A MAN ON EMISSIONS: The Obama administration on Tuesday unveiled the details of its new national auto-emissions standards, aimed at making the U.S. fleet of cars and trucks more fuel-efficient and less carbon-intensive. The new rules, a joint effort from the EPA and U.S. Department of Transportation, will set a 35.5 mpg standard for vehicles by 2016 — a compromise between automakers and environmentalists that will cost Detroit at least $25 billion to meet between 2012 and 2016. The deal prevents California and several other states from going rogue with their own emissions standards, avoiding the "patchwork" regulation the auto industry has fought for years. And, according to EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson, it will save 1.8 billion barrels of oil and prevent 950 million metric tons of greenhouse gas emissions. The driver of a 2016 model will save nearly $3,000 in fuel costs over his car's lifespan, while the car originally will have cost about $1,100 more to make. (Sources: New York Times, Detroit Free Press, Washington Post, Scientific American)

 

INFLUENZA PEDDLING: The FDA has approved four swine flu vaccines, federal officials announced Tuesday afternoon, and should have about 45 million doses available by mid-October. Based on preliminary tests, the 2009 H1N1 vaccines "induce a robust immune response in most healthy adults eight to 10 days after a single dose," the FDA said in a statement. The government spent $1 billion to secure 195 million doses of the vaccine, which will go to priority groups first, such as pregnant women and health-care workers. "We will have enough vaccine for everybody," says Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius. That's good, since two studies also suggested on Tuesday that H1N1 is even more contagious than previously thought.  (Sources: FDA, Baltimore Sun, Wall Street Journal, ABC News)

 

SLEEPING WITH THE FISHES: Italian police have sent a robot submarine to explore a 17-year-old shipwreck off the Calabrian coast, hoping to find out whether the ship contains radioactive waste dumped by the mafia. A mobster-turned-snitch tells authorities he helped sink the ship in 1992, part of a lucrative waste-dumping market believed to be run by organized crime. The snitch, Francesco Fonti, says he and others dumped hundreds of barrels of waste, making millions illegally from northern Italian businesses. The robot sub began filming Saturday but so far hasn't turned up anything conclusive. (Source: Associated Press)

 

A DAM SHAME? President Obama disappointed conservationists Tuesday by mostly sticking with his predecessor, President Bush, in crafting a recovery plan for the long-suffering Pacific Northwest salmon. Critics say the new plan doesn't do enough to improve habitats or raise water levels where the fish live and migrate throughout the Columbia River Basin, and also argue it should take more immediate action in exploring whether to tear down four dams along the Lower Snake River. The plan leaves such dam closures open as a "last resort" if salmon populations plummet far enough, but even then it would have to wait on a multiyear study to determine how much removing the dams would help salmon populations. Removing dams is an especially tricky maneuver now, as the Obama administration is pushing clean energy, like hydroelectricity, over heavy-polluting power sources such as coal. (Sources: Los Angeles Times, NY Times)

 

BRIDLE SHOWER: About 20 percent of showerheads contain "mycobacteria" microbes, which can cause lung disease in some people, according to a new study. The researchers were expecting to mainly just find the harmless bacteria that typically swim in tap water, but they also found 100 times more mycobacteria than they anticipated, and noted that it's made even more dangerous by the showerhead's spray, which can "aerosolize" the bacteria, making them easier to breathe. Only about 1 in 4,000 people suffer lung problems related to mycobacteria — mostly people with immune disorders or cystic fibrosis — but rates are rising, possibly due to more people showering instead of taking baths, a lung expert tells USA Today. Changing showerheads every few months is one way to prevent bacterial buildup, and so is using metal showerheads instead of plastic ones, which allow the slime and microbes to build up more easily. (Source: USA Today)

 

— Russell McLendon