Security and Secrecy

Feb 8, 2016

Top 400 Taxpayers See Tax Rates Rise, But There’s More to the Story

As Americans were gathering party supplies to greet the New Year, the Internal Revenue Service released their annual report of cumulative tax data reported on the 400 tax r...

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Feb 4, 2016

Chlorine Bleach Plants Needlessly Endanger 63 Million Americans

Chlorine bleach plants across the U.S. put millions of Americans in danger of a chlorine gas release, a substance so toxic it has been used as a chemical weapon. Greenpeace’s new repo...

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Jan 25, 2016

U.S. Industrial Facilities Reported Fewer Toxic Releases in 2014

The Toxics Release Inventory (TRI) data for 2014 is now available. The good news: total toxic releases by reporting facilities decreased by nearly six percent from 2013 levels. Howe...

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Jan 22, 2016

Methane Causes Climate Change. Here's How the President Plans to Cut Emissions by 40-45 Percent.

UPDATE (Jan. 22, 2016): Today, the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) released its proposed rule to reduce methane emissions...

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50 Public Interest Groups Support Homeland Security Fix

In an effort to support recent efforts led by Sens. Leahy (D-VT) and Levin (D-MI) to fix overly restrictive information provisions in the Homeland Security Act (HAS), 50 public interest groups ranging from librarians to lawyers and environmentalists to reporters signed a statement of support.

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Restore FOIA Bill: An Important Step in Fixing the Homeland Security Act

Today Senators Leahy (D-VT), Levin (D-MI), Jeffords (I-VT), Lieberman (D-CT) and Byrd (D-WV) introduced the “Restore Freedom of Information Act”. The new legislation, called “Restore FOIA” for short, proposes to fix troubling information provisions that were passed in the Homeland Security Act of 2002. The bill would clarify and narrow a broad FOIA exemption that was created for the Department of Homeland Security and would completely eliminate various provisions that seriously restrict the government’s ability to use information.

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FERC's Final CEII Rule

On March 3, 2003, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) published in the Federal Register its final rule restricting access to critical energy infrastructure information (CEII) and establishing new procedures outside of the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) for requesting access. FERC began this process in response to the terrorist acts committed on September 11, 2001, and published its Notice of Proposed Rulemaking on September 13, 2002, to obtain public comments.

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TOP and CTCs Survive in FY 03

The federal Technology Opportunities Program and Community Technology Centers program emerged from the appropriations logjam in Congress with level funding of $15.5 million and $32.5 million respectively. Despite early and sustained signals from the Bush Administration desiring elimination of both programs, and a worsening economic picture, community technology supporters were able to mount a strong push to help protect the future of both initiatives. More information on FY 03 community technology appropriations is available from the Digital Empowerment Steering Committee.

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Patriot Act II Also Limits the Public's Right-to-Know

(Revised February 13, 2003) The U.S. Department of Justice appears ready to ask Congress to allow broader surveillance of citizens and aliens and to grant wide new avenues for government censorship. A "confidential" draft of an 86-page bill called the Domestic Security Enhancement Act of 2003 would help transform the government into the big brother you never had and would greatly constrain the free flow of information.

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OMB Watch Submits Comments on FERC's Proposed Rulemaking

OMB Watch recently submitted public comments to the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission on its recent Notice of Proposed Rulemaking. The comments raised strong objections to the information restriction measures being proposed by FERC and urged the agency to transfer this issue to Congress where it would be more appropriate to address this issue. The full comments submitted to FERC are below or can be downloaded as a pdf file here. October 14, 2002 Office of the Secretary Federal Energy Regulatory Commission 888 First Street, NE. Washington, DC 20426

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Comments Due this Week on FERC Rule Limiting Public Access

Public comments on the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission's proposal to limit public access to "critical energy infrastructure information" are due this Thursday, Nov. 14. FERC granted an extension to the original deadline, as reported in a previous issue of the Watcher, in response to a request filed by American Rivers and members of the Hydropower Reform Coalition (HRC). FERC's Notice of Proposed Rulemaking was issued on Sept. 5, 2002, and published in the Federal Register on Sept. 13 in Docket Nos. RM02-4-000 and PL02-1-000.

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Funding Fate of CTC and TOP Still Uncertain

The fate of both the federal Community Technology Centers and Technology Opportunities remains uncertain as Congress wrapped up business to focus on the last days of the midterm elections. The Hous eand Senate did pass acontinuing resolutions continuing the current level of funding for both programs. FY 2003 spending bills will be the focus of a November 12 "lame duck" session.

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PowerUP Centers Program Comes to an End

John Schwartz, writing in the 10/30/02 New York Times discusses the shutting down of the PowerUP initiative, launched in late 1999 to combat the digital divide in underserved communities. Launched in late 1999, PowerUP (http://powerup.org) was an effort to provide capital and technological expertise to youth-serving entities within underserved communities across America. Over 950 technology centers were developed or enhanced through the project, and each will now be supported through other organizations, local financing, or other means.

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Ideology Trumps Science at HHS, Letter Charges

The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) is suppressing scientific information on contraception and abortion, and apparently increasing audits of nonprofit grantees that disagree with the administration’s “abstinence-only” program, according to a recent letter from Rep. Henry Waxman (D-CA) and a group of House Democrats to Tommy Thompson, secretary of HHS. “A growing number of cases provide evidence that actions directly affecting the public health are being driven by ideology rather than science,” the letter charges, referencing

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