Articles by Grist staff

NOPEC, No Way, No How

Queensland state leaders in Australia have delighted enviros by pressing the federal government to reject a plan to explore for oil near the Great Barrier Reef. The federal environment minister, Robert Hill, says he will respond within a week to a proposal by the company TGS NOPEC to carry out a seismic survey about 35 […]

Getting Their Just Deserts

The U.S. Bureau of Land Management and enviros reached an agreement this week to reduce road access and add protections for species in 11.5 million acres of desert in Southern California. The deal, which settles a lawsuit filed last year by the Center for Biological Diversity and Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility, bans grazing on […]

Norton, Your Life

In a Senate hearing yesterday that had Democrats lining up on one side, Republicans on the other, President-elect Bush’s choice for Interior secretary, Gale Norton, described herself as a both a “compassionate conservative and a passionate conservationist” and sought to soften some of her most controversial stands in the past. Norton disavowed a 1991 speech […]

Amazon.gone

As little as 5 percent of the Amazon rainforest in Brazil may remain as pristine forest by 2020, according to a study published today in the journal Science. The researchers say that Brazil’s plan to invest $40 billion on development projects in the Amazon Basin will overwhelm conservation efforts. The 1.3 million-square-mile Amazon forest makes […]