AQMD sued by environmentalists over power plants

Environmental groups are suing the South Coast Air Quality Management District over new regulations on power plants and air pollution credits which are involved in the construction of 6 new power plants. This includes one gas-fired plant to be build in the City of Industry. Full story in the San Gabriel Valley Tribune

AQMD Moves AQMP

The SC Air Quality Management District has put out its draft Air Quality Management Plan. More updates to come on this. Of particular interest . . . AQMD wants builders/developers to start paying up for emissions from construction and future vehicular traffic. AQMD staff have expressed this sentiment before in regards to MTA's proposed Congestion Mitigation Fee. Full Story

NY Times Details Obstacles To Diesel

Diesel engines are now cleaner and more efficient than ever, but obstacles continue to exist, including skepticism from the environmental community and a lack of refining capacity: refineries are stuck with a specific output ratio between gasoline and diesel. Diesel production has primarily increased in Europe, which exports the resulting gasoline to the US market which suffers from a lack of refining capacity. Full story

School Buses and Pollution

According to the Union of Concerned Scientists, America's 505,000 school buses are amongst the dirtiest diesel vehicles on the road. Apparently, a single bus produces 2-10 times as much diesel soot as a big rig truck. Refitting and replacing the national fleet would cost about $16 billion; for California the cost would be about $700 million. Read the full LA Times article.