"NEW ORLEANS — A federal judge has ruled that BP must stand by the agreement made with the companies it compensated for losses after the 2010 Gulf oil spill despite the oil giant saying some claims were overestimated."
"The U.S. Forest Service has tightened restrictions on media coverage in vast swaths of the country's wild lands, requiring reporters to pay for a permit and get permission before shooting a photo or video in federally designated wilderness areas."
"The Obama administration announced a new 5-year plan for the Great Lakes on Wednesday that will accelerate efforts to address toxic pollution, invasive species and farm runoff and restore plant and wildlife habitat."
"President Barack Obama on Thursday will designate the largest marine sanctuary in the world in an area of the Pacific Ocean that will be off-limits to commercial fishing and deep-sea mining, the White House said on Wednesday."
The Center for Effective Government (formerly OMB Watch) is releasing a new report tracing which schools are close enough to toxic and hazardous chemicals to endanger kids. Join the webinar on Friday, September 26, 2014, 2-2:30 Eastern, to preview the report, called “Kids in Danger Zones: One in Three Schoolchildren at Risk from Chemical Catastrophes.”
ecoAmerica has released a new report on African, Asian, and Hispanic/Latino American attitudes, values, and motivations on climate change, and will host a webinar on this research on Oct 2nd, 1-2pm ET. All journalists are invited to register.
Three major journalism groups held a joint convention in Chicago September 15-17, 2014, which included a panel discussion on Obama administration secrecy. News industry leaders used the occasion to point out that the Obama administration's deeds and practices did not match its claims of transparency.
There are many good investigative stories to be done about natural gas pipelines in your local area. You can get some maps and data about these pipelines if you try. Hard. The government is not going to help too much. One resource is the National Pipeline Mapping System (NPMS), which allows the general public to see geodata on a county-by-county basis.
As a nationwide newspaper chain probed safety threats posed to the public by gas pipelines, an Alabama court imposed prior restraint on the Montgomery Advertiser, to prevent it from publishing the Alabama Gas Corporation's safety plan, citing homeland security and trade secrets. Now a judge has ruled that the court erred in granting a temporary restraining order.
The U.S. Forest Service is seeking to harden rules that would require a journalist to get a permit and pay a fee of up to $1,500 in order to report inside a federal wilderness. [Update -- 9/25/14: Forest Service Chief Tidwell says media don't need permit]
