Articles by Grist staff

And don’t piss off Pearl Jam

BP’s sludge dumpage into Lake Michigan has a whole mess of people pissed off. Including green-leaning band Pearl Jam, who performed an angry li’l ditty at this year’s Lollapalooza festival. The lyrics are pretty simple; sing it with me: "Don’t go to BP Amoco!"

Conservation organization sues feds over energy development

The Theodore Roosevelt Conservation Partnership has sued the Department of the Interior over the authorization of thousands of new oil and gas wells, roads, and miles of pipeline in a wildlife-rich area of Wyoming. News that an organization has sued the federal government over environmental travesties is, well, not really news -- unless it's TRCP, a non-litigious group with a largely Republican membership. The move is indicative that even the Bushies' natural allies are fed up with the administration's one-track-mind approach to energy development. Case in point: The Bureau of Land Management stated that opening the Wyoming area to drilling would "have adverse impact to suitable habitat for many wildlife species" and turn hunting grounds into "an industrial setting" -- but recommended the DOI go ahead anyway.

sources: Casper Star-Tribune, The New York Times

Barge spills diesel near Vancouver Island orca habitat

A barge tipped over off the coast of Canada's Vancouver Island yesterday, creating a diesel slick over a mile long that is threatening orca whale habitat. The barge, which was carrying logging equipment including a fuel truck, was just outside the boundary of an ecological reserve when it flipped. Diesel fuel dissipates and evaporates in the sun, so poses less of a threat than crude oil à la Exxon Valdez -- but it still doesn't make a very good whale dinner.

sources: CBC News, Victoria Times Colonist, The Vancouver Sun, The Globe and Mail

Top Forest Service official may be held in contempt of court

The top official overseeing the U.S. Forest Service has some 'splainin' to do. Mark Rey may be held in contempt of court, and possibly jailed, unless the USFS follows through on a court-ordered analysis of the environmental impact of a toxic flame retardant, U.S. District Judge Donald W. Malloy ruled on Friday. In 2003, ammonium phosphate dropped on a wildfire killed 20,000 fish in a creek in central Oregon. As a result of a lawsuit brought by Forest Service Employees for Environmental Ethics, Malloy ordered the USFS to provide an environmental analysis of the chemical; on the day the review was due, the agency filed for an extension. Unamused, Malloy has ordered Rey to appear in his court in October -- unless the USFS completes the environmental analysis beforehand, which is unlikely. "The Forest Service cannot disregard the orders regarding the Endangered Species Act," Malloy wrote. According to Andy Stahl of FSEEE, a little time in the slammer would "coerce future good behavior." Hey, it worked for Paris Hilton.

source: Associated Press

see also, in Grist: D'oh! Rey: Me?