Articles by Grist staff

Killer! Whale Suits

‘Tis the season to sue over whales. Environmentalists in the Pacific Northwest announced this week that they plan to sue the National Marine Fisheries Service over its decision to deny protected status to orca whales in Puget Sound. In June, the NMFS found that the local orca population, which has declined 20 percent since 1996, […]

That’s the Way the Cookie Grumbles

As anticipated, the U.S. EPA announced yesterday that it would seek to alter a key Clean Water Act anti-pollution program in order to give states more flexibility in restoring their waterways. Under the revised program, states would develop and implement plans to clean up more than 20,000 dirty rivers, lakes, and estuaries. While the federal […]

That Sinking Feeling

In other scientific news of the day, trees might not be a climate change magic bullet after all, according to a study published in today’s edition of Nature. Trees and shrubs have been regarded as an ideal carbon sink (meaning they absorb excess carbon dioxide, reducing the concentration of the greenhouse gas in the atmosphere) […]

Watered Down

Nearly a third of all major industrial facilities and state-operated sewage-treatment plants in the U.S. have significantly violated clean water regulations in the last two years, and one out of four operated on an expired pollution permit last year, according to a recent report by the U.S. Public Interest Research Group. Moreover, relatively few of […]