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NEWS ARTICLES President-Elect Obama Promises Leadership on
Climate Change WASHINGTON – Calling climate change an urgent challenge, President-elect Barack Obama promised Tuesday that Washington would take a leading role in combating it in the United States and throughout the world. "My presidency will mark a new chapter in America's leadership on climate change," Obama said in a video message to governors and others attending a Los Angeles summit on the issue. Copyright 2008 The Associated Press. The information contained in the AP news report may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or otherwise distributed without the prior written authority of The Associated Press. http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20081118/ap_on_el_pr/obama_climate_change Alternative Fuels Conference April 1-4 Near Disneyland The Alternative Fuel Vehicle Institute (AFVi) hosts the 13th annual Alternative Fuels & Vehicles National Conference and Expo in Anaheim, Calif., April 1-4, 2007. This conference raises the topical issue of the role vehicles and fuels play in both energy security and climate change. It will be held at the Anaheim Convention Center, across from Disneyland. The national conference is a neutral meeting place for policy and/or purchasing decision-makers who need to keep their finger on the changing pulse of regulations, funding and the near-term operations and technical development strategies. The conference program features many of the leading decision-makers in alternative fuels and technologies, representing truck manufacturers, fuel suppliers, government agencies and parts manufacturers. Foreign affairs analyst and former CIA Director James Woolsey and environmental policy expert Dr. Terry Tamminen will deliver the keynote presentations. Local, state and federal elected officials will address the changing legislative landscape. Attendees will focus on key topics fueling the growth in alternative fuels. The Expo Hall showcases the broadest range anywhere of vehicles, components and services across all fuels and technologies. Two Expo Hall mixers allow for social time to talk with exhibitors and view their products. There are two stages with regular presentations from a broad range of interests. The "Funding Pavilion" co-locates agencies and businesses with the tools to buy down costs for fleets. Ride-n-Drives are held both Sunday and Tuesday to give attendees a chance to kick the tires and take the vehicle of their choice for a spin. The final morning of the conference, Wednesday, April 4, the doors are opened to the general public to come and learn about what's new in alternative fuels. More information on the conference is available by visiting www.afvi.org/NationalConference2007/index.html.
Energy Efficiency Key to New Weapons Prodded in part by recent high oil prices, the Pentagon is poised to launch a pilot program requiring three new weapon system programs -- including the Air Force's new bomber -- to consider energy efficiency, a step that could set the stage for economic fuel consumption to play an increasingly central role in the design of future combat systems. Kenneth Krieg, the Defense Department's acquisition executive, is expected to sign a memo requiring that the "fully burdened cost of fuel" be considered in the design trades for the Air Force's long-range strike concept decision, the Joint Light Tactical Vehicle requirement, and the Maritime Air and Missile Defense of Joint Forces alternative ship concepts analysis of alternatives. When signed, the memo and its follow-on work, will mark the intersection of two high-level Pentagon efforts under way over the last year that are taking stock of what Defense Department leaders say is the U.S. military's growing dependence on foreign oil. These efforts reviewed a range of issues dealing with energy and U.S. national security that aim to reshape the military's approach to fuel consumption on other fronts as well. On Aug. 17, Adm. Edmund Giambastiani, vice chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff and head of the Pentagon's high-level Joint Requirements Oversight Council, signed a memo that codified recommendations of a nearly nine-month-long review, according to a Joint Staff official. The review recommended, among other things, the Pentagon should on a "selective basis" require energy efficiency as a key performance parameter in new weapon systems, said the official. That recommendation, along with a handful of other new requirements for key performance parameters, are set to be included in this fall's update of the Joint Staff's procedures that guide the development of new capability requirements. "We're raising this to a level of importance where we're making a conscious decision on whether or not you need a KPP for energy efficiency" a Joint Staff official said. At around the same time, the Energy Security Task Force, formed this spring at the direction of Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, was wrapping up its review of the cost of energy to the Defense Department and options to reduce that burden. This cost, it turns out, is roughly an additional $1.8 billion for every $10 hike in a barrel of oil, according to a member of the task force. The group, headed by Director of Defense Research and Engineering John Young, briefed its recommendations to Deputy Defense Secretary Gordon England, Giambastiani and the other members of the Deputy's Advisory Working Group at the end of September, according to a task force member. England blessed the overall recommendations of the task force, which include: increasing platform efficiency, establishing an alternative fuels program, and accelerating initiatives to make defense installations more energy efficient. This amounts to "a strategic statement of intent by the department," Alan Shaffer, the director of plans and programs in Young's office, said in a Nov. 14 interview with InsideDefense.com. To increase platform efficiency, the Pentagon plans to incorporate the "delivered cost of fuel" into acquisition decisions; "develop and test efficient propulsion systems, power generators and machinery"; and "develop and prototype lightweight vehicles and structures," according to Nov. 8 briefing slides used by Christopher DiPetto, deputy director for systems and software engineering in Young's office. DiPetto has a key role in the Energy Security Task Force. Establishing an alternative fuels program, according to DiPetto's briefing, includes efforts to mature and test synthetic fuels, such as those derived from the Fischer-Tropsch process; measure and assess the Defense Department's energy progress; and develop incentive programs