Vehicle Emissions

While some Americans are congratulating themselves on switching to fuel-sipping cars, their old gas guzzlers just won't die. Lowered trade barriers are giving them new life south of the border. Thousands of used vehicles from as far away as Colorado and Missouri jam tiny car lots and auto salvage yards in this gritty border city. An estimated 25,000 families make a living here hustling U.S. castoffs. Among them is Jose Zavala, a wiry used-car dealer with a trucker's cap and an eye for bargains.

The U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco this week upheld the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's approval of caps on motor vehicle emissions, which environmental groups had argued failed to address hazardous air pollution faced by the 1.5 million people living next to Southern California freeways. The court ruled that the EPA's approval of proposed limits on the amount of motor vehicle emissions allowed in the region were adequate for the purposes of proceeding with California's transportation plans and projects.

A federal lawsuit by two industry groups aims to halt the U.S. government and the state of California from moving ahead with new greenhouse gas emissions rules for cars and trucks -- an action that, if successful, could scuttle a key piece of the Obama administration's plans to set stricter nationwide standards for vehicles. The lawsuit may be the first of many legal challenges targeting President Obama's efforts to limit the heat-trapping emissions that scientists blame for global warming.

California officials Thursday abruptly halted a controversial effort to slash the carbon footprint of automobile air conditioning. "Cool car" rules would have required a clear, reflective glaze on vehicle windows as a way to block excessive sunlight and heat. The rules were adopted in June by the state Air Resources Board and were in the process of being finalized. But law enforcement officials had expressed concerns that the coating -- a spray of microscopic metal particles that block infrared rays -- would interfere with the electronic monitoring of ankle bracelets on paroled felons.

In a step toward eliminating smoke-belching trucks and transit buses from the road, Detroit Diesel Corp. has built the first methanol-powered engine for heavy duty vehicles that meet new, tougher California emission standards, the company said Friday.

The U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco this week upheld the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's approval of caps on motor vehicle emissions, which environmental groups had argued failed to address hazardous air pollution faced by the 1.5 million people living next to Southern California freeways. The court ruled that the EPA's approval of proposed limits on the amount of motor vehicle emissions allowed in the region were adequate for the purposes of proceeding with California's transportation plans and projects.

About 1,500 automobile emissions testing stations will begin operating here this month, the government newspaper El Nacional said Monday. The testing stations are the first ever in Mexico. An estimated 75% to 80% of all toxic emissions in the Mexico City metropolitan area are reportedly produced by the city's 3 million vehicles.

Rarely is it so difficult for the government to get rid of money. The state's Bureau of Automotive Repair has a kitty of $100 million in pollution reduction funds that it is trying with all its might to give to qualifying California motorists. Since the program's 1999 launch, BAR has had to try and try harder still to get rid of the money, twice sweetening its offer to help California vehicle owners in the hopes of attracting more takers.

California should be permitted to enact the world's toughest vehicle-emission standards to combat global warming, state Deputy Atty. Gen. Mark Melnick argued in federal court Friday. Automakers are challenging 2004 rules that set tailpipe emission standards for greenhouse gases, which are designed to cut polluting exhaust from cars and light trucks by 25% and from sport utility vehicles by 18%.

The state of California sued the country's largest automobile manufacturers Wednesday, seeking billions of dollars for environmental damage caused by tailpipe emissions. It was the state's latest effort to combat the effects of greenhouse gases, which trap heat in the atmosphere and cause global warming. The lawsuit drew praise and criticism for Atty. Gen. Bill Lockyer, who filed it on behalf of the state.

For product presentations, Phillip Roberts sometimes carries along a petri dish filled with black grit, just in case people don't believe the story about his Long Beach condominium balcony and the catalyst for the creation of his small business. The grit is a daily gift of air pollution that comes with his otherwise spectacular view of the Port of Long Beach, on the horizon just beyond the Queen Mary. Once Roberts realized that cleaning the sooty material from his balcony tabletop was going to be a daily task, the former asthma sufferer did two things: "I bought hospital-grade air filters for every room in the condo," Roberts said, "and I thought that maybe I ought to try to do something about it."

