A terrible day for General Motors; environmentalists pressure congress to up CAFE fleet fuel economy standards; and fossil fuel-free lawn care comes to Portland.

GM to cut truck production by 300K units by 2009, cuts V8 development: Tuesday was another tough one for General Motors. The Detroit carmaker announced it will reduce production of full size pickups by 300,000 units next year. The company will also scale back its development of V-8 engines. More distressingly for GM workers, Chairman Rick Wagoner warned yesterday that the company plans to cut payroll by 20 percent for salaried employees, eliminate health care for some of its older retirees, and suspend stock dividends. (Autoblog Green)

Washington Whammy: With $4 Gas, Should Congress Make Stronger CAFE?: Back in December, Congress passed new mandates upping the nation’s fleet fuel economy standards to 35 miles per gallon by 2020. Environmentalists immediately criticized the plan for its fairly timid goals. Since then, gasoline prices have increased by over a dollar per gallon. Should Congress toughen its 2020 CAFE standards? Automakers railed against the standards before their adoption last year. The Wall Street Journal examines the alternatives, including letting the marketplace dictate fuel economy levels. (WSJ.com)

Maui to Get Algae Facility for Biodiesel: A Hawaiian partnership is pushing ahead with industrial-scale algae farming that should yield high-quality lipids ready to be refined into biofuels. Hawaii Governor Linda Lingle says her state’s goal is to produce 70 percent of its energy needs by 2030. The estimated start date for the Maui algae plant is 2011. (CleanTechnica)

Big Carbon Storage Under the Deep Blue Sea: Researchers at Columbia University think they’ve found a safe place to dump waste carbon dioxide. An undersea site off the coast of Oregon could hold up to 150 year’s worth of the U.S.’ total carbon dioxide output. Scientists think the porous basalt in the area would retain waste CO2 almost indefinitely. The undersea carbon dump would be located in deep water about 100 miles offshore. (Earth2Tech)

Fossil Fuel Free Lawn tidies up the garden with a true eco-spirit : Portland yard care company owner David Darby has found a green — and lucrative — angle for his business. Darby and his partner maintain yards without burning fossil fuels. That means Darby totes the tools of his trade on a trailer behind his bicycle. Darby says that while using human-powered tools is gard work, it also allows him to compete with larger companies by radically capping his working overhead. (Eco Freied)