WatchDog TipSheet

SEJ, J-Groups Urge Interior To Loosen Limits on Filming

SEJ and 18 other journalism groups urged the Department of the Interior Oct. 19, 2007, to revise a proposed rule that would keep freelancers and documentarians from covering news in National Parks, Wildlife Refuges, and other DOI lands.

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

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.

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Bush OMB Claims Public Health Endangerment As Secret

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.

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

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.

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SEJ Urges Energy Department To Drop New Secrecy Rule

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.

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

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.

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

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

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Soybean Groups Pull Funding for Biofuel Research Over Climate Findings

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.

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

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.

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Read It Now: Suppressed CDC Great Lakes Toxics Report

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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