Articles by Grist staff

A Friend of the Devil Is No Friend of Mine

Speaking yesterday before the National Association of Manufacturers (can you say “polluters”?), Sen. Bob Smith (R-NH), the new chair of the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee, called for scrapping enviro laws that don’t work and for more flexibility in regulations considered onerous by business. Smith said to his industry chums, “You are good stewards, […]

Drink, Poop, and Be Merry, for Next Year You'll Be Dry

Drinking water and sewage facilities are threatened by the Y2K computer bug, and lax oversight by the feds and industry are to blame, according to a reported released by the Natural Resources Defense Council and the Center for Y2K & Society. The report authors, based on surveys conducted by such groups as the American Water […]

Two for the Show

In their first major joint venture, the Sierra Club and Amnesty International yesterday launched a worldwide campaign to protect environmentalists from harassment, imprisonment, torture, and death. Activists most urgently needing international help, according to the groups, include enviros fighting a gas pipeline project in Burma, an oil pipeline in Chad and Cameroon, the Three Gorges […]

Step on the Gas

The California Air Resources Board yesterday unanimously approved a new formula for the state’s gasoline that will eliminate the clean-fuel additive MTBE while maintaining strict air quality improvements. The board set 2003 as a deadline to have MTBE removed; most oil companies in the state plan to substitute it with ethanol, a more expensive octane […]