Five months after a cargo ship struck the Bay Bridge and spilled more than 53,000 gallons of bunker oil into the Bay, lawmakers unveiled nine bills Monday to try to prevent future spills while improving local authorities' ability to respond and restore damaged coastline. The legislation would put in place stricter regulations on cargo ships, reinstate a tax on imported oil to pay for cleanup equipment and give local authorities the tools to better respond to spills. CC Times 4/8/07
With drunken driving deaths in California rising, lawmakers and law enforcers are turning to a little black box as a weapon against drunken driving. It's called an ignition interlock device -- basically, a Breathalyzer with a tube you blow into. Interlock devices, when installed on a dashboard, won't allow a car to start if you have more than a tiny amount of alcohol in your breath. This week, the California Highway Patrol, Mothers Against Drunk Driving and 10 lawmakers will present a bill to increase use of the interlock device. CC Times 4/8/08
A spike in pedestrian fatalities on the streets of San Francisco last year will serve as a sobering backdrop at a City Hall forum today intended to make the city safer for walkers. The San Francisco Pedestrian Safety Summit will bring together national safety experts, city officials and local activists to assess the city's existing programs and map strategies to reduce the risks for people who travel by foot and wheelchair. SF Chronicle 4/8/08
Developer Gerry Kamilos hitched his plans for the old Crows Landing Naval Air Station behind an economic engine powered by short-haul rail. We'll know if the state embraces that vision Thursday. That's when the California Transportation Commission votes on staff recommendations for allocating Proposition 1B funds to improve the state's trade corridors -- the routes that combine ports, rail and roads to move goods in, out and through the state. A not insignificant portion of the money will go to 26 projects that make up the northern corridor, which will connect the Port of Oakland to rail routes over the Sierra and beyond. Modesto Bee 4/8/08
Transcripts released Tuesday of the voyage data recorder on board the freighter that spilled 53,000 gallons of oil into the San Francisco Bay show the pilot and crew struggling in English and Chinese to read navigational devices amid anxiety about thick fog. As the hearing began, NTSB officials said the ship's electronic charts did not fully comply with international standards. AP 4/8/08
IMO's Marine Environment Protection Committee (MEPC) has approved proposed amendments to the MARPOL Annex VI regulations to reduce harmful emissions from ships. The main changes would see a progressive reduction in sulfur oxide (SOx) emissions from ships, with the global sulfur cap reduced initially to 3.50 percent (from the current 4.50 percent, effective from January 1, 2012; then progressively to 0.50 percent, effective from 1 January 2020, subject to a feasibility review to be completed no later than 2018. Marine Log 4/5/08
CHSR Blog continues to defend High Speed Rail against criticism, this time that in the current financial emergency HSR is a luxury that California cannot afford, nothing that "we face a structural revenue shortfall - meaning California routinely takes in much less money than it needs to pay its bills." He answers that this shortfall should not impact the project. 4/7/08
Venture Beat also offers its (Silicon Valley biased) opinion on HSR, saying, "It's hard to calculate the value that a project like this would have in the long run, in the same sense that it was hard to calculate the value of some of the first railroads, highways and major bridges in this state. But it's easy to imagine a range of benefits for Silicon Valley, and it's not just a matter of getting local investors and entrepreneurs more easily connected to digital media companies in Hollywood or biotech companies in San Diego." 4/7/08
General Motors' vice president of R&D and strategic planning has called on the energy industry and governments to build more hydrogen fueling stations to help vehicle manufacturers move to volume production of fuel cell-electric vehicles. Larry Burns gave the message in a keynote address at the National Hydrogen Association's annual conference in Sacramento, California, which state currently has 25 refuelling stations. GM is lobbying for 40 in the LA area alone. Auto Industry 4/8/08
Caltrans will close sections of I-5 through downtown Sacramento for an estimated 30 days to allow crews to rip out the decayed and leaking roadbed, and put in new drainage structures and concrete. Sacramento Bee 4/7/08
The $37 million project, expected to cause congestion rippling across Sacramento-area freeways and major surface streets, will begin at 8 p.m. May 30
A nice summary of the history behind new regulation for air quality around the Port of Oakland, starting in September. In These Times 4/7/08
A California aerospace company plans to enter the space tourism industry with a two-seat rocket ship capable of suborbital flights to altitudes more than 37 miles above the Earth. Dallas News 4/7/08
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