Results tagged “emissions”

After years of lawsuits against the Bush Administration, the Environmental Protection Agency today granted California the permission it wanted to impose strict emissions regulations on cars sold in the state. By 2016, fuel economy in cars and trucks sold in the state will need to have an average of 35.5 miles per gallon, a reduction of 40%.

At first California officials were pushing a proposal that would force ships to use cleaner fuels and emission-control measures when 230 miles from the coast. The shipping industry said such a law would have to be mandated federally, not by a state. Courts sided with the shipping industry. Now the Environmental Protection Agency is on board, reports the Press Telegram: "EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson believes the proposed rule could prevent the premature deaths of at least 8,000 U.S. and Canadian residents - primarily those in urban areas near busy ports. U.S. Sen. Barbara Boxer, who battled the Bush administration for years on efforts to tighten environmental standards around the nation's seaports, called the proposal 'music to my ears.'" Even if the federal government approves it, the final ruling has to come from the International Maritime Organization. Random Fact: Did you know that our state's coast is basically a national monument? Meet the very unique California Coastal National Monument that is managed by the Bureau of Land Management under the Department of the Interior.

Can a transit agency be considered "green" if they aren't meeting their emission level standards? The state Air Resources Board thinks not, and have hit Santa Monica's Big Blue Bus line with a $21,000 fine "for failing to conduct required diesel emissions testing and maintaining appropriate records, among other violations," according to LA Now. Per the regulator, the popular fleet of around 200 buses "also failed to keep emission levels at no more than 60% of 2005 levels as required." Recently, the Big Blue Bus announced they'd be further greening their fleet by purchasing hybrid buses from a SoCal company with federal stimulus funds. This fine stems from "a legal case settlement," that also stipulates the transit agency school their employees on being "green" and requiring their drivers spend less time idling.

Pastor Robert Jones of a Sacramento-area church visited a state environmental hearing last Wednesday about California's plan to cut global warming emissions. He asked the politicians to keep poorer communities in mind when drafting laws.

Today at the California Air Resources Board meeting, a historic plan is being presented that may radically cut greenhouse gas emissions in the state by about 30% by 2020. "The state is proposing a slate of changes including a cap-and-trade system for greenhouse gases, requiring renewable sources to power a third of the state's grid and taxing gas guzzling cars. Their approach will become a model for the nation if climate change legislation of some sort passes through Congress and is signed by the next President in 2009 as is widely expected." Wired is at the meeting updating what's happening. (emphasis added)

">cannot tell cars, and now, ships to lower their emissions. The Environmental Protection Agency argues that "unlike smog and diesel fumes, climate change is a global problem, not a state one," says the LA Times in their leading California section article today. And the EPA is right, it is a global problem. But time is of the essence, so what's with the wait?