Climate Cities

The Supreme Court considers an extortion suit against federal land managers

The Supreme Court heard argument in a curious case this week. No, I'm not talking about the celebrated "Bong Hits for Jesus" case. The second case on Monday's docket involved an Alabaman turned Wyoming rancher claiming that government bureaucrats had engaged in extortion by enforcing the letter of the law.

An appellate court in Denver, Colo., ruled that Harvey Frank Robbins (the rancher) could sue Charles Wilkie and other Bureau of Land Management employees under the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act (also known as RICO) -- a law used to prosecute mobsters involved in organized crime.

Now the chance for the Supremes to weigh in, and maybe hint at what they're thinking ...

Next Stop, Wonderment

Last year, U.S. saw highest public-transit ridership since 1957 Hooray for sky-high gas prices! Thanks to the manipulative maneuverings of Big Oil, public transit ridership in the U.S. is on the rise too. A report from the American Public Transportation Association says miffed tank-fillers and others took 10 billion mass-transit trips last year — 2.9 […]

Electric motorcycles may be bridge to electric cars

I see this pea-green electric car biffing around the neighborhood now and then. I test drove a similar car a year or so ago. Entrepreneurs just can't resist testing the electric car market. One company after another goes out of business, only to be replaced by the next guy in line. It might help if they would make them less silly looking. Adding a fourth wheel might have been worth it in this case.

And You Thought It Was the TPS Reports

Your commute may be killing you, says clean-air advocacy group Here’s one more reason to hate your commute: it could be making you sick. Commuters — on car, train, bus, bike, or foot — breathe in up to eight times more diesel soot particles than they would just being in a downtown area, according to […]

A journey on China’s controversial new train to Tibet

Each night, the Qinghai-Tibet train leaves Beijing at 9:30. A mere 48 hours later, it rolls into Lhasa, 2,525 miles away. Waiting to depart from Beijing. Photos: Erica Gies Shortly after 9 p.m. one warm night last fall, my travel companion and I raced through the sprawling West Beijing train station, weaving our way through […]

The Land of Electric Enchantment

Tesla Motors to build electric-car plant in New Mexico In April, electric-car start-up Tesla Motors will break ground on a manufacturing plant in Albuquerque, which beat out Flagstaff, Ariz., and Pittsburg, Calif., for the honor. The plant will churn out 10,000 WhiteStar sedans a year starting in 2009 — “zero-emission” cars that will go 250 […]

Cabin Pressure

What should greens do about air travel? Is it a sin to fly to your vacation spot? The Bishop of London recently proclaimed it so. Plenty of others are increasingly critical of excessive air travel too, though not all are as strident as the Right Reverend. The trick is figuring out what’s excessive. Is it […]

Sixty-Two and You

U.S. EPA places limits on carcinogenic benzene in gasoline Late last week, the U.S. EPA announced a new rule that will affect most Americans’ gas tanks. The Mobile Source Air Toxics rule — or as we like to call it, the Your Car is Full of Crap rule — limits benzene, a carcinogen that makes […]

Hybrid Lowdown

Toyota will introduce new advertising, incentives for Prius To many, the Toyota Prius is synonymous with months-long waiting lists. But just as the automaker has stepped up production on its hybrid darling, sales have plateaued. Fearing that the car lacks mainstream appeal, Toyota is training dealers in Prius sweet talk, hyping incentives like low- and […]

Try, Try Again

European Commission proposes revised vehicle emissions limits Last week, bullying from automakers and their allies led the European Commission to yank proposed rules regulating new-vehicle emissions. Now the commission has revised its proposal, and car czars are still in a swivet. Under the new rules, carbon dioxide emissions from new cars would be cut to […]