Monongahela National Forest's public affairs officer recently directed employees there that, if contacted by national reporters on any issue or local reporters regarding national issues, they "cannot talk to the reporter"and suggested that the instructions came from "our Washington office."

USDA's first major national survey of U.S. organic farms includes 14,540 farms and ranches that cover 4.1 million acres in 50 states.

EPA, Interior, DOE, USDA and others now provide "clearing points" intended to engage the public in their efforts for greater public transparency, participation, and collaboration, and in development of an "Open Government Plan."

An Online Quill article by David Cuillier offers advice from William Ury, co-founder of Harvard’s Program on Negotiation and co-author of “Getting to Yes,” to effectively help reporters move from defeatism to successful disclosure.

Disclosure of 22 electric-utility plans for handling coal-ash waste is a good start... but EPA also released the identities of some 40 more — previously undisclosed — scary ash impoundments.

Journalism groups, including key organizer American Society of News Editors, will honor individuals whose open-government work in 2009 has made their communities better places to live.

RSVP by 4:00 p.m. February 12, 2010, to learn about the Interagency Ocean Policy Task Force's proposed marine spatial planning framework for coordinating many ocean and coastal activities by multiple agencies and actors.

Environmental reporters who use databases to find and build stories have a fresh windfall, including three new datasets from EPA, plus many others relevant to the EJ beat.