An Air Quality 'Emergency'

Southern California could ask for an emergency declaration in order to get more money to fight air pollution. An association of local governments in the region wants the state and federal governments to do more to tamp down on emissions, particularly from diesel engines, which produce tiny dust particles that cause heart and lung disease. The effort to clean the air was dealt a setback yesterday, though, when a federal judge said, according to the Los Angeles Times, that southern California air regulators cannot require railroads to shut down idling locomotives or obey other local laws designed to clean up deadly diesel pollution.