Discourse for all interested in all things air-quality related
Lots of exciting developments on the U.S. passenger-train front. Before year’s end, Brightline service will be inaugurated between Miami and Orlando International Airport. Top speed on the section between West Palm Beach and the latter, 125 miles per hour. This will be the second such domestic operation whose passenger trains will travel that fast. Quite … Read more
LAS VEGAS (Jun. 28, 2023) – Today, the U.S. Department of Transportation announced that the San Bernardino County Transportation Authority (SBCTA) received a $25 million Rebuilding American Infrastructure with Sustainability and Equity (RAISE) grant award. The award will fund the final design and construction of two Brightline West intercity passenger rail stations and associated facilities in … Read more
The United States at one time had one of the grandest railroad networks on Earth. At its 1916 peak, operations of U.S. freight and passenger trains were conducted on a total of 254,000 route-miles of mainline track; today that number weighs in at around 140,000, or a reduction in said trackage of almost half (45 … Read more
There is no other place on Earth quite like California. In fact, if an independent nation, California’s economy would rank as the world’s fifth largest. That’s no idle boast. Neither is the fact that the Golden State is 105 million acres in size* on which some 40 million residents have staked out some kind of … Read more
SACRAMENTO — California today [Apr. 17, 2023] released its annual report for California Climate Investments, which highlights that 74% of investments from 2022 — almost $1 billion — supported communities and households facing greater economic and environmental challenges. The statewide California Climate Investments initiative is a critical component of the state’s transition to a carbon neutral, more equitable … Read more
Okay, I’ll say it: Intermodal connectivity is fundamental to successful high-speed rail operation in California’s San Joaquin Valley on what is now known as the Interim Initial Operating Segment (IOS), a 171-mile-long double-tracked, fully grade-separated high-speed railroad corridor to serve the needs of passengers traveling end to end or on any portion thereof in between, … Read more
When the interested Conference of the Parties (COP) attendees head off to these annual global climate-change networking summits, they, for the most part, I would think, have open minds, their hoping, their expecting that, by the time the conference concludes, they will come away with something to show for all the time, energy and hard … Read more
San Joaquin Valley, California residents are breathing much easier thanks to the dedicated and hard work of the area’s many constituent interests who have not only taken the time already, but, in going forward, are committed to making a positive-air difference. The results we are seeing would not have been possible without this kind of … Read more
The world view is that what we as humans need to do to avoid a climate-related meltdown, if you will, and meet short-, medium- and long-range climate goals, is to forgo dependence on combustion of fossil fuels – hook, line and sinker. We’re talking about an across-the-board transition to clean energy here to power all … Read more
The 27th Conference of the Parties (COP27) came to a conclusion on Nov. 20, 2022 after convening for a total of 14 days. If global warming is to be limited to a 1.5 degree Celsius rise by the end of the century compared to what the global mean surface temperature was when the Industrial Revolution … Read more