Obstructions Continue To Hinder Media Access to Oil Spill
Jul 13, 2010
Despite statements from the Coast Guard and BP supporting media access to sites related to the Gulf of Mexico oil spill, journalists continue to be threatened, intimidated, and denied access as they attempt to cover what many consider to be the worst environmental disaster in the history of the United States. Considering the unprecedented and unknown impacts of the spill, the public is relying heavily on unimpeded journalists to uncover the causes, responses, and consequences of the disaster.
Lack of Transparency in Oil and Gas Oversight Still a Major Problem
Jun 29, 2010
The Department of the Interior's management of oil and natural gas resources suffers from a lack of public access to information, according to government investigators and numerous public interest groups. This lack of openness takes a significant toll on the public's ability to challenge Interior's decisions and impedes accountability. Reforms to the Interior Department's oil and gas management policies announced in recent months have not made transparency a key element, casting doubt on their potential to bring about stronger oversight.
Lack of Transparency Afflicts Oil Spill Response
Jun 15, 2010
Adding insult to injury, the worst oil spill in U.S. history has been plagued by a lack of transparency that is hindering the response to the disaster and may impact responses to future spills. Reports of restrictions on media access to the spill site, the delayed disclosure of information on dispersants, and frustrations with BP's overall lack of transparency have confounded efforts to hold the company and government agencies accountable.
read in fullAs EPA Takes Action, Trade Secrets Continue Threatening Health and Safety
Jun 2, 2010
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has taken a significant step toward making more chemical health and safety information available to the public even as trade secrets claims continue to conceal such information elsewhere. A new EPA policy will reject most industry claims that chemical identities included in health and safety studies are trade secrets. Meanwhile, the oil and gas industry continues to use trade secrets privileges to thwart attempts to disclose chemical information related to the BP oil spill and controversial natural gas drilling operations.
Long-Delayed Senate Climate Bill Considers Need for Transparency
May 18, 2010
Sens. John Kerry (D-MA) and Joe Lieberman (I-CT) recently introduced long-awaited Senate climate change legislation. The bill seeks to reduce greenhouse gas emissions in the United States by 17 percent of 2005 levels by 2020 and 83 percent by 2050, matching targets set in a House bill passed in 2009. The bill includes several provisions calling for transparent and participatory policies, especially relating to measures that would create new financial markets for buying and selling the right to pollute. How well such transparency would be implemented is a major question, and the success of the emissions reductions may depend on the level of openness that is built into the nation's climate change policy.
EPA Puts More Environment Online
May 4, 2010
Several new online tools developed by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) are now available to provide the public with a variety of environmental information collected by the agency. The tools provide access to information about enforcement actions against polluters in the Chesapeake Bay watershed and across the nation, plus information about health risks from toxic chemicals and the ongoing oil spill disaster in the Gulf of Mexico. These online information access tools follow the recent release of the EPA's Open Government Plan, which makes public access to information a priority for the agency.
read in fullEPA Plan Seeks to Instill Transparency into Agency DNA
Apr 20, 2010
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has released its plan for improving the agency's transparency as part of the Obama administration's Open Government Directive (OGD). The EPA was an early proponent of the new openness agenda, with EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson calling for the agency to operate "as if it were in a fishbowl." The agency's new Open Government Plan documents numerous ongoing and future actions that should continue the agency's advance toward transparency and accountability.
read in fullCreating a 21st Century Environmental Right-to-Know Agenda
Apr 16, 2010
Political developments in recent years forced environmental right-to-know advocates into a constant state of defense. Despite these challenges, citizens have repeatedly exercised their right to know and achieved numerous successes, proving that access to environmental information and public engagement are vital democratic tools.
EPA's New HERO Defends the Public's Right to Know
Apr 6, 2010
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) recently launched a new online database that provides access to the scientific studies used in making key regulatory decisions. The EPA released the Health and Environmental Research Online (HERO) database on March 24. According to the agency, this action "is part of the [Obama administration's] open government directive to conduct business with transparency, participation, and collaboration."
read in fullOSHA Proposal Cuts Workers' Right to Know about Chemical Risks
Mar 23, 2010
A recent proposal by the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) would endanger workers by reducing the amount of information on chemical hazards provided to them, according to several public interest groups. OSHA's proposal is part of its effort to make its Hazard Communication Standard conform to a United Nations system for classifying chemicals. The effort has been criticized by several public interest groups who view portions of it as an unnecessary contraction of workers' right to know and as contrary to the rhetoric of transparency and movement toward greater disclosure seen elsewhere in the Obama administration.
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