Environmental Politics

Comment on SEJ Statement Regarding More EPA Openness by ex-EPA Chief of Public Affairs

Reporters aren't the only ones frustrated by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's clampdown on press coverage, which prompted SEJ recently to call it "one of the most closed, opaque agencies" in the federal government. Patrick Boyle, former chief of public affairs for EPA's Mid-Atlantic regional office, says politically motivated "message control" didn't begin with the Obama administration, but it's gotten much worse under a president who promised greater transparency in government.

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Earth Day: "Moral Climate-- Beyond Science and Politics"

"Rob Gillies and his team gather data on Nepal’s changing climate for a research project. They log temperatures, raindrops and snow. They pump the numbers into powerful computers and read the trend lines the computers spit out. Gillies sees the numbers in human terms, too. Global warming is likely to mean less water, putting crops and livestock in peril, along with nourishment for children who already don’t get enough to eat. That leaves the climate scientist with questions instruments can’t answer. About fairness. Justice. And life and death."

Source: Salt Lake Tribune, 04/22/2013

Libby, Montana Asbestos Study Delayed Because Of EPA: Investigators

"BILLINGS, Mont. -- Internal investigators faulted the Environmental Protection Agency on Thursday for years of delays in completing health studies needed to guide the cleanup of a Montana mining town where hundreds of people have died from asbestos exposure."

Source: AP, 04/19/2013

"Justices Bar Nigerian Human Rights Case From U.S. Courts"

"WASHINGTON — The Supreme Court ruled on Wednesday that Nigerian plaintiffs who said foreign oil companies had been complicit in violating their human rights may not sue in American courts. The decision limited the sweep of a 1789 law that had been used to address human rights abuses abroad."

Source: NY Times, 04/19/2013

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