Articles by Grist staff

Fright Train

Sometime this summer, the feds are planning to transport nuclear waste from power plants via train from New York to a U.S. Energy Department reservation in southeastern Idaho. Dubbing the shipment a “mobile Chernobyl,” anti-nuke advocates plan to raise a ruckus when the freight train comes through. Although the shipment across the country will be […]

Taking the "Force" Out of Enforcement

The U.S. EPA is moving ahead with plans to slash federal environmental enforcement programs and shift enforcement resources to the states. But the agency’s own inspector general and analyses of EPA data by the Environmental Working Group have shown that many states seem to have little interest in enforcing the nation’s clean air and water […]

Data Dump

State officials in the Pacific Northwest are searching for ways to reduce the amount of high-tech waste ending up in landfills. The waste in Oregon has more than doubled since 1998, and it can be nasty stuff — computer monitors and televisions contain four to eight pounds of lead each. The officials are considering a […]

Bonn Jour

Negotiators from 178 countries reached agreement today on how to tackle climate change, fleshing out the Kyoto treaty and leaving the U.S. isolated from the rest of the world. Margot Wallstrom, the European Union’s environmental commissioner, said, “The rescue operation succeeded.” In the final pact reached in Bonn, the E.U. held firm against efforts to […]