topics on the Beat:
Laws & Regulations [15]
Government [21]
Visibility:
Public [10]
- Read more about House Adopts Online Publication Standard [22]
Big Canadian Fish Farm Firm Seeks to Criminalize, Silence Environmental Critics [23]

Mainstream Canada, the nation's second-largest farmed-salmon producer — and a subsidiary of an even more gargantuan Danish transnational holding company — will try to crush and silence environmental activist Don Staniford, who has had the temerity to criticize their operations publicly.
SEJ Publication Types:
WatchDog TipSheet [2]
Topics on the Beat:
Water & Oceans [24]
Fish & Fisheries [25]
Activism [26]
Region:
Canada [27]
Visibility:
Public [10]
- Read more about Big Canadian Fish Farm Firm Seeks to Criminalize, Silence Environmental Critics [23]
Is Documenting Cruelty to Animals a Federal Terrorist Crime? [28]

According to the Los Angeles Times, recent directives from the FBI's Joint Terrorism Task Force suggest that merely filming commercial acts of cruelty to animals could be a terrorist offense — something that now can lead to indefinite military detention without trial.
SEJ Publication Types:
WatchDog TipSheet [2]
Topics on the Beat:
Laws & Regulations [15]
Food [29]
Economy & Business [30]
Visibility:
Public [10]
- Read more about Is Documenting Cruelty to Animals a Federal Terrorist Crime? [28]
Drug Researchers Routinely Risk Public Health by Withholding Info: Study [31]

It's a common practice, according to a study published in the British Medical Journal. Researchers even do it when the work is government-funded. Environmental reporters should be asking questions.
SEJ Publication Types:
WatchDog TipSheet [2]
Topics on the Beat:
Health [16]
Chemicals [8]
Visibility:
Public [10]
- Read more about Drug Researchers Routinely Risk Public Health by Withholding Info: Study [31]
EPA Greenhouse Data Site Offers Bounty of Local Stories [32]

The searchable database is finally being published online for the first time after Congress mandated it in a rider to the 2008 omnibus appropriations bill. EPA compromised after protests from industry, limiting it to only the largest emitters. Pick only emitters in certain states. Focus on emissions of each of the six greenhouse gases it includes — or to customize views according to size of emission or emitting industry.
SEJ Publication Types:
WatchDog TipSheet [2]
Topics on the Beat:
Technology [33]
Pollution [3]
Climate Change [34]
Visibility:
Public [10]
- Read more about EPA Greenhouse Data Site Offers Bounty of Local Stories [32]
Federal Law Fails To Protect Health and Safety Whistleblowers [35]

One example is Walt Tamosaitis, who works for an Energy Department subcontractor. He told a Senate panel on December 6, 2011, that when he raised technical issues about whether nuclear waste cleanup was being done right at the Hanford Site in Washington, he was taken off the project and exiled to the basement.
SEJ Publication Types:
WatchDog TipSheet [2]
Topics on the Beat:
Health [16]
Government [21]
Visibility:
Public [10]
- Read more about Federal Law Fails To Protect Health and Safety Whistleblowers [35]

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