Your Right to KnowAbout Environment, Natural Resources, and Energy -- A First Amendment WatchBlog(Untitled)- June 15, 2004 DHS Proposes Making Environmental Impact Statements Secret The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) proposed on June 14, 2004, making secret part or all of some Environmental Impact Statements on its actions. The proposed directive, published in the Federal Register, would carve a major loophole in the 34-year-old National Environmental Policy Act -- which requires that the federal government publicly disclose the environmental impacts of major federal actions before they are...http://radio.weblogs.com/0131722/2004/06/15.html#a125 (Untitled)- June 15, 2004 USDA to Release More Info on "Biopharming" Later this month, USDA is expected to announce new policies aimed at making available to the public more information about plants that are genetically engineered to produce drugs or industrial chemicals. This action was spurred by a June 2, 2004, report from the Center for Science in the Public Interest which indicated that applications to USDA for planting biotech crops that produce drugs and industrial chemicals are on the rise. The...http://radio.weblogs.com/0131722/2004/06/15.html#a124 (Untitled)- June 14, 2004 Louisville Paper Uses Risk Info for Watchdog Report The Louisville Courier-Journal has used chemical risk information to do a special report on how a three-state metro area might be affected by what chemical companies do -- or don't do -- to make surrounding residents safer. The information was meant to make communities safer, but the industry has urged government to make it secret, claiming terrorists could exploit it. The worst-case chemical release in the Louisville area could harm...http://radio.weblogs.com/0131722/2004/06/14.html#a123 (Untitled)- June 4, 2004 DC Bureau Chiefs Plan More Secrecy Coverage If you are trying to shine a light on government secrecy, it helps to have the Washington bureau chief of a major news organization working on the project. Or better yet, 21 of them. A new and swelling coalition of journalists seeking to open the federal government to more public scrutiny will be getting more eyes and ears. The Washington bureaus of many major news organizations are now planning to create a secrecy beat. That was..http://radio.weblogs.com/0131722/2004/06/04.html#a122 |