Articles by Grist staff

Senate OKs fuel-economy increase, but drops more ambitious parts of energy bill

The Senate on Thursday overwhelmingly passed an energy bill that would raise auto fuel-economy standards to 35 miles per gallon by 2020 — but only after a more ambitious version of the bill ran into a roadblock. The more ambitious version, which the House passed last week, got a thumbs-up from 59 senators — a […]

Wild salmon and coral both in trouble, say studies

Infestations of sea lice (ew) in salmon farms off the west coast of Canada are threatening local wild salmon populations — to the extent that the wild fish could be extinct within four years, says a new study published in Science. While the researchers focused on fish populations off the coast of British Columbia, they […]

Sears and KMart will phase out PVC, Wal-Mart accused of eco-naughtiness

Big-box behemoths Sears and Kmart have agreed to phase out nasty plastic PVC from all products in their 3,800 stores. While admirable, the announcement merely makes those stores the lemmings of PVC abandonment; IKEA, Wal-Mart, and Target have all previously agreed to go PVC-free. In other big-box news, the nonprofit Environmental Investigation Agency has accused […]

White House pressured EPA to ease toxics reporting requirements, GAO says

Congress’ investigative arm, the Government Accountability Office, has concluded that the Bush White House pressured the U.S. EPA to ease toxics reporting requirements for businesses. The Toxics Release Inventory was born in 1986 and serves as a community right-to-know tool, requiring that companies report annually on their toxic pollution. However, the EPA, apparently under pressure […]