Articles by Grist staff

States say Pentagon bullies them into not enforcing toxic cleanups

Environmental regulators from more than a dozen states have accused the U.S. Department of Defense of retaliating against them for attempting to enforce cleanup of contaminated military-owned sites. “In the worst-case scenarios, the Department of Defense is intimidating a state environmental agency into not pursing enforcement,” said Steve Brown of the Environmental Council of States […]

Chicago unveils detailed climate plan

Chicago unveiled an ambitious climate-change plan on Thursday aimed at cutting its greenhouse-gas emissions 25 percent below 1990 levels by 2020 as part of its commitment to meeting the goals of the Kyoto Protocol. Along with over 700 other cities and municipalities in the U.S., Chicago signed the U.S. Mayors Climate Protection Agreement, committing it […]

Appeals court rules EPA must protect waterways from construction pollution

The U.S. EPA is required by the Clean Water Act to protect the nation’s waterways and drinking water from construction-industry pollution, and the agency must develop regulations to address construction-site runoff by December 2009, a federal appeals court ruled [PDF] Thursday. Sediment from construction sites, usually washed into rivers and other waterways via storm water, […]

Snippets from the news

• House passes No Child Left Inside environmental-education bill. • Sharing the catch is good for fish and fisherfolk. • Evangelicals less concerned about climate change. • Will T. Boone Pickens convince Wal-Mart to switch from diesel to natural gas? • What are Al Gore’s plans with Plenty magazine? • France will not impose picnic […]