Articles by Grist staff

Ashes of Fire

Every year, coal-fired power plants in the U.S. produce more than 100 million tons of ash, a byproduct of the burning process containing heavy metals or metal-like substances such as boron, selenium, arsenic, and magnesium. The energy industry claims the ash is benign, but many others fear that it is bad for the environment and […]

De-railed

The U.S. House Appropriations Committee has voted to deny $1.2 billion in funding to Amtrak and pushed through a bill that threatens most, if not all, long-distance train service in the U.S. The Republican-backed bill would give the rail service $760 million next year — about $500 million less than the $1.2 billion proposed by […]

Old Yeller

In better mass transit news, Yellowstone National Park is in the early stages of launching a public-transportation plan designed to cut down on air and noise pollution. Harkening back to its past, the park has reacquired a small fleet of yellow tour buses that were phased out of service in the 1950s. The park plans […]

This New House

No, it doesn’t involve skeet shooting while cross-country skiing; in the Solar Decathlon sponsored by the Department of Energy, university students are competing to design the best solar-powered home. The houses are being built on the National Mall in Washington, D.C., where together they will form a temporary solar village. The competing teams hail from […]