May 15, 2008 | Link This | Email this | Comments (1)

There will never be the perfect State budget, or agreement by everyone on every facet of proposed cuts and spending.

Wednesday, Governor Schwarzenegger’s proposed roadmap for getting California out of a scary $17 billion deficit for 2008-09 at least keeps a full $1.5 billion in the transportation fund, as historic Proposition 42 calls for. But a windfall of some $1.1 Billion-- from increased gasoline prices—will be diverted to other projects.

For example, more than $800 million in public transit operating funds ...Read More

May 13, 2008 | Link This | Email this | Comments (0)

The California Air Resources Board (CARB) has just announced new rules that will affect every privately owned diesel truck and bus in California—all 300,000 of them.

Pre-2007 trucks and buses will need to install a soot filter-- estimated to cost $10,000-- by 2010. Then, new rules require a gradual modernization of trucks beginning in 2012, that require retrofitting to the level of 2010 and newer models. By 2015, all trucks and buses must meet this rule.CARB said th...Read More

May 5, 2008 | Link This | Email this | Comments (1)

On May 16th, it is anticipated that full CARB off-road diesel regs will be approved by California’s OAL and sent to the Governor for final sign-off. In the meantime, last Friday, the South Coast Air Quality Management District (SCAQMD) unanimously passed an even stricter program, the “SOON Program.”

SOON requires very large fleets (>20,000 combined diesel horsepower) to almost double their air quality compliance efforts, making mandatory adherence to the regulations in 2009. 

April 28, 2008 | Link This | Email this | Comments (0)

The Southern California Counties of Riverside and San Bernardino start roughly one hour drive east of the Pacific Ocean and a 90 minute drive North of San Diego and the Mexican border. Their eastern edges border Nevada and Arizona.

Once there, if you go West again for about a half-hour, from Riverside, depending on traffic, you’ll reach Disneyland, the Anaheim Pond, and Angel’s Baseball stadium—Orange County.

April 22, 2008 | Link This | Email this | Comments (0)

Like a bad case of the flu, California’s budget problems keep coming back. The State’s fiscal money pit keeps getting deeper each year, with politicians apparently not willing to stop the digging that seems to be on auto-pilot.

Dan Walters, Sacramento Bee columnist, writes of California’s on-going fiscal problems in his editorial today:

When asked about the deficit, (Governor Schwarzen...Read More