Articles by Grist staff

Deep Fix

The Natural Resources Defense Council and Idaho’s Snake River Alliance sued the Energy Department on Friday to prevent it from disposing of nuclear waste from military reactors in any way other than burial deep in the earth. In 1999, the Energy Department drafted rules to allow the difficult-to-remove waste left in the bottom of tanks […]

Singing a New Tuna

Following criticism from the Environmental Working Group, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration will order an independent scientific review of its advisories for pregnant women about eating fish. Although widely regarded as a healthful, some fish can concentrate mercury in their fatty tissues. When eaten by pregnant women, the mercury can cause brain damage in […]

TRI Harder

Finally, some vaguely proactive environmental action from the White House: In a letter sent to the U.S. EPA today, the White House budget office called for better reporting of toxic industrial discharges to reduce the “considerable lag” between the gathering of data and its public release. Such information is published in the EPA’s annual Toxics […]

A River Doesn’t Run Through It

The Yellow River is China’s second-longest river and the cradle of a 4,000-year-old civilization; now, though, it’s drying up and life along its banks is changing forever. Much of the water in the Yellow River is diverted to arid inner provinces for agricultural purposes, leaving areas downstream without a stream at all. For example, in […]