Chemicals

CA PESTICIDE SPRAYING PITS TRADE SECRETS AGAINST RIGHT TO KNOW

California is trying to eradicate the brown apple moth along the state's central coast by aerial spraying of a pheromone-based pesticide intended to interfere with the insect's natural reproductive cycle. Some residents want to know what's being sprayed on them.

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2005 Archives: SEJ Speaks on FOI Issues

November 15, 2005
SEJ joins call for post-Katrina FEMA contract disclosure

SEJ joined a number of open-government groups in urging President Bush to post online full copies of all contracts and other paperwork authorizing spending for relief and recovery efforts following Hurricane Katrina.

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Freedom of Information

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Public

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Great Lakes (IL IN MI MN OH WI)

National (U.S.)

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National Response Center Changes Leak Report Policy

The National Response Center has changed its policy on releasing chemical accident reports, making it much harder for journalists to gather crucial information about hazardous materials spills on deadline.

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EPA Hides Data on Pesticide Link to Bee Die-Off

The Environmental Protection Agency looks determined to keep the public from knowing whether a pesticide on which it has waived safety rules may be a factor in the worldwide bee die-off known as "colony collapse disorder."

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Coal Ash Stories Untold in Many Communities

The December 2008 coal-ash spill at a Tennessee power plant has been making headlines for two weeks — but few journalists realize there are coal-ash stories to be unearthed in many communities. Here are some clues for finding them.

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SE (AL AR FL GA KY LA MS NC PR SC TN)

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Comments Sought On Formaldehyde In Wood Products

Concerns over emissions from formaldehyde in pressed-wood products have been building for many years. California's new rules addressing the problem went into effect Jan. 1, 2009. Now EPA is looking at following suit.

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EPA HIDES INDUSTRY DATA ON ATRAZINE RISK

An EPA database that has not been made public shows alarming levels of the pesticide atrazine are showing up in water bodies around the U.S.

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Industry Keeps Secret the Gas-Drilling Toxins Seeping into Drinking Wells

A series of drinking-water contamination incidents have raised doubts about EPA's safety claims regarding hydraulic fracturing in domestic gas wells. And it's hard for people to get to the bottom of those claims when the identity of the chemicals injected during the process is protected as a "trade secret."

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Mountain West (CO ID MT NV UT WY)

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States Sue EPA Over Data on Plants' Toxic Threat to Communities

Twelve states sued EPA Oct. 28, 2007, over the agency's cutbacks in data available to communities about the toxic threats presented to them by nearby industrial plants.

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Rocky Mountain Region Asbestos Sites Reported

There are at least 61 sites in CO, ID, MT, NM, and WY that naturally contain some form of asbestos, according to a report released July 9, 2007,by the US Geological Survey.

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TipSheet

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Chemicals

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Mountain West (CO ID MT NV UT WY)

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Public