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The latest on the Key Bridge collapse, New York puts forth legislation to get clean energy projects on the grid and Wisconsin and other states join a federal summer food program to help feed kids across the country.

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Republicans float conspiracy theories on the collapse of Baltimore's Key Bridge, South Carolina's congressional elections will use a map ruled unconstitutional, and the Senate schedules an impeachment trial for Homeland Secretary Mayorkas.

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Historic wildfires could create housing and health issues for rural Texans, a Kentucky program helps prison parolees start a new life, and descendants of Nicodemus, Kansas celebrate the Black settlers who journeyed across the 1870s plains seeking self-governance.

Shape Up or Ship Out – EPA Asked to Put a Plug on VA Ship Pollution

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Thursday, October 4, 2007   

Portsmouth, VA – Cars, trucks and factories shouldn't get all the blame for climate change pollution. Virginia's busy seaports are also a part of the problem, according to a petition filed with the Environmental Protection Agency. Several environmental groups want the EPA to enforce clean air laws on the thousands of ships docking in Virginia each year. Dr. Mike Hirschfield with Oceana says cargo ships worldwide have mostly escaped pollution scrutiny.

"These ships release an amount roughly equivalent to emissions from all the cars driven in the entire United States. The volume of these emissions is projected to double by 2020, and triple to 2030."

The request is controversial because most cargo ships docking in Virginia fly foreign flags and are usually governed by international law, not the EPA.

Tim Ballo with Earthjustice says cutting cargo ship pollution would be fairly easy, although opponents point out it would also be expensive.

"Just something as simple as slowing down, or switching to a cleaner fuel. This isn't something that's going to require the development of massive amounts of new technology."

The groups joining the EPA petition are Oceana, Friends of the Earth, and the Center for Biological Diversity.


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