for an alternate fuel industry. The Fischer-Tropsch process can use coal in combination with agricultural waste or other biomass to produce synthetic fuel. The Defense Energy Support Center, which purchases fuel in bulk for the entire Defense Department, is considering proposals it received this summer from industry in response to a request for a buy of 200 million gallons of synthetic fuel produced through the Fischer-Tropsch process, according to Patrick Jones, a spokesman for the center. Shaffer said this fuel will be used to test its ability to power air, sea and ground vehicles. The third recommendation of the task force calls for accelerating initiatives to make defense installations more efficient. The Energy Security Task Force made a number of investment recommendations designed to affect the fiscal year 2008 budget proposal and its accompanying six-year spending plan. Shaffer declined to detail these proposals because he said the Defense Department has not yet decided which to fund. In his January State of the Union address, President Bush declared that the United States must wean itself from its "addiction to oil." The spike in fuel prices caused by disruption to the oil industry along the Gulf Coast after Hurricane Katrina last year provided new traction within the Defense Department to examine what could be done to make the U.S. military more energy efficient. In a Dec. 14, 2005, "snowflake" memo to England, Rumsfeld asked what actions the Defense Department might take to conserve energy. "It seems to me we should be doing all we can to pursue energy initiatives through fuel-efficient vehicles, advanced battery technology or hybrid power trains," Rumsfeld wrote. "It really is a national security issue and we are an enormous part of government consumption." The pilot program Krieg is expected to approve will, in effect, address a key finding of the 2001 Defense Science Board study that examined fuel efficiency in weapon systems. The group found that the Pentagon priced fuel based on the wholesale refinery price, not the cost delivered to the end user. This practice, the 2001 panel concluded, "prevents an end-to-end view of fuel utilization in decision-making, does not reflect the DOD's true fuel costs, masks energy efficiency benefits, and distorts platform choices." An example of calculating the fully burdened cost of fuel is offered in DiPetto's slides: It cost the Army about 16 times as much to deliver fuel as to purchase it. The pilot program Krieg is expected to initiate will receive instructions on how to calculate the fully burdened price of fuel from a group being led by James Finley, deputy under secretary of defense for acquisition and technology. Finley is leading an integrated product team, according to DiPetto's briefing, that aims to "quantify the DOD fully burdened cost of fuel and how [to] incorporate results into investment decisions." Copyright 2006 InsideDefense.com NewsStand. All opinions expressed in this article are the author's and do not necessarily reflect those of Military.com.
Court Upholds Tougher Diesel Rules WASHINGTON (AP) - A federal court rejected industry challenges Friday and upheld an Environmental Protection Agency program to cut pollution from tractor-trailer rigs and other large trucks and buses. The ruling was praised by environmentalists who view the tougher truck tailpipe rules and a requirement for ``The decision paves the way for the biggest air quality and public health advances since the removal of lead from gasoline,'' said Richard Kassel of the Natural Resources Defense Council, which joined the litigation on the government's side supporting the tougher standards. The rules, expected to reduce tailpipe emissions from tractor-trailer rigs, buses and other trucks up to 90 percent, were issued in the final weeks of the Clinton administration and have not been challenged by the Bush administration. EPA Administrator Christie Whitman said a year ago that she would pursue the tougher diesel and truck rules. But the agency also created a panel representing various sides of the issue to review how to move forward. Its work is continuing. In Fridays ruling, a three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals in Washington unanimously rejected arguments by truck engine builders and the oil industry, who sued to try to overturn the new air requirements. The engine manufacturers argued the technology is not available to meet the more stringent tailpipe emission requirements by 2007, when they will begin to be phased in. The court agreed with the EPA that new pollution reductions demanded of trucks, cars and SUVs cannot be met without a sharp reduction in the amount of sulfur in diesel fuel. Sulfur clogs emissions control equipment. The EPA regulations require that tractor-trailer rigs and other heavy-duty trucks cut their pollution beginning in 2007 when half of new trucks, or replacement engines, must meet tougher emission control standards. All new engines will be covered by 2010. They also call on refineries to reduce the sulfur content in diesel to 15 parts per million by 2007 from the current 500 parts per million. Oil companies had offered to cut sulfur 50 parts per million and argued the new EPA standards were so stringent they would not be achieved, causing supply shortages. Bob Slaughter, president of the National Petrochemical & Refiners Association, called the ruling disappointing. ``This case has never been about whether the sulfur content of diesel fuel will be substantially reduced,'' he said, but whether it ``should occur in a reasonable time frame to maintain needed fuel supplies and ease the impact on the already stressed U.S. refining system.'' Howard Fox, an attorney for Earthjustice, which represented the American Lung Association in the case, estimated new requirements along with the low-sulfur fuel will reduce the amount of soot from larger trucks 90 percent and smog-causing chemicals by 95 percent. That is expected to prevent 8,300 premature deaths, 5,500 cases of chronic bronchitis and another 17,600 cases of acute bronchitis in children, said Fox, citing numbers provided by the EPA. ``For too long these diesel polluters have been getting a free ride,'' he said. Auto manufacturers, which campaigned for the low-sulfur fuel, also challenged the regulation. They argued it wasn't being implemented quickly enough to help meet the new auto emissions standards for SUVs and small trucks that the EPA will require by 2007. 05/03/02 19:21 EDT Copyright 2002 The Associated Press. The information contained in the AP news report may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or otherwise distributed without the prior written authority of The Associated Press.
