REGISTERED SOURCE * Composting plant blamed for city's sickening stench http://www.komonews.com/news/24404019.html <http://www.komonews.com/news/24404019.html> "We took a walk around Cedar Grove Composting, and the odor appeared to be coming from Cedar Grove Composting," said Mario Pedroza with Puget Sound Clean Air Agency. Inspectors said they traced the odor to Cedar Grove's grinding operations on two different occasions... Even a warning from the inspectors didn't convince Bartlett to take full responsibility, who finally yielded the stench could have come from his plant "that one time" the inspector smelled it. Watch the video: http://www.komonews.com/news/24404019.html?video=YHI&t=a <http://www.komonews.com/news/24404019.html?video=YHI&t=a> TRANSPORTATION CHOICES * Save a Buck / Guzzlebusters http://www.heraldnet.com/article/20080711/BIZ/685192975/1005#Save.a.Buck .%2F.Guzzlebusters <http://www.heraldnet.com/article/20080711/BIZ/685192975/1005#Save.a.Buc k.%2F.Guzzlebusters> Edmunds.com says you can increase your miles per gallon by up to 14 percent just by keeping your speed at 60 mph on the freeway. If you usually get 25 miles per gallon, that's another four miles a gallon, giving you about 60 more miles between fill-ups. TRANSPORTATION PLANNING * Sound Transit offers new mix -- Light rail north to Lynnwood in latest plan http://www.thenewstribune.com/news/local/story/409914.html <http://www.thenewstribune.com/news/local/story/409914.html> The new, 15-year plan unveiled Thursday would extend light rail to Lynnwood by 2023... The newest plan would raise the sales tax by 0.5 percent in most of the three counties. That would help pay for an additional 34 miles of light rail, add 90,000 hours of regional bus service, and increase the frequency and size of Sounder commuter trains between Tacoma, Seattle and Everett. Sound Transit officials say the new tax would cost an adult $69 a year, in addition to the sales and car taxes that are being used to pay for the first round of regional bus and rail service. * Bus service for Maltby and Clearview? http://www.heraldnet.com/article/20080711/NEWS01/698228535#Bus.service.f or.Maltby.and.Clearview <http://www.heraldnet.com/article/20080711/NEWS01/698228535#Bus.service. for.Maltby.and.Clearview> Community Transit may put a proposal on the ballot in November LAND USE/DEVELOPMENT * Proposed annexation may move forward <http://www.marysvilleglobe.com/default.asp?sourceid=&smenu=1&twindow=&m ad=&sdetail=4614&wpage=1&skeyword=&sidate=&ccat=&ccatm=&restate=&restatu s=&reoption=&retype=&repmin=&repmax=&rebed=&rebath=&subname=&pform=&sc=1 761&hn=marysvilleglobe&he=.com <http://www.marysvilleglobe.com/default.asp?sourceid=&smenu=1&twindow=&m ad=&sdetail=4614&wpage=1&skeyword=&sidate=&ccat=&ccatm=&restate=&restatu s=&reoption=&retype=&repmin=&repmax=&rebed=&rebath=&subname=&pform=&sc=1 761&hn=marysvilleglobe&he=.com> > Judging from comments made during a special City Council retreat held July 1, the city administration is pretty much ready to go forward with annexing all that is left of the city's urban growth area. Council members will have the final say and they may be ready to act as well... BIOFUELS * US EPA monitoring effect of Midwest floods on ethanol http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20080710/us_nm/epa_midwest_floods_dc;_ylt=AiP RlmbvD8cTZ3O9wj_DuLJpl88F <http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20080710/us_nm/epa_midwest_floods_dc;_ylt=Ai PRlmbvD8cTZ3O9wj_DuLJpl88F> The EPA has not fully determined the effect the floods will have on the corn-based ethanol mandate, which requires blending 9 billion gallons of ethanol in the nation's fuel supply this year, Robert Meyers, the agency's principal deputy assistant administrator, said in testimony to the Senate. CLIMATE PROTECTION * Study links global warming to more smog. http://uk.reuters.com/article/oilRpt/idUKN1041605320080710 <http://uk.reuters.com/article/oilRpt/idUKN1041605320080710> U.S. environmental regulators quietly