WatchDog TipSheet

Topics on the Beat:

Laws & Regulations [3]

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Public [5]

Read more about SEJ, J-Groups Urge Interior To Loosen Limits on Filming [1]

HOUSE PANEL TO HOLD HEARING ON PARK PHOTO FEES DEC. 12 [6]

The House Resources Committee will hold a hearing Dec. 12, 2007, to air concerns that proposed Interior Department rules requiring fees and permits for photography and sound recording on public lands could limit freedom of the press.

SEJ Publication Types:

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Public [5]

Read more about HOUSE PANEL TO HOLD HEARING ON PARK PHOTO FEES DEC. 12 [6]

Bush OMB Claims Public Health Endangerment As Secret [8]

The White House Office of Management and Budget has denied a FOIA request by the online newsletter Greenwire to release EPA's public health "endangerment finding" on climate change.

SEJ Publication Types:

Topics on the Beat:

Climate Change [9]

Health [10]

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Public [5]

Read more about Bush OMB Claims Public Health Endangerment As Secret [8]

SEJ Urges Prompt, Full EPA Release of Ash Spill Testing Data [11]

SEJ urged EPA Region 4 to release promptly and fully any environmental monitoring data it collects related to the December 2008 spill of coal ash from an east Tennessee impoundment.

SEJ Publication Types:

Topics on the Beat:

Journalism & Media [12]

Region:

SE (AL AR FL GA KY LA MS NC PR SC TN) [13]

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Public [5]

Read more about SEJ Urges Prompt, Full EPA Release of Ash Spill Testing Data [11]

SEJ Urges Energy Department To Drop New Secrecy Rule [14]

The Society of Environmental Journalists has urged the Energy Department to abandon a new rule making it easier for the agency to deny or resist Freedom of Information Act requests.

SEJ Publication Types:

Topics on the Beat:

Laws & Regulations [3]

Journalism & Media [12]

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Public [5]

Read more about SEJ Urges Energy Department To Drop New Secrecy Rule [14]

DOT Stifles Report on How Climate Change Will Affect Gulf Coast Infrastructure [15]

It wasn't exactly a secret that climate change will have drastic and often harmful impacts on the roads and causeways, chemical plants and oil/gas pipelines, and shipping facilities along the Gulf Coast. Two reports released in March had already said so.

But another report on the same subject from the Department of Transportation was buried deep in the bureaucracy - as has been the case with many reports on climate change impacts during the past eight years.

SEJ Publication Types:

Topics on the Beat:

Climate Change [9]

Region:

SE (AL AR FL GA KY LA MS NC PR SC TN) [13]

Visibility:

Public [5]

Read more about DOT Stifles Report on How Climate Change Will Affect Gulf Coast Infrastructure [15]

Utilities Say Public Can't Handle the Truth About Drugs in Water [16]

When water providers find pharmaceuticals in drinking water, they rarely tell the public.

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Topics on the Beat:

Pollution [17]

Water & Oceans [18]

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Public [5]

Read more about Utilities Say Public Can't Handle the Truth About Drugs in Water [16]

Soybean Groups Pull Funding for Biofuel Research Over Climate Findings [19]

Two soybean industry groups temporarily suspended about $1.5 million in grants to the University of Minnesota for biofuel research after it found using food crops for fuel could worsen global warming and cause other environmental harm.

SEJ Publication Types:

Topics on the Beat:

Climate Change [9]

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Public [5]

Read more about Soybean Groups Pull Funding for Biofuel Research Over Climate Findings [19]

Federal Shield Law Awaits Senate Action-Blocked by Sen. Kyl [20]

Judiciary Committee leaders urged Senate leaders March 6, 2008, to schedule a floor vote on a bill to create a federal "shield law" for journalists.

SEJ Publication Types:

Topics on the Beat:

Journalism & Media [12]

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Public [5]

Read more about Federal Shield Law Awaits Senate Action-Blocked by Sen. Kyl [20]

Read It Now: Suppressed CDC Great Lakes Toxics Report [21]

After Congressional Democrats criticized them for suppressing a report on toxic substances in the Great Lakes, and after an independent investigative journalism group published excerpts, the Centers for Disease Control finally published it March 12, 2008.

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