WatchDog TipSheet

"When an environmental group, Alaskans for Clean Water, asked for copies of state records about an unsuccessful ballot proposal to limit mining pollution, officials initially said they would turn over the documents — for $50,000," the Associated Press reported October 20, 2008.

Those U.S. representatives and senators really know how to party. Especially the ones running for re-election or under indictment. Now journalists who want to follow the money have a new "Access Washington" snooper-tool to use in their investigative projects.

EPA, FWS and OSHA are among the least open of 15 different federal agencies covered most frequently by environmental reporters, according to the Union of Concerned Scientists.

As the corpses of newspapers litter the American landscape, they seem to fertilize the sprouting of a bumper crop of new blogs devoted to environment and energy. If you are looking for environmental news, you are mostly likely to find it online.

Committee staff are crucial to covering environmental issues. Here are some current House committee phone contacts relevant to the environment beat.

Journalists' Freedom of Information Act requests will have more clout if they demand specific justification for each redaction. A new Justice Department guidance document makes clear this is mandatory for most agencies.

A broad coalition of open-government groups is finalizing an ambitious agenda to improve public access to information in the next administration.

AREVA, the world's largest builder of nuclear reactors, banned pens, recorders and cameras during a field trip to the company's Lynchburg facilities organized by SEJ during its 2008 annual meeting held in Roanoke, VA.

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.