Articles by Grist staff

Kiss My Arsenic

Pressure-treated wood used to build playgrounds, decks, and docks is leaking arsenic at unsafe levels, according to an investigation by the St. Petersburg Times. The arsenic comes from a pesticide applied to the lumber to protect it from termites and rot. Florida officials say the arsenic is leaking at levels dozens to hundreds of times […]

Al Thieme, Cascadia Wild!

Al Thieme is an animal tracker, naturalist educator, and executive director for Cascadia Wild!, a conservation and environmental education organization. Currently, he is searching for forest carnivores in Mt. Hood National Forest. Monday, 12 Mar 2001 MT. HOOD, Ore. I’m standing in the White River Canyon on Mt. Hood. Flows of iridescent snow court Mother […]

U. Be Illin'

The U.S. EPA has a new target for its investigations — universities and colleges that aren’t complying with environmental laws. “Our inspectors have not been on one campus where they have not found serious problems,” says Rene Henry in the EPA’s Philadelphia office. For example, Boston University was fined $750,000 in 1997 after a tank […]

J. Griles Bandit

The Bush administration announced yesterday that the president will nominate coal and energy industry lobbyist J. Steven Griles to serve as second-in-command at the Interior Department. Griles first got to know Interior Secretary Gale Norton when both worked at the Interior Department during the Reagan era; back then, Griles helped oversee mining and water issues. […]