California to fight if EPA eases emissions rule

[Source: San Francisco Chronicle] The Trump administration is expected to start rolling back tough limits on carbon pollution from cars and trucks this week, and may be considering a plan to revoke California’s authority to set its own pollution standards for vehicles, a linchpin of the state’s effort to battle climate change. Environmental Protection Agency Read More…

California’s bullet train is hurtling toward a multibillion-dollar overrun, a confidential federal report warns

[Source: The Los Angeles Times] California’s bullet train could cost taxpayers 50% more than estimated — as much as $3.6 billion more. And that’s just for the first 118 miles through the Central Valley, which was supposed to be the easiest part of the route between Los Angeles and San Francisco. A confidential Federal Railroad Administration risk Read More…

Is shipping the next financial crisis?

[Source: Port Technology] The Hanjin Shipping collapse rocked the shipping industry; the seventh largest shipping company operating at the time filing for receivership and leaving its vessels abandoned across the globe was potentially a warning sign for things to come for other industry actors. It was reported by Port Technology that Hanjin Shipping was having Read More…

New “environmental” rules with one billion $$ cost to kill American jobs, help Mexican truckers

[Source: California Political News and Views] Last week I published a story about an Uber-affiliated firm that is beginning to provide Uber type of service for the trucking industry. Previously the California Political News and Views noted that NAFTA allowed Mexican trucks, low cost to operate, to distribute goods in the United States. Ford is Read More…

The port that fuels L.A.’s economy and fouls its air gets a pollution-reduction team

[Source: Los Angeles Times] Mayor Eric Garcetti on Tuesday announced the appointment of an advisory panel tasked with reducing air pollution from the Port of Los Angeles by expanding the use of zero-emissions technology. The 10-member Sustainable Freight Advisory Board, made up of representatives from industry, environmental groups, labor, and air quality agencies, will advise the city-owned Read More…

California’s trade dominance at risk

[Source: Logistics Management] While California has long been a vital leader creating trade and transportation trends, the state is becoming stymied by a variety of problems it can’t seem to solve. Southern California’s infamous highway gridlock, for example, not only torments the region’s logistics managers, but it may also be detrimental to regional job growth. Read More…

Oil gears up for another climate fight

[Source: CALmatters] A Harvard economist known globally for his work on climate change policy sat in the Sacramento office of the oil industry’s lobbying firm recently, making the case that California is fighting global warming the wrong way. The state has a good cap and trade system, Robert Stavins said, but some of its other Read More…