Articles by Grist staff

Arsenic Haul

The U.S. EPA said yesterday it would revoke a Clinton administration rule to reduce the acceptable level of arsenic in drinking water by 80 percent. EPA Administrator Christie Todd Whitman said that there is “no consensus on a particular safe level” of arsenic in drinking water, and that the Bush administration would base its decision […]

A Life of Easement

In a deal involving the largest conservation easement ever, the New England Forestry Foundation paid more than $28 million yesterday to protect 762,192 acres of forestland in Maine. In exchange for the money, which came from other foundations, a few millionaires, and more than 1,200 other individuals, the Pingree family will give up its development […]

The Bus Stops Here

India’s Supreme Court may order some 12,000 public buses off roads in Delhi at the beginning of next month because they emit too much pollution. In 1998, the court ruled that the buses must be converted from diesel to natural gas by the end of March of this year. But the Delhi government, which runs […]

The Shining Pathogen

Infectious diseases are on the rise in wildlife populations around the world, threatening Florida’s manatees and other endangered species. Although the diseases may not get as much media attention as those affecting domesticated livestock, nasty microbes of all sorts are becoming more active in previously unexposed wild areas, says Peter Daszak, a wildlife disease researcher. […]