Pollution Control

Port of Long Beach officials came under boisterous criticism Friday from about 60 truckers at the grand opening of a Clean Trucks Center where big-riggers can apply for financial assistance to replace their diesel vehicles with new, cleaner models. A crowd of protesters assembled about 20 yards from a stage where Long Beach Mayor Bob Foster praised the Terminal Island center as a "first step toward a much cleaner Long Beach of the future." The demonstrators verbally attacked his port's lease-to-own program, which they said could put truckers deep into debt.

Will Californians drive less to reduce global warming? Maybe not on our own -- but state officials are ready to nudge us. The Legislature is on the verge of adopting the nation's first law to control planet-warming gases by curbing sprawl. The bill, sponsored by incoming state Senate leader Darrell Steinberg (D-Sacramento), is expected to pass the Assembly today and the Senate on Friday. Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger has not taken a position on the bill, but sponsors expect him to sign it once the state passes a budget.

Su Aimin spat on the ground, and admired the result. "You see, it's white," said the 33-year-old production manager at Taiyuan Iron & Steel, pointing to his saliva. "Before, it was black. I'm not kidding." Although Beijing is still struggling to make the skies clear for the Olympics, a massive cleanup effort before the Summer Games has given people here a taste of fresh air. They want to keep it that way, but business groups are likely to lobby for an easing of the restrictions.

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.

California regulators adopted the world's toughest pollution rules for oceangoing vessels Thursday, vowing to improve the health of coastal residents and opening a new front in a long battle with the international shipping industry. The rules, which take effect in 2009, would require ships within 24 nautical miles of California to burn low-sulfur diesel instead of the tar-like sludge known as bunker fuel.

Jason Burnett has made a lot of news lately, criticizing the Bush administration for rejecting California's request for a federal waiver that would have allowed the state to enforce greenhouse gas restrictions. Burnett, until recently the associate deputy administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency, testified last month before a congressional panel about the possible White House role in overruling the EPA staff's recommendation of the waiver.

Global warming celebrity Rajendra K. Pachauri, wearing a green feather in his lapel, toured Northern California on Friday, praising the state's blueprint for addressing climate change but reminding public officials that Europe is moving far more quickly to address the issue. The chairman of the United Nations' Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, who recently accepted the Nobel Peace Prize alongside Al Gore, met with legislators, bureaucrats and bigwigs.

If YOU'RE dressing up your house with a fresh coat of color, a new generation of paints will help the environment, though not your pocketbook. Starting July 1, all flat paints made, sold and used within Orange and major portions of San Bernardino, Riverside and Los Angeles counties must have 50 grams or less of volatile organic compounds per liter. Because flats are what most people put on the exterior of their homes, this means there will be more, and better, water-based latex paint.

While much of the world argues over whether biofuels made from corn are worsening world hunger, the debate in California is shifting to new state rules that could revolutionize the way fuels are judged. A gathering this week in Sacramento offered a glimpse of a complex "poly-fuel" future that promised substantial environmental benefits as well as wrenching change for California's transportation systems.

Under pressure from Congress and the courts, President Bush will unveil a plan today to set medium-range goals for reducing the gases that are blamed for global warming, administration officials said. Bush will speak from the Rose Garden, calling for a general strategy to address climate change rather than a specific proposal to address emissions by industries, motor vehicles and other sources frequently cited in the debate over rising world temperatures.