A.M. Greenlist: Solar power and traffic controls

>> East Los Angeles College turned on its new solar project (above) on Earth Day.  Part of the Los Angeles Community College District’s Renewable Energy Plan, the $9 million 1.2 megawatt project will provide almost half of the college’s daytime power needs.

>> The federal government offered L.A. County $213 million to convert carpool lanes into toll lanes on the 10, 110, and the 210. We only get the money if local and state officials agree to the changes. If an agreement's reached, the money would be used to buy 60 buses that would use the new toll lanes, and Metro would use its own money to create the lanes themselves. Earlier: Why HOT (high occupancy toll) Lanes? Because HOV Lanes Don’t Work.

>> Santa Monica will likely see a November ballot measure to limit commercial development in the city for the next 15 years, in an effort to control traffic. I was asked to sign this a couple times by people holding clipboards in front of Co-opportunity, and declined. The comments on the L.A. Now post on this issue are pretty interesting.

>> An old Metro maintenance yard's going to become an urban wetland park. The City Council approved the South Los Angeles Wetlands Park project, which will include "a small lake, marshes with native plants, footpaths, a community center and a winding waterway."

>> According to a Union of Concerned Scientists report, the EPA is "an agency under siege from political pressures." "More than half of the scientists at the Environmental Protection Agency who responded to a survey said they had experienced political interference in their work."