London mayor proposes steep congestion charge for gas-guzzlers

A Bee in His Bonnet

London Mayor Ken Livingstone has announced plans to make the city's weekday congestion tax much steeper for drivers of polluting vehicles. Under the proposal, owners of SUVs and other gas-guzzlers would shell out the equivalent of about $47 a day to motor into London between 6:30 a.m. and 7 p.m. (the current tax is $15). While central London residents currently receive a 90 percent discount on the congestion tax, Livingstone proposes abolishing that for SUV drivers, whom he once called "idiots." Electric vehicles and hybrids would be exempt from charges altogether. Conservatives and the automotive industry were quick to object to the plan, but Livingstone shrugged off their concerns: "Those who buy [SUVs] can afford to choose from pretty much the whole of the mainstream car market but have chosen to buy one of the most polluting vehicles," he said. The extra charge is unlikely to come into force until 2009 or 2010, giving drivers a few years to give their gas-guzzlers the boot.

straight to the source: The Telegraph, David Millward, 15 Nov 2006

straight to the source: The Guardian, Hugh Muir, 15 Nov 2006

straight to the source: Yahoo! News, 14 Nov 2006

straight to the source: MSNBC.com, Reuters, 14 Nov 2006

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Comments: (2 comments)

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Naval War changes Climate

It is a shame that it seems necessary to regard historical naval wars as a kind of blessing. Their massive appearance and devastating forces serve as huge field for experiments. One needs only to sit down and compare time of activity and results on weather charts and weather statistics. If these "experiments" prove that naval war changed the regional weather and the course of the climate, it will serve as ample proof that any kind of ocean uses are serious forces to be taken into consideration when matters of climate changes are at stake.

You can read more at http://www.1ocean-1climate.com. There is a thesis on the impact that naval wars had on the ocean and on the climate change.

by adrianne at 12:07 PM on 04 Dec 2006

Climate change

Looking back in time, you can see that many intense encounters in the Barents Sea could have played a major role in the icing of the high North, in February 1915 and the harsh winter in the North-West of Europe (1916/17). Since early 1915, more than 450,000 tons of coal and 90,000 tons of weaponry had been shipped to the Russian port Archangel. Russian and German navies had laid thousands of sea mines. Dozen of minesweepers were permanently in service. U-boats sank 25 ships in late 1916 and 21 vessels between April and November 1917.

Dozens of mine fields with thousands of mines were placed in the Eastern Baltic Sea. Many naval activities took place every day, for four years. British and Russian submarines operated successfully. The increase of sea icing during the war years (1914-1918) can be attributed to the naval warfare from the Baltic waters.

You can find more of these facts on http://www.1ocean-1climate.com. Summing those, you will see an interesting theory on the reasons for the climate change.

by adrianne at 12:10 PM on 04 Dec 2006

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