Up in the air…in an all-electric plane
by Tiffany Hsu
3 Sep 2010 at 3:55pm
The electric Cri-Cri airplane was airborne Thursday ? for all of seven minutes. The 4-engine aircraft, from Airbus parent corporation EADS, is the first of its kind. Its maiden flight took place at Le Bourget airport near Paris. The flight…
Billionaire Koch brothers back suspension of California climate law
by Margot Roosevelt
3 Sep 2010 at 6:16am
A company owned by oil billionaires Charles and David Koch has contributed $1 million to Proposition 23, a November ballot initiative to suspend California?s groundbreaking 2006 global-warming law. The contribution came from Flint Hills Resources LP, based in Wichita, Kan.,…
Large number of blue whales seen off Southern California coast
by Shelby Grad
3 Sep 2010 at 1:03am
An unusually large number of blue whales off the Southern California coastline is providing marine mammal enthusiasts with a rare opportunity to see Earth?s largest creatures lolling in the waves and spewing misty plumes. On Thursday, 77 amateur whale watchers…
Do smart meters boost energy bills? Not so, study concludes
by Tiffany Hsu
2 Sep 2010 at 9:42pm
P&E?s smart meters are performing accurately, according to an independent study released Thursday, after a rickety rollout that has led to thousands of consumer complaints. Customers in the spring began complaining of high energy bills almost as soon as PG&E…
Oil rig explosion: Fire out, no apparent leak from platform accident, Coast G…
by Geoff Mohan
2 Sep 2010 at 9:40pm
The U.S. Coast Guard said that the fire on an oil and gas production platform 80 miles off the Louisiana Coast has been extinguished, and there is no apparent sign of an oil slick. Read more here about the Mariner…
Gulf oil: new explosion boosts support for moratorium
by Margot Roosevelt
2 Sep 2010 at 8:15pm
The new explosion on a gulf oil production platform Thursday revved up support for the Obama administration?s moratorium on deepwater drilling, just as oil companies were mounting an offensive against the measure. ?Today?s news comes as no surprise,? said Kieran…
Gulf oil spill: BP’s ad spending climbs
by Bettina Boxall
1 Sep 2010 at 10:32pm
As BP oil spread across the gulf this summer, the company spread advertising money across the media, spending more than $93 million to counter images of the mounting disaster. That was more than triple the amount the company spent on…
Mayor Villaraigosa: ‘Go home, Texas oil companies!’
by Margot Roosevelt
1 Sep 2010 at 8:49pm
Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa on Tuesday rebuked Valero Energy Corp. and Tesoro Corp., which operate refineries in Wilmington, for bankrolling a measure that would effectively scuttle the state’s efforts to curb greenhouse gas emissions. “Go home, Texas oil companies,” Villaraigosa urged…
California Senate tells motorcyclists to pipe down [Updated]
by Susan Carpenter
31 Aug 2010 at 9:58pm
Motorcyclists who swap their bikes’ stock exhaust systems for so-called loud pipes may be more likely to get a traffic ticket under a California bill that passed the Senate on Monday. SB 435, also known as the Motorcycle Anti-Tampering Act,…
Time to update the Energy Star program?
by Tiffany Hsu
30 Aug 2010 at 10:48pm
The government?s Energy Star system, used to rate products and retrofitted buildings for energy efficiency, could use a fixer-upper of its own, a legislator said Monday. The voluntary program uses relative instead of absolute ratings, comparing subjects to others in…
Students compete to join deep-sea research around Catalina Island on submarine
by Louis Sahagun
27 Aug 2010 at 11:15pm
Southern California high school students are competing for a chance to participate in deep-sea research missions around Santa Catalina Island aboard the Antipodes: an acrylic-bubbled submarine that will descend to where no one has gone before. Eight students, including two…
Gulf oil spill: BP engineer’s idea to prevent future blowout is applauded
by Stephanie Chavez
27 Aug 2010 at 9:30pm
A BP drilling engineer told federal investigators Friday that he thinks it would be helpful if the oil company had a real-time operations center that rig officials could call for help, an idea that the lead Coast Guard investigator considered…
Gulf oil spill: Hearing focuses on BP decision maker
by Bettina Boxall
27 Aug 2010 at 9:13pm
Federal investigators are honing in on the role that BP?s Houston operations had in possible design flaws that may have contributed to the April 20 Deepwater Horizon well blowout. In particular, they are focusing on John Guide, a Houston-based supervisor…
Port of L.A.’s ‘clean truck’ program prevails in court
by Margot Roosevelt
27 Aug 2010 at 8:06pm
A federal judge has given the nation’s busiest port complex authority to require shipping trucks to reduce air pollution. U.S. District Court Judge Christina Snyder ruled Thursday that the Port of Los Angeles’ Clean Trucks Program can require trucks coming…
Gulf oil spill: Attempt to lift blowout preventer to start next week
by Kim Murphy
27 Aug 2010 at 6:45pm
Engineers in the Gulf of Mexico have abandoned efforts to fish out pieces of drill pipe stuck in the damaged Macondo well and early next week will begin trying to remove the blowout preventer — a crucial step in finally…
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