Free Republic

President Obama’s Environmental Protection Agency is going after Harley-Davidson for allegedly selling motorcycles that emit more air pollution than the almighty federal government allows, and is punishing them by making them pay for people’s stoves. The federal tree-hugging watchdog complained that the motorcycle company “manufactured and sold approximately 340,000 illegal devices, known as ‘super tuners,’ that, once installed, caused motorcycles to emit higher amounts of certain air pollutants than what the company certified to EPA.” “Since January 2008, Harley-Davidson has manufactured and sold two types of tuners, which when hooked up to Harley-Davidson motorcycles, allow users to modify certain aspects...

City-parish president candidates Joel Robideaux and Dee Stanley navigated questions on coal-generated power, the disruption an elevated interstate might cause in Lafayette and whether the city has too many traffic signals — all posed at a Thursday evening forum sponsored by the local chapter of the Sierra Club. In a campaign season where the candidates have often found themselves repeatedly addressing the same issues in the string of debates and forums leading up to the Oct. 24 election, Stanley and Robideaux covered some new ground at the environmental group’s forum at the Lafayette Public Library downtown. Robideaux, a longtime state...

NY officials want older trucks fitted with emission-reducing equipment; cost put at $195M ALBANY, N.Y. (AP) -- New York is taking steps to reduce diesel emissions in its construction fleet. The Department of Environmental Conservation is floating proposed regulations requiring trucks made before 2007 to be fitted with emissions-reducing equipment and to use ultra-low-sulfur fuel by 2011. The new regulations would apply only to state-owned trucks or trucks used for state contract work. The DEC estimates it will cost $195 million to retrofit about 30,000 state trucks. The New York State

Two environmental groups say they will sue to stop construction of the intercounty connector, arguing that building the highway would violate sections of the federal Clean Air Act. Environmental Defense and the Maryland chapter of the Sierra Club said the Washington region already fails to meet certain clean-air standards and that building the six-lane, 18-mile highway would increase pollution. The $2.4 billion intercounty connector would link Interstate 270 in Montgomery County with Interstate 95 in Prince George's County. "There are elementary schools and nursing centers close to the ICC, and people who live and work within several hundred yards of...

BERLIN (Reuters) - A German man has canned the noxious-smelling exhaust fumes of East Germany's cult Trabant car and is doing a brisk trade selling the scent to those nostalgic for the former Communist state. "The smell is something very special and scarce nowadays," said Thorsten Jahn, whose cans of "Trabi" exhaust sell online for 3.98 euros ($4.81). "I wanted to preserve the past in an original way." Fifteen years since reunification, nostalgia for East Germany has been running strong as rosy memories of the communist state's social safety nets, holiday camps and quaint consumer products like the tiny, box-like...

<p>Folsom, Sacramento County -- Mike Farr dived off a friend's ski boat into Lake Folsom moments after his 11-year-old son sank below the churning waters while bodysurfing in the vessel's wake.</p> <p>"I swam as deep as I could and as far as I could," said Farr, his voice cracking. "I expected to catch an arm, but there was nothing."</p>