ournal Winter 2013, Vol. 22 No. 4 Sandy’s Hidden Warning Capitol Forecast: Breakthrough or Train Wreck? Enviro Stories for the Eye Freelancers Helping Freelancers A quarterly publication of the Society of Environmental Journalists Advertisement NORTH DAKOTA, TECHNOLOGY’S NEW FRONTIER. Tioga, North Dakota Each day, in towns like Tioga, North Dakota, men and women of the oil and natural gas industry are using technologies to open a new frontier – one that lies right beneath our feet. Because of innovative technologies like horizontal drilling and the use of hydraulic fracturing, today’s energy workers are able to unlock previously untapped oil and natural gas in ways that protect groundwater resources and help to secure America’s energy future for generations to come. See the path we‘re pioneering at ENERGYFROMSHALE.ORG. SEJournal Winter 2013, Vol. 22 No. 4 TABLE OF CONTENTS features page 5 Obama’s second term: Enviro breakthrough or train wreck? page 5 By Peter Dykstra New frontiers in visual journalism page 8 By Michael Kodas page 8 Are we ready for the next superstorm? page 14 By Francesca Lyman page 14 columns SEJ President’s Report: The view from Texas — SEJ a horse of a different color? page 4 By Don Hopey Reporters Toolbox: Keeping up on chemical databases page 12 Media on the Move: SEJ members relocate, win fellowships, teach page 13 By Judy Fahys In late October, Hurricane Sandy hammered the New Jersey shore- SEJ News: Members helping members: SEJ’s mentoring program page 20 line, creating a new outlet to the ocean at a spot where a bridge Book Shelf Book Reviews page 23 once connected the barrier island community of Mantoloking to the mainland. How can journalists better lend context to coverage of the coming superstorms? See page 14. USAF Photo by Mstr. Sgt. Mark C. Material reproduced in this publication under a Creative Commons Olsen, New Jersey National license meets all required terms and conditions. For details, see: Guard http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/2.0/. 3 SEJournal Winter 2013 SEJ President’s Report The View from Texas - SEJ a horse of a different color? By DON HOPEY There is a young cowboy who lives on the range. He sits on and program choices, took some long and hard looks at SEJ’s future. his horse all day and night in front of the Texas Tech University’s SEJ’s foundation funding is declining at a rate to rival the National Ranching Heritage Museum in Lubbock, where, along Ogallala Aquifer, and decisions about which programs, services with 19 big bronze Longhorn cattle, he’s part of a sculpture in- and events SEJ can continue to fund with a contracting budget are stallation titled “Gathering the Yellowhouse Canyon.” at hand. With a grant from the Brainerd Foundation, SEJ hired a I met that cowboy, whose permanent squint angles toward the Denver-based consulting firm to conduct a survey, analyze the far horizon, in October during SEJ’s 22nd annual conference, as findings and help us set organizational priorities and strategies for the Saturday night party at the museum wound down. Folks from what may very well be a very different future organization. the pancake-flat high plains of West Texas say things there look The board was charged with trying to figure out what SEJ different from the back of a horse. I wanted to see for myself, so needs to do to be an effective organization for journalists and en- I took the opportunity to climb up and sit for a spell with the cow- vironmental journalism in a rapidly changing world. It was en- boy astride the horse. couraged to prioritize programs, refocus the organization to meet It provided a grand vantage point to survey the scene, measurable goals and structure the staff and board to meet current although I’m pretty sure the Lubbock conference would have and future realities. looked like a big success from just about anywhere. It kicked off According to the consultant, SEJ’s membership will likely Wednesday night with a freelancing workshop, followed by a continue to tilt toward freelancers who have different needs than well-attended awards program and a screening of James Redford’s the dwindling number of more traditionally employed journalists. documentary, “Watershed: Exploring a New Water Ethic for the And its fundraising must become more diversified and flexible, New West,” which addressed maybe the biggest issue in that and will be more successful, if the organization can narrow its pro- parched part of the world where Dust Bowl memories can blow up gram offerings and set clear measurable goals. The consultant into a haboob at any time. urged the board to select priorities that would provide a clear map On Thursday, conference tours headed to the distant horizons, of SEJ’s future direction for funders, members and future boards. visiting