DIESEL SOLUTIONS - LOCOMOTIVE * Little engines that could still do in Tacoma http://www.thenewstribune.com/1031/story/509919.html <http://www.thenewstribune.com/1031/story/509919.html> Gary Danielson, president of White Pass & Yukon, said the new engines will not only be more powerful - two of the rebuilt locomotives will be able to handle a train that required three of the original locomotives - they'll be 30 percent more fuel efficient and reduce exhaust emissions by 80 percent and visual emissions by 100 percent... As part of Coast Engine alliance with Cummins, the company is branching out into the business of re-equipping less exotic older locomotives with new environmentally compliant power plants. The company is taking delivery soon from Cummins of the first so-called "Tier 3" compliant locomotive engine in the U.S. That engine will not only meet existing "Tier 2" Environmental Protection Agency standards but also the coming "Tier 3" rules. LEAD / FEDERAL AIR QUALITY STANDARD * EPA tightens health standard for airborne lead <http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20081016/ap_on_go_ca_st_pe/epa_lead;_ylt=AmI Gv006L0FMvxD0U68q2.2s0NUE <http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20081016/ap_on_go_ca_st_pe/epa_lead;_ylt=AmI Gv006L0FMvxD0U68q2.2s0NUE> > The Environmental Protection Agency is slashing the amount of lead allowed in the nation's air by 90 percent. EPA officials, who were under a federal court order to set a new health standard for lead by midnight Wednesday, said the new limit would better protect health, especially children's health. Children can inhale lead particles released into the air from smelters, mines and waste incinerators and ingest it after it settles on surfaces... The new limit - 0.15 micrograms per cubic meter - is the first update to the lead standard since 1978, when it helped phase out leaded gasoline. It is 10 times lower than the old standard, which was 1.5 micrograms per cubic meter... The limit announced Thursday is also within the range recommended in May by the agency's independent scientific advisory panel. By contrast, the Bush administration did not follow its own staff's advice or its science advisers when it set new health standards for smog and soot that were less stringent than recommendations. * EPA: U.S. Air Quality Standards for Lead Now 10 Times Stronger <http://yosemite.epa.gov/opa/admpress.nsf/6424ac1caa800aab85257359003f53 37/8be79c35bcf6f882852574e40051e01d!OpenDocument <http://yosemite.epa.gov/opa/admpress.nsf/6424ac1caa800aab85257359003f53 37/8be79c35bcf6f882852574e40051e01d!OpenDocument> > The existing monitoring network for lead is not sufficient to determine whether many areas of the country would meet the revised standards. EPA is redesigning the nation's lead monitoring network, which is necessary for the agency to assess compliance with the new standard. CLIMATE * California releases plan to cut greenhouse gases <http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20081016/ap_on_re_us/climate_change_californ ia;_ylt=As_YokWMDRmbIVVs.hO7LNqs0NUE <http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20081016/ap_on_re_us/climate_change_californ ia;_ylt=As_YokWMDRmbIVVs.hO7LNqs0NUE> > It's the first comprehensive effort of any state to reduce greenhouse gases in the absence of federal regulation. The plan to be voted on by the California Air Resources Board in December builds upon an earlier draft on ways to meet the global warming law signed by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger two years ago... One of the most contentious proposals is a cap-and-trade program to help power plants, oil and gas refiners and other major polluters lower their carbon emissions. The idea is to allow businesses that cannot cut their emissions because of cost or technical hurdles to buy credits from cleaner businesses. * Report says Arctic temperatures at record highs <http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20081016/ap_on_sc/sci_state_of_the_arctic;_y lt=AhPPvhExs5LjrieFpgW0RcKs0NUE <http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20081016/ap_on_sc/sci_state_of_the_arctic;_y lt=AhPPvhExs5LjrieFpgW0RcKs0NUE> > The region has long been expected to be among the first areas to show impacts from global warming, which the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change says is largely a result of human activities adding carbon dioxide and other gases to the atmosphere. TRANSPORTATION PLANNING * As light rail comes, some buses may go http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/local/383457_buses16.html <http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/local/383457_buses16.html> Both Metro and Seattle are analyzing what bus routes might change, and how, once the 15.6-mile rail line opens next year, first between downtown and South 154th Street next July, then by December to the airport. Changes would take place in mid-2009 and could affect bus routes in Rainier Valley and in the Mount Baker, Columbia City, Georgetown, New Holly, Rainier Beach and Sodo areas. Metro this week starts a series of community meetings to discuss what might happen and get responses from riders. NOTE: If the hyperlink to the article fails, contact Consuelo Davis. Bill Smith Senior Environmental Specialist City of Tacoma Solid Waste Management 3510 S. Mullen Street Tacoma, WA 98409 253-593-7719 Phone 253-591-5547 Fax