New Clean Air Rules Target Trucks By H. JOSEF HEBERT WASHINGTON (Dec. 21)- The Clinton administration has approved new regulations that expected to cut air pollution from heavy-duty trucks and buses by more than 90 percent over the next decade. Attacking one of the major sources of dirty air, the federal standards will require new large trucks and buses to meet stringent tailpipe emission limits and direct refiners to produce virtually sulfur-free diesel fuel. The rules were being announced Thursday by the White House and the Environmental Protection Agency as part of a flurry of regulations being churned out in the last days of the Clinton administration and crafted to head off challenge by an incoming Bush administration. While President-elect Bush has not expressed any views on the truck rules, some Republicans in Congress have criticized the new sulfur requirements for diesel fuel. Sen. James Inhofe, R-Okla., has vowed to push legislation that would roll back the diesel rule next year, arguing the requirements could lead to fuel shortages. Environmentalists, who have eagerly awaited the EPA truck and diesel regulations since they were proposed last May, expressed doubt they would be overturned given the widespread public sentiment against trucks belching black smoke from their smokestacks. ''This is the biggest vehicle pollution news since the removal of lead from gasoline,'' said Richard Kassel, an attorney for the Natural Resources Defense Council and head of a campaign to reduce truck pollution. The rules apply to new trucks and replacement truck engines sold beginning in late 2006. It is expected to take at least a decade beyond that for the cleaner trucks to replace most of the current fleet. Still, the pollution reductions eventually will be equal to removing 13 million trucks from the road, according to various estimates. To meet the more stringent emission standards, heavy-duty trucks will for the first time will have to be equipped with pollution controls that capture exhaust chemicals - similar to the catalytic devices that have been required on cars for years. At the same time, 80 percent of the diesel fuel sold nationwide will have to be virtually sulfur free - on average 15 parts per million of sulfur - by 2006. All diesel will have to meet the new requirement by 2010. EPA officials have maintained that the ultra-low sulfur diesel is essential for the new pollution control equipment to work properly. The new standards anticipate about a 95 percent reduction of smog-causing nitrogen oxide, compared to levels already expected to be achieved from trucks by 2004, and a 90 percent reduction in microscopic soot. Diesel soot, which has been associated with increased asthma, bronchitis and heart disease, as well as possibly cancer, has been of special concern to health specialists. A recent study at the Johns Hopkins School of Public Health found a link between exposure to microscopic soot and death rates in 20 large cities. But oil companies and truck engine manufacturers have questioned whether they can meet the EPA's timetable for both the cleaner truck engines and the fuel. ''These are unprecedented standards,'' said Allen Schaeffer, executive director of the Diesel Technology Forum, an industry group. ''The kind of levels of reductions that are being talked about are going to require technology that is not commercially available yet.'' The American Petroleum Institute cited a study said the new sulfur requirements would boost diesel prices by at least 15 cents a gallon and cause ''a significant risk of (fuel) shortages'' by 2007. The EPA has estimated the additional cost at less than 5 cents a gallon with no expected shortages. The new 15 parts per million sulfur level compares to an average 500 parts per million in today's fuel. Oil companies have argued that reduction may not be technically possible and urged a cut to 50 parts per million. AP-NY-12-21-00 0716EST Copyright 2000 The Associated Press. The information contained in the AP news report may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or otherwise distributed without the prior written authority of The Associated Press.
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