Air Pollution: Toward a Cleaner Car

Most of the smog that shrouds U.S. cities is belched by the internal combustion engine. The surest solution would be to ban all cars from cities —a proposal that actually passed the California state senate in July before it was killed in a house committee. Another is to build fume-free auto engines run by electricity or even nuclear power. But none of this is likely to delight Detroit automakers or the politically potent oil industry. Is there any compromise solution?

Perhaps. Taking a tip from the oilfields, where pumps are powered by natural gas, the Los Angeles-based Pacific Lighting Service...

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