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.
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, [3] courtesy US Coast Guard.
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.
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.
"13 of the 14 warmest years on record occurred in the 21st century, says the World Meteorological Organisation."
"WASHINGTON — In marathon meetings and tense all-day drafting sessions, dozens of lawyers, economists and engineers at the Environmental Protection Agency are struggling to create what is certain to be a divisive but potentially historic centerpiece of President Obama’s climate change legacy."
"GENEVA -- Cancer is now the world’s biggest killer, and the number of cases will explode over the next 20 years, warns a new global report compiled by the International Agency for Research on Cancer, an agency of the World Health Organization."
"WASHINGTON — On the heels of the Senate’s passage of a long-awaited farm bill, the Obama administration is to announce on Wednesday the creation of seven regional 'climate hubs' aimed at helping farmers and rural communities respond to the risks of climate change, including drought, invasive pests, fires and floods."
"Federal regulators said on Tuesday that they had fined three companies for mislabeling the type of crude oil they were transporting. The penalties — a total of $93,000 — were the first from surprise inspections begun after since a series of accidents in the last year underscored the hazard of transporting highly flammable oil by rail."
"Federal coffers are missing out on what could be billions of dollars in lost revenue due to shoddy accounting work by the office that handles leases for coal mines on public land, according to a report made public today by the investigative arm of Congress."
Links
[1] https://www.sej.org/publications/watchdog-tipsheet/ewg-database-helps-public-journos-find-drinking-water-threats
[2] https://www.sej.org/publications/watchdog-tipsheet/feds-raise-fee-barrier-foia-about-shipbreaking-us-ship-abroad
[3] http://coastguard.dodlive.mil/2013/02/americas-queen-coast-guard-cutter-storis/
[4] https://www.sej.org/publications/watchdog-tipsheet/cdc-epa-respond-sej-complaints-about-press-office-obstacles
[5] https://www.sej.org/publications/watchdog-tipsheet/photog-claims-damages-caltrans-chp-arrest-false-report
[6] https://www.sej.org/headlines/2013-was-sixth-warmest-year-record-un-says
[7] http://www.theguardian.com/environment/2014/feb/05/2013-was-sixth-warmest-year-on-record-un-says
[8] https://www.sej.org/headlines/epa-staff-struggling-create-pollution-rule
[9] http://www.nytimes.com/2014/02/05/us/epa-staff-struggling-to-create-rule-limiting-carbon-emissions.html?ref=energy-environment
[10] https://www.sej.org/headlines/cancer-explosion-forecast-next-20-years
[11] http://ens-newswire.com/2014/02/04/cancer-explosion-forecast-for-next-20-years/
[12] https://www.sej.org/headlines/next-phase-obama%E2%80%99s-executive-push-climate-hubs
[13] http://www.nytimes.com/2014/02/06/us/next-phase-of-obamas-executive-push-climate-hubs.html?ref=energy-environment
[14] https://www.sej.org/headlines/3-companies-fined-mislabeling-crude-oil-rail-transit
[15] http://www.nytimes.com/2014/02/05/business/energy-environment/3-companies-fined-for-mislabeling-crude-oil-in-rail-transit.html?ref=energy-environment&_r=0
[16] https://www.sej.org/headlines/how-feds-are-ripping-you-benefit-big-coal
[17] http://www.motherjones.com/blue-marble/2014/02/coal-ripoff-royalties-gao
[18] https://www.sej.org/search_results
[19] https://www.sej.org/search_results?page=3500
[20] https://www.sej.org/search_results?page=3497
[21] https://www.sej.org/search_results?page=3498
[22] https://www.sej.org/search_results?page=3499
[23] https://www.sej.org/search_results?page=3502
[24] https://www.sej.org/search_results?page=3503
[25] https://www.sej.org/search_results?page=3504
[26] https://www.sej.org/search_results?page=3505
[27] https://www.sej.org/search_results?page=5017