"Right to know" fracking bill debated in Montana

from Montana Conservation Voters:

HELENA, Mont. - A debate on company secrets versus the public's right to know is set for today in the Montana Legislature. A hearing is being held on a proposal that would require oil and gas companies to provide a list of chemicals used in hydraulic fracturing ("fracking"), in the interest of protecting residents and first-responders at accidents near fracking projects.

Sharon Sweeney Fee, a Livingston nurse, is testifying.

"We want something available, not unlike what we have available on train cars now, so when anybody needs to know - because there has been accident - they can look and see what these people have been exposed to."

Read the rest here.

Asbestos report released one week after lawsuit

Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility sued the Environmental Protection Agency for not releasing a report on the asbestos cleanup in Libby, Montana, the AP reported. The EPA has since released the document.

The government has released a report identifying communication gaps and other problems in the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's asbestos cleanup in Libby.

The EPA's Office of Inspector General released the document Tuesday, about a week after the group Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility sued, charging the government withheld the report improperly.

The suit sought a court order requiring the document be made public because attempts to obtain it under the federal Freedom of Information Act were fruitless.

More here.

Sad News from Montana, and for the FOI World...

Longtime television journalist and open-government advocate Ian Marquand has been laid off by KPAX-TV.

"That's a hit to journalism in Montana, and nationwide, frankly," said David Cuillier, FOI chairman with the national Society of Professional Journalists. "He's been influential in opening up government nationwide."

Bob Hermes, general manager of KPAX, said the state of the economy led the station to drop Marquand's position as special projects coordinator. Marquand, who also was chairman of the Montana Freedom of Information Hotline, was laid off Friday.

Hermes said he did not anticipate other layoffs at KPAX.

Marquand said he has seen other veteran reporters lose their jobs to cost-cutting.

"I can't say it was a huge shock," he said. "But it was unexpected and I was not prepared for it on Friday."

On Monday, Marquand said he was seeking new opportunities in journalism or possibly in the academic world.

"I think I bring a certain group of skills that would be useful in a number of areas," Marquand said.

Marquand began his career at KPAX in 1978.

Missoula County denied information from U.S. Forest Service

It's not just journalists who are getting their FOIA requests denied or not fully filled. Missoula County in Montana requested information from the U.S. Forest Service about the agency's discussions with Plum Creek Timber Co. The excuse for the only "partial" response? To protect against "public confusion that might result from disclosure."

Many workers keep little secrets from their employers — how much time they spend on private e-mail, for example, or how many pens find their way home in pockets.

But it's less likely that they have a lot of big secrets — such as contracts or deals with other organizations that alter the way they do business in significant ways — ways that may adversely affect the employer.

There's one organization, though, where large secrets are routinely, head-shakingly, kept from the boss: the government of the United States — more important, the bureaucrats who run it.

More here.

We Want to Build a Power Plant....Secretly

State District Judge E. Wayne Phillips of Lewistown has ruled the city of Great Falls should not have refused to release drafts of documents to members of an environmental group last year.

The documents involved the city's relationship with the Southern Montana Electric Generation & Transmission Cooperative. SME and the city of Great Falls have proposed a coal-fired power plant east of the city.

At one point in his ruling, Phillips called a position taken by the city in the case "disingenuous." The ruling was dated June 12, but a mixup in the Clerk of Courts office prevented the parties from being notified until this week.

Anne Hedges, program director for the Helena-based Montana Environmental Information Center, said she expected a positive ruling and wondered "how the city could argue this case with a straight face."

"It's a wakeup call to the city of Great Falls," Hedges said Thursday.

More here.