Freedom of Information

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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One in Five Women Carries Too Much Mercury

On Feb. 8, the Environmental Quality Institute (EQI) at the University of North Carolina-Asheville released the largest ever biomonitoring study of mercury levels in the U.S. population. Based on hair samples from more than 6,600 women, researchers found that 20 percent of women of childbearing age exceed the EPA's recommended mercury limit.

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Sensitive But Unclassified Info: You Can't Have It. Why? Because They Say So.

The explosion in the use by federal agencies of Sensitive But Unclassified (SBU) designations to withhold information since the 9/11 terrorist attacks has resulted in uneven policies across agencies and unnecessary restrictions on public access to information, according to a recent American Bar Association report. Such problems have manifested themselves in Connecticut, where state officials are trying to access, and make public, safety information pertaining to a liquefied natural gas (LNG) plant, in order to determine and reduce any risk to the public posed by the plant.

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Patriot Act Deal Compromises Civil Liberties

After two short-term extensions of the USA PATRIOT Act, Congress and the White House appear to have reached a deal on the controversial legislation. Unfortunately, the deal fails to make real progress toward protecting civil liberties.

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Openness: The Best Defense Against Bioterrorism

The National Research Council (NRC) concluded, in a recent report on biochemical research and bioterrorism safeguards, that an open and free exchange of scientific research and ideas is an important component of efforts to protect the country from a biochemical attack or accident. Globalization, Biosecurity, and the Future of the Life Sciences recommends several measures to reduce the risk of an attack using biological weapons or an accident involving biological agents and technology.

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EPA Gets an Earful on Plan to Reduce Toxic Reporting

More than 70,000 citizens voiced opposition to the Environmental Protection Agency's (EPA) proposals to cut chemical reporting under the Toxics Release Inventory (TRI), during the agency's public comment period that ended Jan. 13. Those speaking out against EPA's proposals included state agencies, health professionals, scientists, environmentalists, labor, Attorneys General, and even Congress, all of whom raised substantive concerns with the plan.

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Executive Order to 'Improve' Freedom of Information Act

President Bush issued Executive Order 13392 on Dec. 14 to help improve the processing of requests made under the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA). Open government advocates, however, argue the order is no substitute for legislation in the Senate that would solve many of the underlying problems with FOIA. Executive Order 13392 requires that each federal agency:

create a high level chief FOIA officer in each agency;
conduct an internal assessment of FOIA service problems and develop a work plan for making improvements;

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After Brinksmanship, PATRIOT Act Is Extended One Month

Among the fireworks at the close of the 2005 congressional session, the extension of the 16 sunset provisions of the USA PATRIOT Act underwent a series of last-minute brinksmanship maneuvers.

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Collins' Revised Chemical Security Bill: An Improving Grade

Shortly before Congress broke for recess in December, Sen. Susan Collins (R-ME), Chair of the Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Government Affairs, introduced the Chemical Facility Anti-Terrorism Act of 2005 (S. 2145). The bill, which is co-sponsored by Sens. Joseph Lieberman (D-CT), Norm Coleman (R-MN), Thomas Carper (D-DE) and Carl Levin (D-MI), is a significant improvement over the draft bill previously evaluated by OMB Watch (see Failing Grade on Chemical Security, The OMB Watcher [Dec. 13, 2005]), but still fails to require reporting on the use of safer technologies.

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Statement on Bush's Unauthorized Domestic Spying

The admission by President Bush that he personally authorized the surveillance of American citizens beyond judicial oversight raises two sets of critical questions, one dealing with whether he followed the letter of the law and the other with the quality of the judgment he exercised. Congress must now concern itself with both these areas.

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Failing Grade on Chemical Security

As the former 9/11 Commission issued failing grades on the government's preparedness for another terrorist attack, a new draft of chemical security legislation is being circulated by Sen. Susan Collins (R-ME). The bill establishes authority for the Department of Homeland Security to regulate the security plans of U.S. chemical plants. Unfortunately, if its current language remains, the bill will fail to make communities safer from either terrorist attacks or chemical accidents.

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