"20 New Species Of Coral Listed As Threatened"
"The federal government is protecting 20 types of colorful coral by putting them on the list of threatened species, partly because of climate change."
Source: AP, 08/28/2014
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Deepening Exxon-Russia Ties Run Counter to U.S. Efforts to Punish Putin
"As tensions mount and U.S. lawmakers push for stiffer sanctions on Russia for its role in the Ukraine crisis, oil giant ExxonMobil wants no part of it."
Source: InsideClimate News, 08/28/2014
"Rim Fire's 'Ghost' Trees To Be Logged, U.S. Forest Service Decides"
"The debate began as the largest blaze ever seen in the Sierra still burned: Should officials cut down the thousands of "ghost" trees left behind by last summer's Rim fire, or leave nature alone?"
Source: LA Times, 08/28/2014
"America’s Coal Heartland Is in Economic Freefall"
"LOGAN, W.Va. — For 51 years he’d lived in the same hollow and for two decades he’d performed the same job, mining coal from the underground seams of southern West Virginia. Then, on June 30, Michael Estep was jobless. His mine shut down, and its operator said “market conditions” made coal production unviable.
Source: Wash Post, 08/28/2014
DEADLINE: IJNR Detroit River Institute
Journalists: Apply for the Institute for Journalism & Natural Resources' expenses-paid Detroit River Institute, which will explore natural resource, agricultural, economic and human health issues in and around Detroit, Michigan on October 22-26, 2014. Content of the fellowship program will be relevant to journalists working throughout North American cities. Apply by Sep 12.
Congress Doesn't Want You To Read These Reports
More evidence of Congress' ineffectiveness comes in its ongoing failure to keep its secrets actually secret. Its official policy is to keep the Congressional Research Service from publicly releasing the handy explainers it produces at taxpayer expense. Thanks again to the Federation of American Scientists' Government Secrecy Project for unauthorized publication of these reports.
Report Lists State Open Data Policies and Portals
The federal government offers a launch pad for a range of journalistic projects, giving you one-click shopping for online state data portals where they exist. These portals bring together links to data from multiple agencies in a single state. Now, the nonprofit Center for Data Innovation has catalogued and rated state open-data policies.
Shouldn't "Trade Secrets" Face a Sunset in Interests of Public Health?
One of the oldest tricks U.S. industry has used to hide the potential harm to public health done by chemicals it puts into the environment is to claim that their identities are trade secrets via a loophole established under the antiquated Toxic Substance Control Act of 1976. On August 21st, a coalition of groups petitioned EPA for toxic trade secrets to have an expiration date.
EPA Promises to Look into Muzzling of Advisory Panel Scientists
In an August 15 email, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Chief of Staff Gwendolyn Keyes Fleming said EPA Science Advisor Bob Kavlock would review complaints from journalism (including SEJ) and open-government groups that scientists on EPA advisory panels were being told not to answer news-media or congressional inquiries without permission.
"Syria Likely Used Chlorine Gas 8 Times in April: UN"
"GENEVA -- U.N.-mandated human rights investigators said Wednesday that they believed the Syrian government dropped the chemical agent chlorine on civilian areas on eight different occasions in April."
Source: AFP, 08/27/2014
