In an effort to increase government accountability and transparency, media groups put forward a new "21st Century Right-to-Know Agenda."

The Project on Government Oversight (POGO) has a new tool for investigative journalists. Reporters can now snoop around the Federal Contractor Misconduct Database to find misdeeds by federal contractors.

The Smithsonian Institution's Board of Regents held its first public meeting in 162 years November 17, 2008. This marks a move away from existing policies that have made the institution's meetings and records less open to public scrutiny than other federal entities.

Weary of undisclosed corporate financial risk, battered stock investors are pressuring companies to disclose the economic risks they face from climate change.

US Supreme Court to hear six cases with important environmental implications. Issues involved are: use of sonar in Naval training; logging in California; power plant operation; disposal of mining wastes; royalties paid to the Navajo Nation on coal leases; and liability under Superfund law.

New U.S. refineries will process crude oil from Canada's Tar Sands, which means that much of the pollution associated with that refining will occur in the lower 48.

Compact fluorescent lighting reduces energy use, but what's the trade-off in mercury exposure via broken bulbs and disposal? Now a team of Yale scientists has estimated where there will be a net increase or decrease in mercury emissions.

The future of alternative energy development in coastal US waters will likely become clearer at the end of March 2007, when a draft Programmatic Environmental Impact Statement is scheduled to be released.

A new report on environmental justice issues is scheduled to be released in mid-March 2007.

Spurred by recent tsunami and hurricane disasters in the US and around the world, NOAA, USGS, and other government agencies are taking a closer look at the hazards lurking on US shores.