...(mostly) the same as the old Recovery.gov.

The new Recovery.gov went online this morning, and it is...less than revolutionary. I've spent the morning poking around it and checking out the new features. Even though the really important stuff -- the recipient data -- will not be available until Oct. 15, I was hoping that the new site would significantly change the way Recovery watchers would be able to access Recovery spending data. This version, however, is not that site.

Today, the Justice Department released a pivotal policy statement on the way the Obama administration will govern use of the state secrets privilege.  The new policy will be implemented on Oct. 1.  This is a welcome step toward President Obama’s promise of an unprecedented level of openness and away from the former administration’s “just trust us” approach when using the privilege to withhold evidence in lawsuits against the government.  While it seems highly likely that previous administrations have used the unfettered privilege to avoid embarrassment or corruption charges, the Obama administration has limited its use to national security purposes.

A number of news outlets, including The Washington Post and The New York Times, are reporting that as early as today, the Obama administration plans to release a new policy on the state secrets privilege.  The new policy is expected to be implemented on Oct. 1.  According to the reports, there are several measures included that will restrict the executive branch’s ability to claim the privilege.

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has finalized its mandatory greenhouse gas (GHG) reporting rule. This new rule will require thousands of facilities to monitor and report their annual emissions of several major GHG. The registry should provide much of the detailed, facility-level information needed to develop policies to reduce emissions. Several major changes were made to the proposed rule, mostly in favor of industry. The changes appear to have reduced the amount of facilities covered and the amount of greenhouse gases tracked.