The SEJ WatchDog Alert

The WatchDog Alert (formerly WatchDog TipSheet from 2008-2019) was a regular source of story ideas, articles, updates, events and other information with a focus on freedom-of-information issues of concern to environmental journalists in both the United States and Canada.

WatchDog was compiled, edited and written by Joseph A. Davis, who directs the WatchDog Project, an activity of SEJ's Freedom of Information Task Force that reports on secrecy trends and supports reporters' efforts to make better use of FOIA.

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Latest WatchDog Alert Items

September 19, 2012

More Secret CRS Backgrounders Written at Public Expense

The Congressional Research Service regularly produces objective and informative background material on matters of interest to environmental journalists. Because Congress refuses to release these reports to the public, the WatchDog links to leaked versions published by the Project on Government Secrecy of the Federation of American Scientists.

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Obama Administration Gets Only So-So Openness Grades for 2012

For an administration that trumpeted its open-government agenda on its first day in office, the Obama administration has not lived up to all the heightened expectations. A new annual report card by OpenTheGovernment.org, a watchdog group devoted to freedom of information, spells out some of the details.

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Beef Company Sues ABC for Defamation Over 'Pink Slime'

Beef Products Inc. filed suit for defamation over stories about its 'finely textured beef' product, known to headline writers as 'pink slime.' Legal experts say the company will have a hard time winning the case, which harkens back to the famous hamburger libel case of the late 1990s, in which Oprah Winfrey won the right to dislike beef in public.

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Court Again Rejects Demands for Climate Scientist's E-Mails

A Va. court ruled Sept. 17, 2012 that e-mails generated by climate scientist Michael Mann when he worked at the Univ. of Virginia were exempt from the state's FOIA. Mann has been the target of repeated attacks by climate change deniers due to his famous "hockey stick" graph of global temperature records and indicators.

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September 5, 2012

Facing Budget Cuts, NOAA Scales Back Collection of Greenhouse Gas Data

The existing climate research budget crunch may be made worse by across-the-board cuts mandated if Congress and the White House fail to reach a budget agreement by January 2013.

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Researchers, Health Groups Urge Congress Not To Black Out Carcinogens Report

More than 70 scientists from research and health groups wrote House and Senate Appropriations Committee leaders September 4, 2012, urging them not to cut funds for the biennial Report on Carcinogens, which showed that formaldehyde and styrene can cause cancer.

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Data Missing on Farm Use of Antibiotics; Health Study Hindered

A new report by Sabrina Tavernise in the New York Times points out that basic data about the routine use of antibiotics in farm animals (which consume some 80 percent of the nation's antibiotics) is largely missing and that a ferocious germ resistant to many types of antibiotics had increased tenfold on chicken breasts.

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Navy Sought To Keep Treasure Island Radiation Concerns Out of Written Record

Documents obtained by the Bay Citizen, an award-winning nonprofit news organization, showed Navy officials responsible for ensuring the site was properly cleaned up trying to convince California state health officials not to put their radiation concerns in writing.

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Interior Department Slow To Supply Safety Test Data in Shell Arctic Drilling Case

A retired University of Alaska professor, represented by Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility, went to court for the testing data on which Interior's Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement approval was based, after the agency violated the FOIA by not responding within the required 20-day period.

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TOOLBOX: EPA Environmental Impact Statement Database

If you are hunting stories — or useful background for a story under way — you may find a useful tool in EPA's online, searchable Environmental Impact Statement database.

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The SEJ WatchDog Alert

Latest WatchDog Alert Items

September 19, 2012

More Secret CRS Backgrounders Written at Public Expense

Obama Administration Gets Only So-So Openness Grades for 2012

Beef Company Sues ABC for Defamation Over 'Pink Slime'

Court Again Rejects Demands for Climate Scientist's E-Mails

September 5, 2012

Facing Budget Cuts, NOAA Scales Back Collection of Greenhouse Gas Data

Researchers, Health Groups Urge Congress Not To Black Out Carcinogens Report

Data Missing on Farm Use of Antibiotics; Health Study Hindered

Navy Sought To Keep Treasure Island Radiation Concerns Out of Written Record

Interior Department Slow To Supply Safety Test Data in Shell Arctic Drilling Case

TOOLBOX: EPA Environmental Impact Statement Database

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