Articles by Grist staff

Senate passes consumer-safety bill that would reduce toxics in toys

The U.S. Senate has passed legislation aimed at decreasing consumer exposure to dangerous products (like, oh, lead-tainted toys, to pick a random example). Specifically, the measure passed Thursday would increase the staff and budget of the Consumer Product Safety Commission; sharply reduce acceptable levels of lead and phthalates in toys; create a database of public […]

Eco-sabotage lookout found guilty of two counts of arson for 2001 blaze

A federal jury has found 32-year-old Briana Waters guilty of two counts of arson for her role as the lookout in a 2001 blaze at the University of Washington’s Center for Urban Horticulture. Of more than a dozen people connected with the radical Earth Liberation Front and arrested in connection with various property crimes in […]

FWS drops plans to cut critical habitat for marbled murrelet

In a significant and unexpected victory for environmentalists, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has reversed its plans to significantly cut critical habitat for the marbled murrelet. The tiny seabird is listed as threatened under the Endangered Species Act and the FWS had threatened to cut over 90 percent of its critical habitat as part […]

Canadian federal court ruling could halt planned oil-sands project

A Canadian federal court has ruled in favor of environmental groups that sued in opposition to a massive planned oil-sands mine in Alberta. The 120-square-mile strip mine had recently been approved by a joint federal-provincial panel that found the project’s estimated annual greenhouse-gas emissions of 3.7 million tons to be insignificant. Yet no justification was […]