Moving to TWITTER Feed @streetdirtph

Have concluded that Twitter is a better vehicle for the material I post here, which is mostly links to information detailed elsewhere with terse descriptions. Please come follow this info stream on Twitter under @streetdirtph.

Air pollution causes California millions in excess medical costs annually

Rand study attributes $193 million in excess medical care costs for conditions such as asthma and pneumonia to ozone and particulates.

Click on blog post title to jump to source report on Physorg.com.

Teamsters, environmentalists agree ports should green trucks

Older, dirtier diesel engines used in trucking freight on-site at US ports need replacement to
curb emissions and protect air quality. Teamsters and environmentalists have allied to get that cost burden born by ports rather than driver/operators, who are mostly treated as independent contractors rather than port employees.

Click on blog post title to jump to source report on the NY Times.

Vegetated Buffers Work to Protect Streams

...but they need to be flat (i.e. slope < 10%) and treed. Types of soil were not significant. Survey of published research focussed on buffers between streams and ag uses, but creates a reasonable but rebuttable presumption that they work between streams and other uses.

Click on blog post title to jump to source article at Physorg.com.

EPA issues draft of stronger ozone standard

Says NY Times: "Agency analysts project that if the stricter standard is adopted, as many as 12,000 premature deaths per year from heart or lung diseases could be avoided, along with thousands of cases of bronchitis, asthma and nonfatal heart attacks."

Click blog post title to jump to ozone actions page on EPA's web site.