TipSheet

TipSheet banner

 

TipSheet is a biweekly source for story ideas, background, interview leads and reporting tools for journalists who cover news of the environment.

For questions and comments, or to suggest future TipSheets, email the TipSheet Editor Joseph A. Davis at sejournaleditor@sej.org.

Journalists can receive TipSheet free by subscribing to the SEJournal Online, the digital news magazine of the Society of Environmental Journalists. Subscribe to the e-newsletter here. TipSheet is also available through the searchable archive below and via RSS feed.


Latest TipSheet Items

January 31, 2017

  • While resurrecting the declining U.S. coal industry, as promised by the new administration, is probably not possible, it may not stop a lifting of the moratorium on coal leasing on federal lands. TipSheet looks at how the issue moved front and center, and whether the move would help coal country.

  • Oil pipelines like the Keystone XL and Dakota Access are back at the center of a political firestorm, with a new executive order from President Trump just a few days into his new administration giving them the go-ahead. But it's just the beginning — many other pipelines, for both gas and oil, have been proposed.

January 24, 2017

  • This week's TipSheet looks at the murky legal and regulatory prospects for the Clean Power Plan, an EPA effort to cut carbon emissions now being challenged by the Trump administration. Will it be revoked in presidential action, or is more likely to get drawn into a murky court proceeding?

January 17, 2017

  • To help keep tabs on the newly seated 115th Congress and its gate-keepers of energy and environment law, the latest TipSheet offers a checklist of committee leadership. Plus, a closer look at three key Senate panels, likely agendas and new leadership, such as Senate Energy Committee Chair John Barrasso, R-Wyo. (shown in photo).

January 10, 2017

  • Regulations about toxic air pollution from oil refineries are among many Obama administration actions that may be targetted for reversal by Republicans in Congress. The key to such a move? The Congressional Review Act. TipSheet explains how it works — and doesn't.

January 3, 2017

  • Drought, flooding, water pollution, road conditions, shipping, climate change, even recreational activities like skiing, skating and ice-fishing — these are all potential stories around the white stuff, some with big environmental consequences. This week's TipSheet offers resources for local coverage of ice and snow.

December 20, 2016

  • A Portland Oregonian investigation turns up problems with toxic lead in National Guard armories around the country, exposing not just military personnel, but the general public. TipSheet reports that a database built for the investigation gives journalists around the nation a way to track problems in their local facilities. 

December 13, 2016

  • Late last week Congress moved authority over coal-ash pollution standards from the feds to states and utilities. With hundreds of huge pits and ponds of the potentially toxic substance scattered across the United States, our latest TipSheet explores this unsolved problem and helps you find your local coal-ash angle.

December 6, 2016

  • Keep an eye on the controversial practice of offshore drilling, suggests our latest TipSheet. The White House has just issued a new five-year plan that puts some sensitive areas off-limits. But the incoming administration looks set to expand drilling. Get resources and ideas for coverage.

November 29, 2016

  • Sarah Palin for Interior secretary? Her name is among those being mentioned for top environment and energy posts in the incoming Trump administration. To help you cover the shaping of the new cabinet, the latest TipSheet runs down better-known and lesser-known candidates being floated for EPA, Interior, Energy and Agriculture department chiefs. 

Pages