"Though partisan gridlock is the political buzzword of the day, it's another kind of grid that's making political sparks fly in Michigan. There, two powerful utility companies — Consumers Energy and DTE Energy — control the lion's share of the electric grid and appear to be behind a new advocacy effort that coincides with the start of a new legislative session."
You may have read in recent WatchDogs about controversial federal laws and rules that could restrict photojournalism in federal parks, forests, and rangelands. Now comes the "Ansel Adams bill" that would make it legal to do an activity that is Constitutionally protected. Only someone has to introduce the bill. Photo: Ansel Adams, by J. Malcolm Greany.
One way to deal with bad press is to make it illegal. Exposés of inhumane conditions at feedlots and slaughterhouses are being made illegal by state legislatures that pass "ag gag" laws. Now a case in Utah is challenging whether industrial agriculture's claims of secrecy trump the eating public's right to know. Image: Sows in 7'x2' Smithfield Foods gestation crates. By Humane Society of the US [CC], 2010.
Numerical facts about the Society of Environmental Journalists from 1990-2015 inclusive.
"Eric McDavid sentenced to nearly 20 years in 2007 for conspiring to bomb one or more targets including electric power stations and cellphone towers"
In this last column of his SEJ presidency, Don Hopey addresses the environment beat's necessity and SEJ’s role in it by focusing on two events, one just past, the other approaching quickly.
"An environmental advocacy group sued the Obama administration in federal court on Thursday for refusing to release documents detailing the extent of fracking in the Gulf of Mexico."
"Chemical plants, coal mines, power plants, steel mills, oil refineries and even the maple syrup industry must disclose their releases of hazardous pollutants on the federal Toxic Release Inventory."
SEJ mourns the tragic loss of Charlie Hebdo journalists Stéphane Charbonnier, Georges Wolinski, Berbard Verlhac, Jean Cabut and others who died in Paris January 7, 2015 at the hands of terrorists.
"The U.S. Forest Service has abruptly decided not to spend $10 million on a five-year nationwide public relations campaign to brand itself as a public agency that cares about people and nature."
