Articles by Grist staff

Free to Flee MTBE

A report by environmental officials from eight Northeastern states is calling for the gasoline additive MTBE to be phased out within three years because it pollutes waterways. Coupled with similar recommendations made by a federal commission last month, the report puts increased pressure on Congress and the EPA to curtail use of the additive. Still, […]

Don't Bank On It

Deutsche Bank, Europe’s biggest bank, has advised several thousand large institutional investors to sell their shares in leading biotechnology companies, including Monsanto and Novartis, because consumers are hesitant to buy genetically modified products. Since the bank circulated a report with the advice on May 21, stock in the named companies has fallen and the frenzy […]

Forest Service Stumped

The U.S. government on Tuesday temporarily blocked logging on 26 national forest areas in the Northwest until the tracts are surveyed for rare plants and animals, as required by the Northwest Forest Plan. A permanent injunction should be put in place by early October, though it would be lifted once wildlife surveys are conducted. The […]

Drumming Out the Corps

Wetlands destruction and urban sprawl have exacerbated flooding problems in the upper Midwest, where floods caused massive damage in 1993 and 1997, according to a new report by the Sierra Club. The group blames the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers for contributing to the problems by approving nearly all requests for permits to destroy wetlands […]