Articles by Grist staff

Owl Play

Logging in the Sierra Nevadas could nearly triple if the U.S. Forest Service manages the forests there according to the new plan it released yesterday. That plan would reduce habitat for the California spotted owl in favor of aggressive forest thinning in the name of wildfire prevention. The Forest Service says the plan, which would […]

A Fine Kettle of Fish

The federal Clean Water Act might be a great thing in theory, but how’s it doing in practice? Not so well, it turns out, due to the failure of the U.S. EPA to adequately enforce it. At any given moment, roughly 25 percent of all large industrial plants and water-treatment facilities are in violation of […]

Gag Me With a Rule

There was good news and bad news for U.S. forests yesterday. In the former department, the Bush administration announced that it would not renew a temporary rule that permitted some road-building in national forests. That decision effectively restores the “roadless rule,” a Clinton-era policy prohibiting development on almost one-third of the nation’s forests, or 58 […]

From Russia With Sludge

Fifteen percent of Russia is facing disastrous environmental conditions, President Vladimir Putin said yesterday. Putin identified environmental devastation as one of the most serious problems facing the country and affecting the livelihood of its people, and said many areas of the country were in a “critical or near-critical state.” The most industrialized regions of the […]