| German carmakers lead in reducing CO2 emissions
BMW AG, Volkswagen AG and other German carmakers cut carbon-dioxide emissions more than European rivals last year as they struggle to reach planned European Union targets. German brands sold domestically had 2 percent lower CO2 output last year, a greater reduction than French and Japanese models sold in Europe's largest economy, said Matthias Wissmann, president of the VDA German automobile manufacturers' association, at a briefing today in Berlin. The European Union plans a cap on carmakers that will force them to reduce CO2 emissions, a gas linked with global warming. The draft proposal, which is being negotiated this year among European lawmakers, will reduce the carbon emissions to an average 130 grams per kilometer (0.6 mile) for a manufacturer's fleet by 2012, with an additional 10 grams coming from improvements in tires, air conditioning and other vehicle parts.
Middle-class autoworkers cling to way of life amid benefit cuts
Just two weeks after his 18th birthday, Randy Horter started his first factory job, helping make clutches and air conditioning systems at an auto parts plant. Since then, the 49-year-old Chrysler line worker has cobbled together a career working at various manufacturing plants and made a nice, middle-class life with his wife, Candace, who works at the same Chrysler plant in Belvidere, Ill. The couple earns about $75,000 a year, unless one or the other is laid off. They own two used cars and their home. Between them, they raised five children, now grown, and were hoping to start preparing for retirement. .
Freon leak prompts evacuation of Bell Helicopter plant
Hundreds of Bell Helicopter employees evacuated the engineering building in Hurst on Monday after an air-conditioning system component sprung a freon leak. About 500 pounds of R-22 refrigerant, an odorless, colorless and nontoxic gas, was released. Bell spokesman Mike Cox said the evacuation was orderly and no employees were injured. -- Bob Cox Internet traffic restored on two cut undersea cables CAIRO, Egypt -- Traffic has returned to normal on two undersea Internet cables in the Mediterranean Sea and Persian Gulf, cable owner FLAG Telecom said Monday. The cables were cut last month, causing disruptions across the Middle East and parts of Asia. But the fate of a third cut cable, off Alexandria, Egypt, was still unknown. -- The Associated Press Continental employees to receive $158 million in profit sharing HOUSTON -- Continental Airlines said Monday it will pay a record $158 million in profit sharing Thursday to employees, based on the carrier's 2007 results.
Coastal Post Online
The OSU researchers say the region has not yet fully recovered from last year's historic hypoxia.
(NEWPORT, Ore. ) - A team of Oregon State University scientists monitoring near-shore ocean conditions off Oregon says that oxygen levels in the lower water column have plummeted, thrusting the region into a hypoxic event for the sixth consecutive year.
Hypoxia can lead to significant marine die-offs, the researchers say, depending on the severity, duration and location of the low-oxygen zone.
Although conditions this summer have not yet duplicated the severity of the historic hypoxic event of 2006, the outlook for the remainder of the summer and early fall is uncertain.
Measurements taken by the OSU scientists in late June mirrored those of last year, but a shift to a southerly wind pattern in mid-July pushed the mass of low-oxygen water away from the shoreline.
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