FUEL ECONOMY * DOT, EPA Set Aggressive National Standards for Fuel Economy and First Ever Greenhouse Gas Emission Levels For Passenger Cars and Light Trucks http://yosemite.epa.gov/opa/admpress.nsf/6424ac1caa800aab85257359003f5337/562b44f2588b871a852576f800544e01!OpenDocument Responding to one of the first major directives of the Obama Administration, the U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT) and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Thursday jointly established historic new federal rules that set the first-ever national greenhouse gas emissions standards and will significantly increase the fuel economy of all new passenger cars and light trucks sold in the United States. The rules could potentially save the average buyer of a 2016 model year car $3,000 over the life of the vehicle and, nationally, will conserve about 1.8 billion barrels of oil and reduce nearly a billion tons of greenhouse gas emissions over the lives of the vehicles covered. * U.S. issues limits on greenhouse gas emissions from cars. http://www.nytimes.com/2010/04/02/science/earth/02emit.html The federal government issued final rules establishing the first greenhouse gas emissions standards for automobiles and light trucks on Thursday, ending a 30-year battle between regulators and automakers. <<U_S_ Issues Emissions Rules for Autos - NYTimes_com.htm>> * U.S., Canada crack down on vehicle emissions http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20100401/wl_canada_nm/canada_us_autos_emissions_northamerica Obama wants Congress to pass a long-delayed climate bill, but to push it along, he has also set in motion steps for the Environmental Protection Agency to begin regulating emissions from cars and large polluters like power plants. The EPA determined late last year that emissions of the gases blamed for global warming harm human health. The agency's authority to do so has been challenged by industry groups and lawmakers in courts and in Congress. Thursday's emissions rule marked EPA's first move to cut output of the chemicals. * New mileage rules: Pay more for cars, less at pump http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100401/ap_on_bi_ge/us_fuel_efficiency * Electric cars stir debate about fuel-economy standards http://www.usatoday.com/money/autos/2010-04-02-electriccars02_ST_N.htm?csp=34 Electric-vehicle provisions in federal fuel-economy and emission rules announced Thursday already threaten to shatter the uneasy truce among automakers, environmentalists and the Obama administration... In an apparent compromise, the Environmental Protection Agency capped at 200,000 per maker the number of electric vehicles that could be credited with a 0-gram rating for carbon dioxide (CO2) through 2016. Additional EVs would be charged some responsibility for the CO2 created while producing the electricity to charge them PORTS * Ocean Shippers Face Tighter Air Pollution Rules http://www.kuow.org/program.php?id=19888 Air pollution from oceangoing ships will be dramatically reduced under new rules agreed to by shipping companies, the US Environmental Protection Agency and international regulators. The pollution rules affect container ships, cruise lines and oil tankers calling on West Coast ports. DIESEL * Paccar powers up: Truck builder to start making own engines http://seattle.bizjournals.com/seattle/stories/2010/04/05/story1.html In a risky bid to pull more profit from truck sales, Paccar Inc. is about to start building its own engines for its heavy trucks in North America. It will be the first time Bellevue-based Paccar has manufactured its own engines for North American trucks, after decades of outfitting them with engines made by other builders. The new engine is called the Paccar MX. <<Paccar powers up Truck builder to start making own engines - Puget Sound Business Journal (Seattle).htm>> ENERGY * Obama: Offshore drilling part of broader plan http://www.usatoday.com/printedition/news/20100401/drilling01_st.art.htm President Obama's decision to lift a long-standing ban on offshore drilling off the East Coast won't yield much oil at first, but it could herald a more dramatic shift in how Americans consume energy, experts say. AIR QUALITY & HEALTH * Researchers warn of possible links between brain cancer, air pollution http://www.sbsun.com/search/ci_14795756?IADID=Search-www.sbsun.com-www.sbsun.com For about the last five years, brain tumors have been the leading cancer for people 19 and younger. Dr. Keith L. Black, director of the department of neurosurgery at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles, has a theory as to why - air pollution. He has more work to do before reaching definitive conclusions, but preliminary studies of rats exposed to freeway air for as little as two weeks, showed an increase in genetic changes in brain tissue which occur prior to the development of cancer. NOTE: If the hyperlink to the article fails, contact Consuelo. Consuelo Flores Davis Communications Dept. Puget Sound Clean Air Agency 206-689-4074 consueloD@pscleanair.org 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