TipSheet

TipSheet banner

 

TipSheet is a biweekly source for story ideas, background, interview leads and reporting tools for journalists who cover news of the environment.

For questions and comments, or to suggest future TipSheets, email the TipSheet Editor Joseph A. Davis at sejournaleditor@sej.org.

Journalists can receive TipSheet free by subscribing to the SEJournal Online, the digital news magazine of the Society of Environmental Journalists. Subscribe to the e-newsletter here. TipSheet is also available through the searchable archive below and via RSS feed.


Latest TipSheet Items

January 31, 2017

  • President Trump's characterization of climate change as a Chinese "hoax" and flirtations with the anti-vaccine movement have led many to conclude that he and his GOP allies are anti-science. A look at scientific integrity and funding in the new administration.

     

  • Conflict is brewing over the leasing of oil and gas drilling rights on millions of acres of federal land, now that the pro-oil-and-gas GOP controls Congress and the White House. And one especially big battle to come? The one over opening for drilling the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, a dispute that raged for decades.

  • Democrats and Republications may agree on a vast federal program to build and repair the nation's crumbling infrastructure, but still uncertain is what will be built, how it will be paid for and who will vote for it. TipSheet looks at the politics of public works (what journalists used to call "pork").

January 24, 2017

  • This week's TipSheet looks at the murky legal and regulatory prospects for the Clean Power Plan, an EPA effort to cut carbon emissions now being challenged by the Trump administration. Will it be revoked in presidential action, or is more likely to get drawn into a murky court proceeding?

January 17, 2017

  • To help keep tabs on the newly seated 115th Congress and its gate-keepers of energy and environment law, the latest TipSheet offers a checklist of committee leadership. Plus, a closer look at three key Senate panels, likely agendas and new leadership, such as Senate Energy Committee Chair John Barrasso, R-Wyo. (shown in photo).

January 10, 2017

  • Regulations about toxic air pollution from oil refineries are among many Obama administration actions that may be targetted for reversal by Republicans in Congress. The key to such a move? The Congressional Review Act. TipSheet explains how it works — and doesn't.

January 3, 2017

  • Drought, flooding, water pollution, road conditions, shipping, climate change, even recreational activities like skiing, skating and ice-fishing — these are all potential stories around the white stuff, some with big environmental consequences. This week's TipSheet offers resources for local coverage of ice and snow.

December 20, 2016

  • A Portland Oregonian investigation turns up problems with toxic lead in National Guard armories around the country, exposing not just military personnel, but the general public. TipSheet reports that a database built for the investigation gives journalists around the nation a way to track problems in their local facilities. 

December 13, 2016

  • Late last week Congress moved authority over coal-ash pollution standards from the feds to states and utilities. With hundreds of huge pits and ponds of the potentially toxic substance scattered across the United States, our latest TipSheet explores this unsolved problem and helps you find your local coal-ash angle.

December 6, 2016

  • Keep an eye on the controversial practice of offshore drilling, suggests our latest TipSheet. The White House has just issued a new five-year plan that puts some sensitive areas off-limits. But the incoming administration looks set to expand drilling. Get resources and ideas for coverage.

Pages