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Thursday, September 22, 2005
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The U.S. Department of Energy's alternative fuel initiatives and partnerships are starting to produce results in the search for a cleaner way to move around. [Source: Environmental Protection E-News]
3:36:08 PM Google It! 
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EPA's 2005 Air Innovations Conference, held August 24-26 in Chicago, explored new and non-traditional ways of improving air quality, including programs, partnerships, tools, resources, and funding opportunities. Nearly 350 state, local, and federal policy makers attended.
The conference featured presentations from leading state and local policy makers about innovative energy efficiency and renewable energy policies and technologies for improving air quality, including efforts such as California's appliance standards, New Jersey's Renewables Portfolio Standard, and Illinois' sustainable energy plan. Additional sessions covered transportation measures, financing options, and next-generation technologies.
Presentations and more information from the conference are now available at http://www.cleanairinfo.com/airinnovations2005/agenda.htm.
3:34:24 PM Google It!
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Washington (DC) Metro has purchased 28 diesel-electric hybrid buses manufactured by New Flyer, and using the GM-Allison parallel hybrid powertrain, and has agreed to buy 22 more, for a total of 50. [Green Car Congress]
3:27:04 PM Google It!
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Telecommuting
Source: Telework Exchange
Fuel Smart Economy: It's No Gas (PDF; 282 KB)
From press release (PDF; 132 KB): "With East Coast gas prices surging from an average of $2.14 per gallon in April to $3.05 per gallon in September, the increased urgency to conserve fuel has pushed teleworking to the forefront as an imperative operating model for the Federal government as well as the American workforce as a whole. The study reveals that today the Federal government workforce spends $19 million and the total U.S. white-collar workforce spends over $355.8 million commuting to and from work every business day." [ResourceShelf's DocuTicker]
3:23:12 PM Google It!
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Lansing Community College and the University of Michigan teamed up with General Motors to demonstrate alternative fuel technology at the Capitol. It could be the future of the automotive industry. It's a hydrogen powered engine and researchers and auto industry experts gathered at the State Capitol say we aren't too far away from making the futuristic concept into reality. [Source: WLNS TV, Lansing, MI]
3:22:06 PM Google It!
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Energy conservation is back in vogue, and the small businesses that dominate the renewable-energy industry are on a bit of a roll. [Environmental Health News]
3:19:23 PM Google It!
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While it might seem that sending manufacturing overseas would reduce pollution at home, the transportation infrastructure needed for large-scale import has created new pollution and health problems. In California, poor Latino neighborhoods suffer. [Environmental Health News]
3:18:38 PM Google It!
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The federal government will convene a meeting of oil companies and petrol retailers to pressure them to develop industry plans to increase the supply of biofuels, such as ethanol. [Environmental Health News]
3:17:38 PM Google It!
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To replace oil, the US needs a fuel that can power aircraft, trains, and cars. Other fossil resources, rather than green energy, may have the inside track. By By John Dillin. [Stateline.org RSS - Energy]
3:14:20 PM Google It!
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In a move that could offer Californians some relief from rising utility bills, state regulators are expected today to approve the largest energy conservation plan in U.S. history. By By By Paul Rogers. [Stateline.org RSS - Energy]
3:13:39 PM Google It!
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Archer Daniels Midland Company (ADM) plans to expand its ethanol capacity by 500 million gallons per year through the construction of two new dry corn milling facilities. [Green Car Congress]
3:10:57 PM Google It!
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DEARBORN, Mich., Sept. 21 - The Ford Motor Company plans to increase production of hybrid electric vehicles tenfold, to 250,000 vehicles annually, by the end of the decade, executives said Wednesday. By DANNY HAKIM. [NYT > Business]
3:09:27 PM Google It!
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Comments on nontoxic ammunition will be taken by U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service until Friday. [Source: Springfield (MO) News-Leader]
3:02:51 PM Google It!
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Building a healthy, peaceful and sustainable future is the reason behind the University of Wisconsin-Oshkosh’s Earth Charter Summit. The event, which runs Oct. 1 through 8, will bring together a plethora of presentations to promote ecological integrity, social and economic justice and peace, said Andrew Robson, associate dean who co-organized the event. [Source: Ohkosh (WI) Northwestern]
3:00:23 PM Google It!
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BURLINGTON, Vt. -- States, rather than the federal government, are driving the development of renewable power in the United States, experts said Wednesday at the fourth annual state conference on the subject. By By Louis Porter, Vermont Press Bureau . [Stateline.org RSS - Environment]
2:32:48 PM Google It!
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There's little use for the light switch in the library anymore — sunlight has nearly replaced overhead lights during the day. That means gloomy winter days may not seem so dark this year at Ben Franklin Elementary School, thanks to the new school's environmentally friendly design, said Peggy Anderson, the school's librarian. [Source: Seattle Times]
2:30:45 PM Google It!
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Thousands of Chicago area schoolchildren are breathing cleaner air, thanks to a blended fuel containing
soybean oil now being used in city and suburban school buses. [Source: PRNewswire]
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The authoritative journal 'Environmental Health Perspectives' may soon be privatized, leaving a cloud over the future of one of the most respected and objective professional publications in its field.
In a Sept. 19, 2005, Federal Register notice, the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences, which publishes EHP, called for public comment on the idea of "privatizing" the journal. Deadline for comments is Oct. 28, 2005.
While acknowledging that EHP had published successfully for decades, NIEHS offered no reason in its Federal Register notice for why it is considering privatization.
Professionals in the public and environmental health fields are privately expressing anxiety that privatization could compromise EHP's objectivity, or end its recently begun policy of free public access (paid subscriptions no longer required). They suggest that the Bush administration wants to liquidate the publication because it publishes credible, independent science at odds with administration political policies or industry's deregulatory agenda.
David A. Schwartz, M.D., director of NIEHS said "We have an enormous amt of respect for EHP," and said that the agency was merely examining "what is the best venue for this journal in the future." Most scientific journals are not published by government agencies, but by scientific or professional societies, or by universities or research institutions. Comparatively few are published by the government.
Schwartz said EHP had "matured substantially" over the past decade and that it may "no longer need the incubator support of the institute."
"We have not come to a decision u we are just asking a question," Schwartz said. "We don't have any intention of putting the future of the journal in jeopardy. The intention is to support the journal."
Schwartz did note, however, that money spent on the journal is money not spent on the agency's research, and that its budget has been flat. The annual cost to produce the journal is about $3.4 million, or about 0.05% of the agency's total budget.
- "Request for Comment: Potential Privatization of the Journal, Environmental Health Perspectives;" National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences (NIEHS), National Institutes of Health (NIH), Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS); Federal Register, September 19, 2005, pp. 54951-54952; text format; pdf format.
[SEJ WatchDog TipSheet]
2:24:10 PM Google It!
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© Copyright
2005
Laura L. Barnes.
Last update:
10/25/2005; 12:11:52 PM.
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