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Parking hike for high polluters
BBC
A local authority has approved plans to charge increased parking prices for the most polluting vehicles.
Richmond Council in south-west London, has said high carbon dioxide-emitting vehicles will now incur three times the normal residential parking fees.
A family with two such cars could pay up to £750 a year under the proposals, compared with a current bill of £200.
The policy was passed after a three-hour meeting on Monday night and should be in place by May.
The idea to link permits to the level of emissions generated fierce debate when the plans were published last October.
BBC London has found there are a further eight London councils considering following Richmond’s move.
(30 Jan 2007)
Paris to roll out free bicycles
Associated Press via Seattle P-I
PARIS — The City of Light wants to soon become a city of bicycles. Paris City Hall announced it has selected French outdoor advertising firm JCDecaux SA to operate a new free bicycle service in the capital.
Joining other European cities like the Dutch capital, Amsterdam, Paris wants to make thousands of bikes available for free to commuters, strollers and tourists – in part to help cut down on pollution.
(30 Jan 2007)
A Faith-Based Fuel Initiative
Editorial, NY Times
… Americans who heard President Bush’s State of the Union address, including his pledge to reduce America’s gasoline consumption, can be forgiven for thinking he was finally ready to change that. But all Mr. Bush really asked for was the authority to set mileage standards in a different way. Rather than requiring companies to meet an average fuel-efficiency standard, balancing gas savers against gas guzzlers, he would assign targets model by model, based on factors like size and weight.
As for what those new targets might be, Mr. Bush would leave it to his secretary of transportation to decide. And he asked the country to take it on faith that this new measurement system, combined with technological advances, would lead to annual mileage improvements of 4 percent a year.
Our fear is that this program will take far too long to get going, if it gets going at all. Like Congress, the Transportation Department has been notoriously solicitous of the automobile industry.
But there’s a way Congress can get moving. Senator Barack Obama plans to reintroduce a bill that would set a 4 percent annual increase in efficiency as a target, just what Mr. Bush says he wants. The bill would also give both the Transportation Department and the manufacturers considerable flexibility. But the department could not deviate from the target unless it could demonstrate that the costs outweighed the benefits.
(30 Jan 2007)
