Latest Articles

Morgue of Orca

Environmental organizations sued the U.S. government yesterday for failing to grant protections under the Endangered Species Act to orcas in Washington state’s Puget Sound. The population of orcas in the region has declined almost 20 percent since 1996. Earlier this year, the National Marine Fisheries Service acknowledged that the region’s orcas were at risk of […]

We Got to Get Ourselves Back to the Garden

New Jersey may be the Garden State — but can it be known as green in other ways as well? Gov. James McGreevey (D) thinks it can, and he’s embarking on an ambitious plan to make the state a national leader in clean energy. Earlier this year, the state government agreed to purchase at least […]

Just Goshute Me

The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission said yesterday that it was not responsible for evaluating the potential environmental impacts of a terrorist attack on a proposed nuclear-waste storage facility in western Utah. Opponents of the $3.1 billion facility, which would be located about 45 miles southwest of Salt Lake City on sovereign lands belonging to Skull […]

Is That USGS or USBS?

Here’s some news to make you think twice about the reliability of government figures: The U.S. Geological Survey has announced that there is far more coal bed methane gas available in the Powder River Basin than previously thought — while simultaneously acknowledging that the Rocky Mountain West contains far less oil than the agency had […]

One Night in Bangkok

In a triumph for population-control efforts and another sign that the U.S. is out of step with international policy trends, Asia-Pacific countries yesterday rejected the Bush administration’s stand against abortion and condom use among teens. The vote came during a U.N.-sponsored Asian and Pacific Population Conference, held this week in Bangkok, which concluded with the […]

‘Tis Better to Give

From the Enron scandal to environmental rollbacks, it seems like the headlines these days are dominated by greed, recklessness, self-interest, and shortsightedness. What’s a concerned citizen to do? How about giving to Grist this holiday season? In exchange for your generosity and altruism, you’ll help ensure that we keep publishing top-notch environmental news until the […]

10,000? Maniacs!

After two decades of struggle, Pennsylvania has finally secured legislation requiring the state to design and implement a water-conservation strategy. The Water Resources Planning Act, signed into law this week by outgoing Gov. Mark Schweiker (R), is widely seen as a first step in determining the amount of water available in Pennsylvania, as well as […]

Hogwash

The U.S. EPA unveiled new livestock-waste regulations yesterday designed to keep billions of pounds of unhealthful pollutants out the nation’s waterways annually. The rules, which were issued in compliance with a court mandate from a 1989 lawsuit brought by the Natural Resources Defense Council, will require some 15,500 factory farms to obtain government permits to […]

Sucker Punch

Thanks (or maybe no thanks) to a deal struck by the federal government and the Washington state Attorney General’s Office, some 170 barrels of highly radioactive plutonium waste will be shipped from California and Ohio to the Hanford Nuclear Reservation in Washington beginning as early as next week. In exchange for being allowed to transport […]

The No-good, the Bad, and the Ugly

During the 2000 budget year, the federal government awarded more than $855 million worth of contracts to companies that had violated at least one federal law in the previous three years, the General Accounting Office reported yesterday. In all, 39 companies winning contracts of $100,000 or more were guilty of violating federal environmental, labor, employment, […]