Articles by Grist staff

Utah, You’ve Been Norton’d!

Interior Department protecting Utah rivers from wrong threat Last month, Interior Secretary Gale Norton splashily announced the Three Rivers Withdrawal: Nearly 200 miles of prized territory along Utah’s Green, Colorado, and Dolores rivers would be withdrawn from consideration for new hard-rock mining claims. The proposal had been on her desk for 18 months, so some […]

Hang Up and Hike

Cell towers and phones are invading national parks The swish of a breeze through the trees. The twittering of birds. The burbling of a brook. The … opening notes of “U Can’t Touch This”? Get used to it: Bleeping (and by that we mean fricking) cell phones are becoming more common in national parks, in […]

Who You Gonna Believe, Us or Some “Inspector”?

EPA inspector general blasts Bush admin’s power-plant rules The U.S. EPA came under harsh criticism yesterday from environmental fringe extremists … oh, wait, no … actually, from its own top investigative official. The agency’s inspector general issued a scathing report saying that enforcement of clean-air laws has been crippled by the Bush administration’s decision to […]

Please Hold for the Next Available Wildlife Protection

Bush administration puts Forest Service wildlife protections on hold The Bush administration issued a temporary rule yesterday suspending strict wildlife protections used by national forest managers since 1982. That year, the Reagan administration instructed forest managers in the U.S. Forest Service to maintain “viable populations” of fish and wildlife. Since then, the viability rule has […]