Government

Journalists were told to leave the room before Deputy Energy Secretary Dan Poneman spoke to a group of lobbyists and private-industry representatives at the June 2009 meeting of the Energy Facility Contractors Group in Washington.

The Project on Government Oversight celebrated Earth Day blogging interesting facts gleaned from its Federal Contractor Misconduct Database.

In one handy spot, you'll find hundreds of rarely visited Web pages published by a vast variety of federal offices and programs doing science on environmental and other topics.

The Obama administration releases high-resolution photos, taken by US spy satellites over the years, documenting the extent and quality of arctic sea ice.

In response to lawsuits, EPA was scheduled to release its proposed rule for a new primary health-based standard by July 30, 2009. That has been postponed once again, and the new court-ordered date for release of the proposed rule is Nov. 16, 2009, with a final rule due by June 2, 2010.

"Crown copyright" may be emerging in British Columbia as a way for a government claiming openness to subvert freedom-of-information law.

Jackson ordered staff to make existing information more accessible and understandable to the public, including posting on the Web state performance reports under the Clean Water Act.

If you report for a coastal region where fisheries are important, it's a good time to investigate the membership makeup of your regional Fishery Management Council.