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So Long, Farewell, Auf Wiedersehn, Thank You

Grist winds down for a holiday break Before we say toodle-oo for the holidays, we must extend a ginormous and heartfelt thank you to all of the readers who donated during our recent fundraising appeal. We raised more than $62,000, considered spending it all on organic eggnog, then wisely decided to invest in more — […]

Particulate Shot

EPA sued over particulate standards The U.S. EPA has gotten itself sued once again this week, this time by 13 states and the District of Columbia that are pissed off about lenient soot-emission standards. The backstory: EPA analysis has found that reducing soot emissions by a relatively small amount could prevent 24,000 premature deaths a […]

Cease Fire

Coast Guard will cease target practice at Great Lakes In a win for lovers of safety and the environment, the U.S. Coast Guard has withdrawn a plan to conduct machine-gun firing practice in the Great Lakes. After much complaining from boaters, Canadians, congressfolk, local mayors, and other sane people opposed to toxic lead bullets flying […]

He’s staying atop his committee

I keep forgetting to make a note of this: it looks like, contrary to rumors of impending drama, the Senate's favorite troglodyte, James Inhofe, will be keeping his perch atop the Senate Environment Committee after all. His dispatches from the minority office over the next two years should be ... entertaining. Like watching a quaint old black-and-white movie.

Two things I learned from Grist readers this week — repeatedly

1. Breeds are different from species.
2. The Stellar Steller sea cow went extinct before the baiji dolphin.

New California power regs might hurt coal … or not

Good news! California has moved to curb the spread of coal-fired power plants. This is a really big deal, since energy companies have been vying to build as many as 35 of the carbon-spewing facilities in western states, largely to feed California's growing demand for electricity.

But California state regulators -- justifiably concerned about the climate impacts of burning so much coal -- got tricky: they prohibited the state's utilities from buying power from any plant that emits more carbon than a super-efficient natural gas power plant.

In other words, new coal-fired power is a no-go for the California market, unless plant operators somehow figure out a way to burn coal without emitting CO2 into the atmosphere.

That's the theory. But the western power market may actually work to undermine California's good intentions.

Relax, It’s Just Pollution

EPA relaxes industry pollution-reporting rules In a holiday gift to industry, the U.S. EPA has relaxed rules on reporting toxic pollution. Under rule amendments approved yesterday, industrial plants will not have to file detailed public Toxic Release Inventory reports unless they spew 2,000 pounds of pollution or more, four times the previous limit, and they’ll […]

Borneo to Be Wild

Scientists discover 52 new species on the island of Borneo Over the last 17 months, scientists have identified 52 new plant and animal species in the rainforests of Borneo, a Southeast Asian island, the World Wildlife Fund announced yesterday. The finds include 30 unique species of fish, two tree-frog species, three new trees, a plant […]

Page Advice

What are the top environmental books? Just in time for slackers who haven’t finished their holiday shopping, Gristmill columnist Peter Madden of Forum for the Future has surveyed his colleagues and other smart green Brits to come up with a list of the most important environmental books. Classics Silent Spring and Small Is Beautiful made […]

Cheap forests and carbon sinks

Holy cow:

A recently formed company ... has purchased 440,000 acres of timber land in southern Oregon for $108 million, officials said. [Emphasis added.]

Just in case you were wondering how much land that is: the sale covers nearly 700 square miles, an area well over half the size of the state of Rhode Island. Of course, Rhode Island is tiny, as states go. But it seems like a lot of land, and at a bargain basement price, to boot. At $245 per acre, even I could afford to become a real estate mogul. Heck, some houses cost more than $108 million.

Silliness aside, this sale makes me wonder whether a carbon trading system -- where polluters have to pay for emissions reductions or sequestration -- might create huge opportunities for ecosystem restoration.