Air Pollution

As many as 24,000 deaths annually in California are linked to chronic exposure to fine particulate pollution, triple the previous official estimate of 8,200, according to state researchers. The revised figures are based on a review of new research across the nation about the hazards posed by microscopic particles, which sink deep into the lungs.

OK, here's a quiz: Does sprawling, freeway-scarred, SUV-worshiping, coal-dependent Los Angeles have a heavier or lighter carbon footprint compared with the 99 other big cities in America? If you guessed heavier, think again. According to the Brookings Institution, a prestigious Washington think tank, the Los Angeles metropolitan area emits less planet-warming carbon per capita than any big city except Honolulu, at least by some criteria.

Re "Cargo heading east has L.A. at a crawl," June 10 It's important that Californians understand that they are paying for cheap goods movement with their time (sitting in traffic), their health (asthma, cancer, heart disease) and sometimes their lives. One partial solution would be to pass the Port Investment Bill, SB 974, which would provide money for improved rail crossings and reduction in air pollution. Another solution is to insist that costs be shared by the goods movement and retail industries.

A look at upcoming news events: Today Solar energy: U.S. Bureau of Land Management and U.S. Department of Energy hold a forum on environmental concerns and solar energy development across the Southwest. Tuesday O.C. supervisors: The leaders will meet in regular session to consider a proposal to separate the sheriff's and coroner's offices, then abolish the coroner's office and establish an office of medical examiner. Downtown housing: Central City Assn. of Los Angeles holds a forum to discuss the current and future state of the downtown housing market.

Dangerous levels of toxic lead were emitted by a Southern California battery recycling facility for months, until regulators ordered the facility to cut production by almost half, officials said. An Exide Technologies facility in Vernon, one of just two such battery recycling facilities west of the Rockies, was emitting lead at levels nearly twice the allowable federal limits from December to April, according to South Coast Air Quality Management District staff.

The American Trucking Assn. plans to file a lawsuit in Los Angeles federal court on Monday in an effort to block a plan by the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach to clean up the air by replacing an aging fleet of 16,000 trucks that spew deadly levels of toxic diesel emissions. For decades, the ports have operated under a system in which individual truck owners transport a large portion of the container cargo that moves to and from the terminals.

Despite removing 1.5 million cars from the roads, shutting down hundreds of factories and construction sites and bringing much of the city's economic life to a standstill, Beijing remains stubbornly shrouded in a persistent, gray haze on the eve of the Summer Olympics. The poor air quality just 11 days before the opening ceremonies has left Chinese government officials scrambling for explanations that include statistical anomalies and the 90-plus-degree heat.

The nation's largest trucking association filed a lawsuit in federal court Monday alleging that portions of a landmark program to upgrade a fleet of 17,000 old trucks servicing the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach place an "unreasonable burden on interstate commerce" and could harm the U.S. economy. Port authorities said they intended to proceed with the air quality initiative. "Truck pollution is a serious threat to public health, including the health of truck drivers," said Richard D.

BEIJING -- The relationship between smog and architecture is not one that critics or scholars -- or architects themselves, for that matter -- have traditionally given much thought. But in the pollution-clogged Chinese capital, the link is nearly impossible to ignore. Often exacerbated by more benign haze and fog and by periodic dust storms, smog acts as an always-shifting veil in Beijing, shrouding old and new architecture alike.