Emissions:
*Air board to vet plans for war on warming -- The California Air Resources Board today will consider a draft plan for how the state will fight global warming, an ambitious proposal to require cleaner cars, more energy-efficient appliances, less-polluting fuels and more reliance on wind and solar energy. The agency's preliminary recommendations also include working with other Western states and Canadian provinces to develop a market-based system under which heavy polluters such as electric utility companies and oil refineries trade carbon credits, according to a summary of the draft plan that the air board released Wednesday. SF Chronicle 6/26/08
Judge rejects automakers' effort to delay California emissions rules -- A federal court has rejected an effort by carmakers to delay implementation of stringent vehicle emissions standards in California. The ruling by District Judge Anthony W. Ishii of the Eastern District of California in Fresno was the latest in a series of rebukes to the auto industry's efforts to gut a state mandate on greenhouse gas emissions from vehicles. LA Times 6/26/08
*State to add items it regulates for smog -- Smog-forming emissions from household items like cleaners and dryer sheets are projected to surpass those from passenger cars statewide by 2020, prompting the Air Resources Board today to expand the list of consumer products it regulates as sources of smog. The board already regulates more than 100 product categories, from deodorant to perfume, in its effort to meet federal ozone standards by reducing emissions of organic solvents, referred to as volatile organic compounds (VOCs). Sacramento Bee 6/26/08
State renews climate battle -- The bottom line for consumers, according to the agency's analysis: Electricity and fuel prices will rise. Sacramento Bee 6/26/08
California regulators unveil greenhouse gas plan -- Ushering in a historic effort to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, California regulators today will unveil a landmark plan that calls for a major hike in the state's use of renewable energy, a new market to trade pollution credits and a move to force automakers to make cleaner cars. SJ Mercury 6/26/08
Transit and infrastructure:
Feds to help world's largest traffic tech test -- In what is billed as the largest such experiment in the world, a consortium of academics, tech firms and government agencies will use upward of 1,000 drivers from the Bay Area to the Sierras to create a traffic monitoring system virtually overnight. And all the drivers have to do is bring along new mobile phones as they cruise around for several months expected to begin in September or October. The phones use global-positioning features to transmit each vehicle's location and speed, and then receive organized data telling drivers of upcoming bottlenecks and alternate routes and even alternatives to driving where available. Inside Bay Area 6/25/08
AC Transit does 180 on buses -- The controversy over Belgian-made Van Hool buses bubbled over at the AC Transits Board of Directors meeting Wednesday evening, with a solid majority rejecting an order for 19 new 60-foot buses. The big-windowed European buses, which have come to dominate the East Bay's urban landscape in recent years, were vigorously opposed by a small, but vocal, group of bus riders and transit activists. They charged that the buses were poorly designed, leading to injurious spills for many elderly and disabled riders as the buses lurched people out of seats on high platforms. Inside Bay Area 6/26/08
What you should know about new hands-free cell phone law -- Five more days. That's how long California drivers have left to gab away, with one hand on the wheel and the other on their cell phone. By now, you've been warned that starting Tuesday all drivers 18 and older will be required to use a hands-free device to make a call. Drivers younger than 18 can forget it - no electronic devices, period, while behind the wheel. SJ Mercury 5/26/08
Villaraigosa wants sales tax hike for transit -- Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa said for the first time Wednesday that he would like to ask voters in November to consider a half-cent sales-tax increase in Los Angeles County to pay for more road and mass transit projects. LA Times 6/26/08
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