Transportation

"Exxon’s ambitious work on powering clean vehicles 40 years ago parallels its cutting-edge research on climate change during the same era."

"Federal auto safety regulators on Monday made it official: They are betting the nation’s highways will be safer with more cars driven by machines and not people."

"Calling them potential 'weapons of mass destruction,' the Uptown Triangle Neighborhood Association has demanded that the city of New Orleans and the New Orleans Public Belt Railroad stop allowing rail cars and railroad tanker cars loaded with hazardous materials to be parked along the 2-mile stretch of tracks along Leake Avenue.

The association has been exchanging letters with city and Public Belt officials for more than two years over the practice, but both have refused to change the present policy of using that stretch of track as a temporary parking area.

"SACRAMENTO -- Gov. Jerry Brown took a strong stand against coal on Friday, approving an East Bay lawmaker's bill to ban state funding for coal-related projects."

"A ruling in the request by the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe to stop a four-state oil pipeline under construction near their reservation will come by Sept. 9, a federal judge said Wednesday."

"The Obama administration on Tuesday finalized new fuel-economy standards for large trucks, buses and other heavy-duty vehicles, the latest in a series of efforts aimed at slashing greenhouse gas emissions and weaning the nation from its dependence on fossil fuels."

"PALO ALTO, Calif. -- Tim Thomson needed a charge, quickly. With his all-electric Nissan Leaf fast losing battery power and no places to plug in along the highway from Fresno, Calif., to San Francisco, Thompson turned to his iPhone. He pulled up an application called PlugShare that maps charging stations for electric vehicle drivers. A resident in nearby Madera had advertised his home charging station, so Thomson called in a panic."

"The auto industry will need to step up introduction of fuel-saving technology to help the U.S. meet aggressive goals to combat climate change despite manufacturers’ requests for relief from existing rules, the Environmental Protection Agency’s top transportation official said."

"The oil-train boom is waning almost as quickly as it began."