Transporation Daily News 12/6

Under a plan by the Port of Oakland, a dozen more locomotives -- some pulling more than a mile's worth of freight cars -- will run right through neighborhoods in Richmond and San Pablo. Building more rail lines and increasing the length of trains would cut down on congestion at the nation's fourth-busiest container port, but neighborhoods along the tracks would pay a price. The $300 million project is far from a done deal. In January, the port plans to ask the state for a share of the $20 billion bond measure approved by voters last year for infrastructure improvements. If approved, construction could be three to five years away. CC Times 12/6/07

 

The names of dock workers and other employees at the nation's ports will be checked against the government's list of terrorists in a move the Department of Homeland Security said Tuesday will make the country safer. The move, to begin immediately, is a prelude to more intensive criminal background checks expected later this year. Oakland Tribune 12-6-07

 

Democrats turned back repeated efforts by Republican senators to soften the economic impact of a global warming bill before advancing it out of a Senate committee Wednesday. The bill, which calls for the United States to cut carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gas emissions by 70 percent by 2050 from electric power plants, manufacturing and transportation, was defended against Republican amendments one after the other, most by an 11-8 vote -- the Democrats, two independents and Warner voting in unison. CC Times 12/6/07

 

Less than a month after the worst oil spill in San Francisco Bay in more than a decade, a high-tech system that ship captains and pilots use to reduce the risk of accidents is in danger of being shut down next summer for lack of money. The system, known as PORTS - for Physical Oceanographic Real Time System - is made up of seven reporting stations located along piers, docks and other shoreline locations from Redwood City to San Francisco, Oakland, Richmond and Martinez, and requires about $250,000 a year to operate. State funding expires June 30 and there's no plan to renew it. SJ Mercury 12/6/07

 

The state commission that licenses bar pilots said Wednesday it was preparing to file a formal accusation of "pilot negligence" against the bar pilot who was guiding the Cosco Busan when it hit the Bay Bridge last month. SJ Mercury 12/6/07