DME Fuel Testing The San Joaquin Valley is gearing up to be the next testing ground for a new, clean alternative to diesel. Oberon Fuels uses a process that converts methane and carbon dioxide to DME (dimethyl ether), a renewable substitute made from a variety of resources, including plant and animal waste. For the first time in North America, Volvo plans to begin manufacturing heavy duty, DME-powered commercial trucks in 2015. They’ve already begun trials with the fuel in Texas, but are bringing their second field-test to California. This time the San Joaquin Valley provided $500,000 to jump start the project, and Safeway food stores will be using DME trucks in local commercial operations. We'll hear more about DME from Oberon Fuels CEO and Co-Founder Neil Senturia and talk about what it might mean for the trucking industry with Michael Shaw, Executive Director of External Affairs at California Trucking Association.

 

 

Syria and Turkey Tensions continue to escalate in the Middle East where protests, riots and rebel fighting made headlines during the weekend in both Turkey and Syria. As the U.S. looks toward arming Syrian rebels, the military has also begun conducting war games in Jordan and President Obama is meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin, whose country is skeptical of our involvement in the conflict. Today on Insight, we'll talk about the latest news from both Syria and Turkey with UC Davis Professors Keith Watenpaugh and Heghnar Watenpaugh. The married couple have roots in the region.

 

 

Smokejumpers Last week, a 28-year-old smokejumper died while fighting a fire in Modoc County. Luke Sheehy had parachuted into the Saddle Back fire near Alturas and was killed by a falling tree. As fire season takes hold in Northern California, we wanted to know more about the job smokejumpers do and hear about the specialized training that they receive. We'll talk with Arlen Cravens, Acting Deputy Director of Fire and Aviation Management for the U.S. forest Service's Pacific Southwest Region. He is also the Fire Management Officer for the Shasta Trinity National Forest in Redding.