Public

In this issue: The 'unreadable' thing: John McPhee on the craft of writing; Top TV reporters don't fear the technical...for the complete hotlinked table of contents, click on the journal cover.

 

TRI tension: Pollution database is imperfect, but a great source; Top e-beat reporter: Make readers regain curiosity...for the complete hotlinked table of contents, click on the journal cover.

EPA made public the latest year's data from the Toxics Release Inventory (TRI) February 21, 2008, catching a few journalists by surprise, as usual.

The U.S. Court of Appeals in Washington, DC, ruled Feb. 15, 2008, that the public had a legitimate interest in data from some previously unreleased Agriculture Department databases - clearing the way for their release.

Large feedlots would no longer have to report toxic emissions under a rule proposed Dec. 21, 2007, by EPA.

The Society of Environmental Journalists has asked Environment Canada for its written policies on staff communication with news media.

The Bureau of Land Management has proposed changing its rules for complying with the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA).

Congress mandated a mandatory "registry" of greenhouse gas emissions with $3.5 million tucked into the final fiscal 2008 omnibus appropriations bill it passed late in 2007.

New Jersey filed a lawsuit Feb. 19, 2008, challenging the US-EPA's December 2007 rule that utilities could decide for themselves whether their air pollution increases are significant enough to require detailed record-keeping.

For more than seven months, the nation's top public health agency has blocked the publication of an exhaustive federal study of environmental hazards in the eight Great Lakes states.