Articles by Grist staff

Senate votes to keep Arctic Refuge drilling in budget bill

The campaign to keep oil drills out of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge has just been dealt what could be a fatal blow. Yesterday, Sen. Maria Cantwell (D-Wash.) introduced an amendment to drop refuge-drilling language from a filibuster-proof federal budget bill; today, the Senate voted down that amendment, 48 to 51. "This is too important a question to slide into the budget bill," Cantwell said yesterday. "We are setting a very, very dangerous precedent." But Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist (R-Tenn.) is psyched. "America can't afford $3-a-gallon gasoline and we can't afford to depend on sources hostile to the United States," he said today, though he failed to explain how drilling in the refuge would solve either problem. The Senate budget bill is expected to pass later this week; the House version, which also includes the drilling language, will be voted on as early as next week. The fate of the final compromise budget bill is unclear.

An interview with peak-oil provocateur Matthew Simmons

Matthew Simmons: he’s more radical than he looks. Matthew Simmons has been stirring up a lot of angst in energy circles this year. This well-connected industry insider has concluded that some of the world’s largest oil beds may be on the verge of production collapse — and he’s willing to bet his much-vaunted career on […]

Seedy Business

A sustainable-ag champion gets plowed under at Iowa State Composting is nothing new at Iowa State University’s Leopold Center for Sustainable Agriculture, but throwing the director out on the compost heap is. After five years as head of the center, sustainable-ag champion Fred Kirschenmann was unceremoniously replaced last week, with two days notice. That stinks […]

Can’t Hear the Forest for the ORVs

Forest Service unveils new off-road vehicle rules The U.S. Forest Service says its new off-road vehicle (ORV) policy, announced yesterday, will set limits on where the noisy, pollution-spewing machines can be used in national forests — but conservationists say that’s not good enough. The new rule sets no overarching standard for ORV use in the […]