Crude oil for December delivery traded as high as a record $93.80 a barrel yesterday on the New York futures market before settling at an all-time closing high of $93.53, up $1.67. Many blame the prices on a weak dollar. LA Times 10/30/07
Three San Francisco-based environmental organizations, the National Resources Defense Council, Arc Ecology and San Francisco Baykeeper, sued in federal court Monday to force the U.S. Maritime Administration to dispose of most of the ships in the Suisun Bay reserve fleet. The suit claims the ships that make up what is known as the mothball fleet have "ceased being useful for transportation and are now just floating junkyards" full of toxic materials, polluting San Francisco Bay and its tributaries. However, the Maritime Administration has cited that they could not clean the hulls in San Francisco Bay without violating California environmental regulations. Nor could it move the ships out of the bay without breaking Coast Guard rules. SF Chronicle 10/30/07
Independent gas stations are suffering along with the rest of us because of inflated gas prices. On average, retailers across the nation made "a penny or two per gallon in pretax profit" in 2006, according to a study by the Association for Convenience and Petroleum Retailing. Despite record high prices, profit margins are at their lowest level since 1983, the association said. Contra Costa Times 10/30/07
BART will spend $5.4 million to upgrade and expand its security camera system to help protect Bay Area transit riders from terrorist attacks and everyday crimes, officials said Monday. The regional rail agency will deploy the cameras in stations, on the trains, along tracks, in the Transbay Tube, in parking lots and at other facilities. The new system will make use of sophisticated software that allows the cameras to detect such suspicious activity as an unattended backpack on a boarding platform or trespassers in areas off limits to the public. SF Chronicle 10/30/07
The latest green car goes under the UC Davis microscope today: a hybrid sedan modified to recharge from a standard 110-volt electric outlet. It can travel as far as 20 miles on batteries before drinking a drop of gasoline, or get 100 miles per gallon in combined gasoline-electric mode. Transportation experts at the school will be testing the appeal of battery driven cars with their new fleet of 10 "plug-in hybrids." During the next two years, the 10 UC Davis cars -- converted Toyota Priuses -- will be loaned to 100 families in Northern California for six to eight weeks each. The drivers will be surveyed about their automobile preferences and attitudes before, during and after they use the cars. The UC Davis analysis of their experiences will constitute the first comprehensive consumer report on plug-in hybrid electric vehicles. UC Davis News 10/30/07
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