published a draft study on Thursday that linked global warming to higher levels of smog that could harm human health, a report green groups said stood in contrast to the Bush Administration's slow movement on climate change. * EPA won't act on emissions this year. http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/07/10/AR200807 1003087.html <http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/07/10/AR20080 71003087.html> The Bush administration has decided not to take any new steps to regulate greenhouse gas emissions before the president leaves office, despite pressure from the Supreme Court and broad accord among senior federal officials. * Bush pollution gaffe surprises G-8 leaders http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/nationworld/2008045951_bushpollute 11.html <http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/nationworld/2008045951_bushpollut e11.html> Bush, who has been criticized for being reluctant to join international efforts to combat global warming, reportedly ended a private meeting with the words: "Goodbye from the world's biggest polluter." The Web sites of the British newspapers The Independent and the Telegraph both reported that he then punched the air while grinning. British Prime Minister Gordon Brown and French President Nicolas Sarkozy appeared shocked at the comment Bush made before leaving the G-8's last meeting at the Windsor Hotel in Hokkaido, where the leaders of the world's richest nations had been discussing new targets for cutting carbon emissions. * 'Alarming' plight of coral reefs. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/7498502.stm <http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/7498502.stm> Writing in the journal Science, researchers say climate change, coastal development, overfishing, and pollution are the major threats. MARITIME * Soot emissions double previous estimates http://www.sustainableshipping.com/news/2008/6/72421?tag=2-5023-0-0&gsid =e6e8db27d9ed9b1705f26c2877e6185e&asi=1 <http://www.sustainableshipping.com/news/2008/6/72421?tag=2-5023-0-0&gsi d=e6e8db27d9ed9b1705f26c2877e6185e&asi=1> A new study by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) has revealed that tugboats and large cargo ships emit more soot, or particulate matter (PM), than previously estimated. * Shore power visit a success http://www.sustainableshipping.com/news/2008/6/72418?tag=2-5023-0-0 <http://www.sustainableshipping.com/news/2008/6/72418?tag=2-5023-0-0> Trial run proves Alternative Maritime Power is viable for larger vessels. * Recognition for tugboat company's environmental focus http://www.sustainableshipping.com/news/2008/6/72399?tag=2-5023-0-0 <http://www.sustainableshipping.com/news/2008/6/72399?tag=2-5023-0-0> The Seattle-based Foss Maritime tugboat company has been selected from over 370 projects to be awarded monies from the California Air Resources Board (ARB) Carl Moyer Program to fund their Green Dolphin hybrid tug project. Foss also announced today that it has been awarded the 2008 William M. Benkert gold award for marine environmental protection by the US Coast Guard. HYBRIDS * Toyota plans to go green with the sun. http://www.wspa.com/spa/lifestyles/go_green_save_green/article/toyota_pl ans_to_go_green_with_the_sun/5816/ <http://www.wspa.com/spa/lifestyles/go_green_save_green/article/toyota_p lans_to_go_green_with_the_sun/5816/> Toyota's ecological Prius gas-electric hybrid will become even greener next year with solar-powered air conditioning on some high-end models. * Toyota to make Prius in the U.S. http://www.nytimes.com/2008/07/11/business/worldbusiness/11toyota.html?_ r=1&oref=slogin <http://www.nytimes.com/2008/07/11/business/worldbusiness/11toyota.html? _r=1&oref=slogin> Toyota acknowledged Thursday that, like its rival automakers in Detroit, it misjudged the drastic swing in the American market away from larger vehicles. <<Toyota Scales Back Production of Big Vehicles - NYTimes_com.htm>> 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