Open, Accountable Government

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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EPA Sheltering Information Under Gag Order

A recently leaked internal memo from the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) orders agency employees to refrain from discussing information regarding enforcement actions. The gag order came a week before the Bush administration revealed it would drop pending investigations of 70 power plants accused of violating the Clean Air Act (CAA). The Oct. 28 memo from J. P. Suarez, the assistant administrator for the Office of Enforcement and Compliance, instructs staff to refrain from discussing “sensitive enforcement information” with external parties. These third parties include:

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Data Quality Lawsuit Settled Out of Court

A controversial lawsuit challenging global warming was recently settled out of court, thereby leaving the issue of whether federal agencies’ data quality guidelines are judicially reviewable unanswered.

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White House Grants Limited Access to 9/11 Information

Last week, the White House agreed to grant the 9/11-investigation commission limited access to portions of classified presidential briefings. The commission will have some degree of access to briefings from both the Bush and Clinton administrations. The decision comes after the chairman of the panel threatened the White House with a subpoena if the documents were not released. While the willingness of the White House to grant some access is a positive gesture, many feel that the agreement is not enough.

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FOI Advocates Get Mixed Results from Defense Authorization Bill

Open government advocates scored what optimists might call a minor victory when Congress granted the National Security Agency (NSA) a narrowly-tailored exemption from the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA), according to Secrecy News.

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Economy and Jobs Watch: Taking the Long View

Current economic policy is becoming unsustainable. Current and projected federal deficits are reaching the point where many economic commentators worry about the long-run viability of current policy.

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High Court Asked to Lift Secrecy in Habeas Corpus Proceedings

The Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press has asked the Supreme Court to hear a case in which the plaintiff is identified only by his initials and 63 of 65 motions are kept secret. The existence of the case (M.K.B v. Warden) was discovered when a court clerk mistakenly inserted files related to the case in a public docket and a reporter discovered the misfiled papers, according to news reports.

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Report from the Treasury Department "Death Tax" Roundtable

On Nov. 6 the Treasury Department hosted a “Roundtable on Jobs, Growth, and the Abolition of the Death Tax." There was surprisingly little substance discussed at this one-sided event – most participants opted to rehash old rhetoric opposing the estate tax. There was no new serious research discussed and no new data presented.

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Economy and Jobs Watch: Employment Positive, But Still Weak

October’s unemployment rate remains essentially unchanged from September’s 6.0 percent rate, the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) announced last week. The labor market has improved slightly in recent months, posting employment gains of 126,000 jobs in October, and 125,000 in September.

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Report on State Budgets

Nov 13, 2003 by Guest Blogger

A special report from the Rockefeller Institute of Government on the state budget crisis...

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Proposed ExxonMobil Plant to Test New Restrictions on Information

Mobile, Ala., appears to be the testing ground for new restrictions on energy information. Inquiries into a proposed natural gas plant will test if policies meant to increase security will actually compromise the public’s safety.

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