In this issue: Journalism remains a noble endeavor; language of the global warming 'lull'; your reporting, critiqued; Q&A on Exxon exposé; lessons on lead; collaborators chronicle destruction and hope; waypoints in a photographic life; chasing atoms on nuclear energy beat; cultivating relationships with editors; the truth about teaching; BookShelf.
The Land and Water Conservation Fund, which takes money the feds get from offshore drilling and parcels it out to federal, state and local agencies for parks and conservation land, is a goldmine for environmental stories by enterprising reporters. And now InvestigateWest, a non-profit watchdog journalism outlet, has made LWCF sleuthing easier by compiling an easy-to-use database of LWCF grants made between 1965 and 2011.
The draft Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP) treaty is still being kept secret from the hundreds of millions of people whom it will affect. It matters for environmental journalists as trade treaties often set up mechanisms for corporations to negate the environmental laws of signatory countries. Image: WikiLeaks.
Environmental journalists are not alone in their frustrations with the federal officials who are supposed to help journalists get information about what government is doing. Now the Association of Health Care Journalists (AHCJ) has surveyed its members and found the federal government often blocks access to information that health care journalists seek.
Senator Charles Grassley's opinion matters because he chairs the Senate Judiciary Committee, which has jurisdiction over FOIA. He also sits on the Senate Agriculture Committee.
Some commenters say Donald Trump has declared "war on the press." But Hillary Clinton has herself given little access to the news media during the campaign so far. Worse yet, parts of the news media seem to be making the problem worse, by not advocating for press freedom and open information. Profits and ratings have trumped the First Amendment.
"Cases of Legionnaires' disease nearly quadrupled in the United States over a 15-year period, and almost all might have been prevented with the proper use of disinfectant, the right water temperature and other measures, federal health officials said Tuesday."
"The controversial proposed Gateway Pacific coal expert terminal suffered its latest body blow on Monday with denial of its application for an aquatic land lease at the Cherry Point site north of Bellingham."
"The Vermilion Middle Fork is a swift-flowing river winding through lush forests, rolling prairie and craggy cliffs in central Illinois. Designated as one of the country’s “National Scenic Rivers,” it is subject to federal and state protections, popular with paddlers and home to wildlife including 24 endangered or threatened species. But the river’s banks butt up against three massive pits filled with toxic coal ash produced over five decades by the Vermilion coal-fired power plant... ."
"At DOT's headquarters in Washington, D.C., the agency's Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration (PHMSA) hosted an in-depth discussion of what went wrong during a March 2014 explosion at an LNG facility in Plymouth, Wash., that led to five injuries and $72 million in property damage."
