Former Porsche CEO backing company with TDI-like emissions claim

MWI microwave ignition moduleFormer Porsche AG CEO Wendelin Wiedeking, who waged a failed takeover of the Volkswagen Group ten years ago, is reportedly one of the backers of a new venture that, at face value, is making claims that sound very much like those made of what was then the favored tech for VW and Audi: TDI diesel. The idea, belonging to a company called MWI (Micro...

Oil industry funding supports campaign to roll back fuel-economy rules

Exhaust emissions from tailpipe [photo: Simone Ramella, 2005, used under Creative Commons 2.0]A new investigative report by the New York Times has revealed the puppeteer pulling the strings in the Trump administration's efforts to undo fuel-economy and emissions improvements: no surprise, the oil industry. Backed by America's largest refiners and organizations tied to or funded by the Koch brothers, an underground network coordinated a...

At climate talks, Trump team plans to promote coal

Smokestacks pollution air qualityAt climate talks scheduled for next month, where nations are expected to set up rules to follow to meet targets set out in the Paris Climate Accord in 2015, the Trump administration is planning a sideshow to promote fossil fuels. President Trump notoriously announced six months after taking office that he would withdraw the U.S. from the Paris...

EPA announces tighter smog regulations on heavy trucks

EPA Acting Administrator Andrew WheelerThe EPA has loosened or eliminated a lot of regulations since President Trump took office, but last week the agency announced it would tighten regulations on emissions of nitrogen oxides from heavy trucks such as semis. The EPA notes that smog-forming NOx emissions from heavy trucks fell 40 percent between 2007 and 2017 after the agency last...

EPA dissolves boards of pollution scientists

Smokestacks pollution air qualityThe EPA has dismissed two panels of outside scientists that advised the agency on particulate matter and ground-level ozone, which have been linked to smog and respiratory problems. Under acting administrator Andrew Wheeler, a former coal-industry lobbyist, analyzing those pollutants will be left to the EPA's internal Clean Air Scientific Advisory...

UCS report shows electric cars get even cleaner in 2018

UCS 2016 EV emissions mpg mapElectric cars keep getting cleaner, despite efforts by the EPA and NHTSA to roll back pollution standards on cars and powerplants. That's the conclusion of the latest report from the Union of Concerned Scientists which annually measures the environmental impact of driving an electric car. The study rates the environmental impact relative to gas...