P.M. Greenlist: Gas, money and pollution
>> Above is the USA National GAS Temperature Map as of 10 this morning. The redder an area, the more expensive gas is -- and California's quite reddish.
>> Why gas is more expensive in Cali than in other places, and how the federal government could fix the problem with the stroke of a pen. "California's strict air quality regulations require a special blend of gasoline that only a few refineries outside of California are capable of producing. So when demand spikes in California, or a disaster (or simple maintenance overhaul) takes out even just one refinery complex for any extended period of time, prices rise quickly across the state because supply can't easily be found to replace the lost production." At the end of the article is the answer to how YOU can handle this problem.
>> Idling: Bad for your wallet and the planet. "If you're going to be stopped for more than 10 seconds, it's best to shut off your engine. The one exception is when you're stopped in street traffic — it's illegal to kill the engine in many states."
>> Driving fans are the ungreenest component at concerts. Radiohead commissioned an enviro-study of their last two North American tours. "The report revealed that 97 percent of the environmental damage done by the group's 2003 tour — nearly 10,000 tons of CO2, the equivalent of 4,000 trans-Atlantic flights — was fan-related." Stop driving to the Hollywood Bowl, people.
>> The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's getting sued all over the place:
- California joined 10 other states to sue the EPA in an effort to overturn weak ozone standards, which are said to be too weak even according to the EPA's own science advisory board. Health and environmental organizations led by Earthjustice filed a parallel lawsuit.
- A coalition of environmental groups plans to sue the EPA today to "force it to overturn motor vehicle emissions limits for Southern California, charging that the targets fail to address hazardous pollution faced by 1.5 million people who live next to freeways."
Image courtesy of gasbuddy.com