a nuclear power enrichment facility, Carlsbad Caverns Na- In an attempt to refine and focus the board’s vision, the con- tional Park, sandhill cranes and raptors at the Muleshoe National sultants also pushed what some board members said was an artifi- Wildlife Refuge, the Pitchfork Land & Cattle Company ranch and cial division: asking the board to choose whether SEJ was a a fracking tour that climbed around on a shale oil well where membership organization for journalists or a journalism advocacy drilling was at 8,000 feet deep on its way to 11,000 feet. organization. Sessions on Friday covered climate change, fracking, genet- Some board members felt the organization should focus on ically modified food, women’s health, water management in the membership recruitment, retention and outreach and member desert West, FOIA in an increasingly opaque governmental land- services. Such an organization would likely require its members scape and new NASA satellite imagery. In the evening, attendees to supply the bulk of its funding. Others acknowledged that a visited Texas Tech’s Natural History Museum for dinner and a strong membership base is important but focused on the need for preview of “The Dust Bowl,” the latest Ken Burns documentary. more and better journalism about the environment as the organi- Saturday sessions discussed toxic chemicals, extreme weather, zation’s prime mission, and one that could find support from foun- cotton, water and politics. Sunday’s books and breakfast session dations that also supported that goal. highlighted Rachel Carson and the 50th anniversary of her seminal At the end of the day, the board declined to go down either work, “Silent Spring.” Easy to see that the conference, which at- path, instead pursuing a dual approach that was essentially a hy- tracted 560 participants and was masterfully chaired by Randy Lee brid of both, against the advice and much to the frustration of the Loftis and wrangled by Jay Letto, was all great guns. (You can get consultants. recordings of conference proceedings at <http://www.sej.org/ini- That route is more in line with SEJ’s 1990 articles of incor- tiatives/sej-annual-conferences/AC2012-coverage.>) poration, which state that the organization shall operate exclu- sively “for charitable, scientific and educational purposes,” and Board Gives Hard Thought to SEJ’s Future also with its legal status as a 501(c)(3) organization, which re- quires it to function as an educational and charitable group with But squinting at the hazy horizon was definitely in order this broad social purposes, and not as a trade association or business summer in Boulder, where the SEJ board, faced with hard financial Continued on page 26 4 SEJournal Winter 2013 Feature Analysis: Obama’s Second Term — Enviro Breakthrough or Train Wreck? Helping environmental journalists sort through the convergence of money, politics, ideology and nature By PETER DYKSTRA When Ronald Reagan took office 32 years ago, he brought set Americans’ acceptance of man-made climate change at 58 per- along a scandal-prone EPA boss and an Interior secretary who cent — back to about the same level as 2008. made conservation policy based on the Great Flood and the So where does that leave us in 2013? Here’s a quick snapshot, prospect of an imminent Rapture. But even this president, whose taken a month after the election at our deadline, of a few pivotal is- reign arguably marked the beginning of our eco-ideological divide, sues, political dramas and people for environmental journalists to pointed out what was obvious to so many: “Preservation of our en- keep watch on: vironment is not a liberal or conservative No ‘Climate Cliff’ Defections: challenge, it's common sense.” Grover Norquist, the conservative activist For the most part, Congress agreed. In whose “no-tax” pledge was considered in- the 1980 scorecard of the League of violable before the election, saw dozens Conservation Voters, House Democrats av- of defections or potential defections in the eraged a 54 percent voting score, Republi- theatrical approach to the Fiscal Cliff. cans 37 percent. From the conservationists’ There’s no such exodus among climate standpoint a Republican leader was Geor- skeptics. To date, no self-declared Con- gia freshman Rep, Newt Gingrich, who got gressional climate skeptic has wavered. a 50 percent approval rating. A democratic And no advocate of climate action has laggard was Tennessee second-termer Al seized on the issue. In early December, Gore, at 35 percent. another global climate confab, this one in That was then, this is now. In 2011, Doha, Qatar, came and went. But this Democratic reps scored 91 percent on time, the usual post-meeting declarations LCV’s pro-environment scale, Republi- of defeat and despair were issued before cans 11 percent.