This week, the Bay Area Air Quality Management District board voted to investigate a fee of as much as 10 cents per gallon of gasoline purchased in nine Bay Area counties. Later this month, the Metropolitan Transportation Commission is scheduled to consider the same sort of fee. The board's approval Wednesday is the latest baby step in a process that began in the 1990s, when the Legislature gave the MTC the authority to place gas taxes on the ballot to support transportation projects. The latest effort would create a gasoline charge to support road maintenance programs and transportation projects that would cut carbon dioxide emissions known to cause global warming. CC Times 12/7/07
BART's board will consider relaxing restrictions on contractor campaign contributions to board members 11 years after the controls were enacted in response to a federal bribery investigation that rocked the transit system. To guard against influence peddling, the board in 1996 passed a rule barring a business competing for BART contracts from making campaign contributions to transit board members. For bidders that lose, the restriction expires once the contract is awarded. Winning bidders must wait an extra three months before they give contributions. CC Times 12/7/07
Mayor Gavin Newsom plans to ask voters next year to approve a "carbon tax" on businesses that he says would provide a financial incentive for conserving energy and motivating workers to use public transportation. The plan, as it stands now, is to include a second payroll tax cut for businesses that succeed in getting more of their commuting employees to give up cars for public transportation. CC Times 12/7/07
Winter finally arrived in the Sierra and northern Nevada, bringing heavy snow to Lake Tahoe ski resorts. To the delight of skiers and snowboarders, the storm dumped about 2 feet of snow in the higher elevations around Lake Tahoe, just in time for the upcoming holiday season. CC Times 12/8/07
The United States will come up with its own plan to cut global-warming gases by mid-2008 and won't commit to mandatory caps at the U.N. climate conference in Bali, the chief U.S. negotiator said Saturday. CC Times 12/9/07
State lawmakers from the Bay Area said Thursday that they would introduce legislation in response to last month's oil spill that would more strictly regulate cargo ships, tax imported oil to pay for cleanup equipment and improve the ability of local authorities to respond to spills. Sen. Hancock and other Bay Area Democratic members of the Assembly said on Thursday they would introduce a package of seven bills next month. Those bills would:
-Require that local authorities be notified promptly of oil spills and establish a voluntary program that would allow local emergency officials to be trained in oil spill response.
-Charge 25 cents per barrel of imported oil to expand a trust fund that could be used to buy cleanup equipment that could be deployed in more marinas, ports and shoreline communities.
-Improve planning for oil spill response in environmentally sensitive areas and speed training for volunteers.
CC Times 12/7/07
BART riders will have to dig deeper into their pockets when a 5.4 percent fare increase kicks in Jan. 1, but the new year also will bring more frequent service. Starting next month, passengers will pay between 10 cents and 30 cents more a trip, depending on the distance traveled. The minimum BART fare for one-way trips within San Francisco, for example, will jump to $1.50; the priciest one, between Millbrae and Pittsburg, will hit $6.60. The BART board in 2003 approved a sequence of four fare increases that take effect every other year. SF Chronicle 12/10/07
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