The Port of Los Angeles, the nation's busiest container port, is negotiating with an alternative-fuel vehicle manufacturer to purchase and evaluate the company's heavy-duty, zero-emission trucks, which use a hydrogen fuel cell hybrid electric power system. The company is Vision Industries Corp. of Florida, doing business as Vision Motor Corp. in California. Vision's research and development facility is in El Segundo and its manufacturing plant is in Whittier, said its president and chief executive, Martin Schuermann.

Not too long ago, the 10,500-acre complex at the southern tip of Los Angeles County wasn't just the home of the nation's busiest seaports, it was the graveyard where old trucks went to die. Dented, rusting 1988-and-older rigs hauled cargo containers to and from the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach, earning the harbor the nickname of "diesel death zone." On Jan. 1, the neighboring ports cruised past a major pollution-fighting milestone, banning trucks made before 1994 and those that don't meet at least 2004 emissions standards -- trucks such as the 15-year-old Freightliner once owned by Guido Perez.

The Obama administration on Monday declared that greenhouse gases produced by vehicles, power plants and factories were a danger to public health, clearing the way for broad federal limits on climate-warming emissions. The announcement by the Environmental Protection Agency is a key step in a legal process that would allow the agency to act, without Congress, to develop tough rules to control emissions of carbon dioxide and other gases that scientists blame for global warming. "The vast body of evidence not only remains unassailable, it's grown stronger, and it points to one conclusion," said EPA Administrator Lisa P. Jackson in announcing the decision.

Filiberto Cervantes has already separated from his wife and kids, lost his car, moved into his truck and says he subsists largely on a diet of $1 cheese burritos. But Jan. 1 looms like a date with the grim reaper himself. "The first of the year will probably be the end of my family," said Cervantes, showing a visitor his big-rig cab turned dwelling, now parked in a fast-food lot in Long Beach. "I don't know what's next." Cervantes is among thousands of truckers servicing the Los Angeles-Long Beach port complex who are facing a day of reckoning this New Year's.

A program to cut diesel emissions at the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach by phasing out older cargo trucks is far ahead of schedule, and already has delivered cleaner air to nearby neighborhoods that have been enveloped by fumes, the mayors of both cities said Thursday. A year after the adjacent ports launched their "clean trucks" program, new, low-emission big rigs now account for about a third of the trucks hauling cargo to and from the complex, the busiest harbors in the nation.

The Environmental Protection Agency proposed the first emission standards Wednesday for snowmobiles, all-terrain vehicles, forklifts and a range of other vehicles that account for a surprisingly large portion of several dangerous air pollutants. The proposed rules would reduce carbon monoxide emissions from these vehicles by 56% and hydrocarbon and nitrogen oxide emissions by nearly 80% by the time the regulations are fully phased in, according to the EPA.

A fund of more than $10 million, designed to help local governments lower vehicle emissions, has been targeted by critics as an expensive "boondoggle" that would do little to improve the quality of air in the Southland. The South Coast Air Quality Management District received 310 proposals for a chunk of the funding, which comes from a $4 surcharge on all vehicle registrations. The district's board is scheduled to give final approval to 62 programs today.

A federal lawsuit by two industry groups aims to halt the U.S. government and the state of California from moving ahead with new greenhouse gas emissions rules for cars and trucks -- an action that, if successful, could scuttle a key piece of the Obama administration's plans to set stricter nationwide standards for vehicles. The lawsuit may be the first of many legal challenges targeting President Obama's efforts to limit the heat-trapping emissions that scientists blame for global warming.

Targeting one of the biggest sources of air pollution, federal and state regulators moved forward Wednesday with plans to slash emissions from big diesel-powered ships entering U.S. coastal areas. Under rules that took effect Wednesday, the roughly 2,000 ocean-going vessels that enter California ports each year must switch to fuel with lower sulfur content before coming within 24 nautical miles of the state's coast.