Articles by Grist staff

Do the Hustle

U.S. companies are hustling down to Mexico to build power plants to supply energy-starved California, and Mexican environmentalists aren’t happy about it. Mexican officials and the power companies say that the economic benefits of the new plants will outweigh the pollution they add to the air. Alejandro Calvillo, director of Greenpeace Mexico, counters that the […]

Dammed If You Do, Damned If You Don't

Nearly 500 dams in the U.S. have been taken down over the past 15 years, opening up fish runs and flushing out rivers. Campaigns to remove large-scale dams in the West garner most of the media attention, but Steve Higgs of American Rivers says more progress is being made knocking down smaller dams in the […]

Crack Pipe Epidemic

Betcha never knew that the U.S.’s system of water and sewage pipes and treatment plants is decaying and little money has been set aside to repair it. A-ha! Well, listen up. A report by the U.S. EPA concludes that the country will face a $23 billion shortfall each year for infrastructure needs by 2020. Ken […]

What Nerve!

Environmental groups and a commercial fishers group in the Northwest sued the U.S. EPA yesterday to protect salmon from small amounts of pesticides often found in rivers. The plaintiffs want the agency to review how pesticides might be harming the fish and to place tougher restrictions on pesticide use until the review is complete. Studies […]