Transporation Daily News 1/14

An oil barge with a double hull escorted by two tug boats crashed Thursday night into the Richmond-San Rafael Bridge. No oil was spilled, but the barge carried more than 2 million gallons of oil, 45 times the amount of oil spilled in the Cosco Busan accident, .and if it had spilled, the accident could have dwarfed the Cosco Busan spill of two months ago. SF Chronicle 1/12/08

 

Worried that air pollution from ports is threatening neighbors' health, the Bay Area's clean air agency has proposed its first comprehensive rule to reduce emissions from the ports of Oakland, San Francisco, Richmond, Benicia and Redwood City. Some 6 percent of the Bay Area's fine soot particles --_ called particulates -- comes from sources at the Port of Oakland, the fourth-busiest container port in the nation, according to a port study last year. CC Times 1/13/08

 

Cities refusing to allow for growth has pushed residents further and further away, lengthening commuter times and inflating housing prices. However, this vast, sprawling net of commuters have also connected to form what some are calling a 'megaregion' with a population that rivals the Inland Empire. In shipping, the Port of Oakland might not deal with as much traffic as Long Beach, but northern California manages to export as much as it imports, giving it an economic engine not found in the south. Northern California has been receiving a lot of money for infrastructure because it has shown a greater return for infrastructure bonds. CC Times 1/13/08

 

Critics of proposed plans for California High Speed Rail complain that a more concrete budget needs to be written before people are asked to vote on any measures supporting it. Consultants will submit a report on potential financing to the committee in charge of the rail in June. As it stands, the plan calls for about $10 billion to $12 billion to come from the federal government, $9 billion to $12.5 billion from the state, $5 billion to $7.5 billion from public-private partnerships, $2 billion to $4 billion from local jurisdictions and $500 million to $3 billion from various other sources.  SF Chronicle 1/12/08

 

At the Port of Oakland  a cornerstone of an effort to cut diesel emissions from trucks entails persuading trucking companies to hire drivers rather than continue to use them as independent contractors.  Trucking companies can afford to run cleaner trucks than the independent drivers. CC Times 1/13/08

 

Democratic U.S. Rep. Henry Waxman of Los Angeles wants to depose key EPA officials about why the agency denied California a federal waiver needed to cut greenhouse gas emissions from cars and trucks. SJ Mercury 1/14/08