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California Air Resources Board News Clips for August 23, 2010.  


This is a service of the California Air Resources Board’s Office
of Communications.  You may need to sign in or register with
individual websites to view some of the following news articles.

ARB

California’s Clean-Air Chief Encourages Others To Join The
Movement. The Terminator, said Mary Nichols in Thursday’s morning
lecture, has proven himself an “unlikely champion” of clean air.
Nichols, the California Air Resources Board chairman, said that
California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger — despite the fact that he
drives Hummers, flies to work on a private jet and lives in a
mansion — “genuinely embraced the cause,” successfully lobbying
for the nation’s first comprehensive law to reduce greenhouse
gases “economy-wide.” Posted.
http://www.chqdaily.com/post/979133012/californias-clean-air-chief-encourages-others-to-join#disqus_thread

AB 32

Victor Valley Politicians Come Out In Support Of Prop. 23.
Politicians from the Victor Valley’s three largest municipalities
gathered Friday afternoon at Hesperia City Hall to speak in
support of Prop. 23, a ballot initiative that would roll back a
2006 environmental law. With the county in the “vice-like grip”
of the recession, the county cannot afford to abide by the Global
Warming Solutions Act of 2006, said Hesperia mayor Thurston
“Smitty” Smith. Posted.
http://www.hesperiastar.com/news/politicians-3590-valley-victor.html

Clean Energy Investors Flash Cash for Ads in California Climate
Law Battle. California’s clean energy investors are raising
millions of dollars for an advertising battle with oil refiners
who want to delay the state’s new law on reducing greenhouse gas
emissions. The campaign, supported by investors such as Tom
Steyer, founder of San Francisco-based hedge fund Farallon
Capital Management LLC, aims to convince residents to vote
against the so-called Proposition 23 when it comes up for
approval in November. Posted.
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2010-08-20/clean-energy-investors-flash-cash-for-ads-in-california-climate-law-battle.html

CLIMATE CHANGE/GHG’S

Lawyers Watch Calif. Waiver Case For First Clues On Greenhouse
Gas Challenges. An upcoming court case on U.S. EPA's decision to
allow California to implement its own strict tailpipe emissions
rules may yield the first clues on how judges will respond to the
Obama administration's interpretation of its authority under the
Clean Air Act to regulate greenhouse gases. Under the current
court schedule for the U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals for the
District of Columbia, the California waiver case may be the
opening legal salvo ahead of controversial lawsuits challenging
EPA's endangerment finding and its "tailoring rule." Posted.
http://www.eenews.net/climatewire/print/2010/08/23/3

Global Warming Measure Sets Off Alarms. A November ballot measure
that would suspend California's landmark global-warming law could
also end up rolling back some of the state's other sweeping
environmental standards -- including rules that require utilities
to generate a third of their electricity from renewable sources
and programs requiring oil refineries to make cleaner-burning
fuels. How broadly courts might interpret Proposition 23 is
setting off alarm bells among Silicon Valley executives and
environmental groups. Posted.
http://www.dailydemocrat.com/ci_15837869?source=most_emailed

Earth Burns Through Environmental Capital, Group Says. Saturday
has earned a dubious distinction among conservationists as Earth
Overshoot Day -- the estimated point when the planet's 6.8
billion people have consumed all of the biological resources that
Earth can provide annually. "From now until the end of the year,
we will meet our needs by liquidating stocks and accumulating
greenhouse gasses in the atmosphere," said Pati Poblete, at the
nonprofit Global Footprint Network in Oakland. Posted.
http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/2010/aug/20/earth-burns-through-environmental-capital/

As We See It: Setting a Limit For Greenhouse Gases Really Might
As Well Be Anyone's Guess. Pick a number. Any number. Say,
between zero and 13.7. You can even pick a negative number if
you'd like. How about 7; it's pretty much a middle-of-the-pack
pick. Maybe 3. Eleven has a nice ring to it. Found one you like?
Well, it might be just as good as the guesses local officials are
tossing out as they try to figure out how much we should reduce
vehicle exhaust, or more specifically, greenhouse gas emissions,
over the next 25 years. Posted.
http://www.santacruzsentinel.com/opinion/ci_15855960

The Cost of Reducing Greenhouse Gases. Federal efforts at
developing climate change legislation have petered out. But the
cost of climate policy is figuring strongly in California
politics this fall. A new report aims to figure out how American
families will feel the price of making “greenhouse gases” fall.
Cutting carbon emissions means setting a price on polluting, like
burning coal, and making someone pay it. There’s research that
claims the price will be too expensive. Posted.
http://www.scpr.org/news/2010/08/23/climate-cost/

AIR POLLUTION

EPA Delays Release Of Final Ozone Standards. U.S. EPA won't meet
its goal of releasing new nationwide standards for ground-level
ozone this month, the agency told a federal court Friday.
Finishing the standards has taken longer than expected, EPA said
in a filing with the U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals for the
District of Columbia. The agency will now move forward "on or
around the end of October," according to the filing. Posted.
http://www.eenews.net/Greenwire/print/2010/08/23/1

Editorial: Diesel Upgrades Help Everyone Breath Easier. Anyone
who’s ever stood on a busy street corner while a truck
accelerated past has surely cursed the day Rudolf Diesel invented
his engine. Despite diesel’s many advantages as an engine
technology, it can be sooty and ugly for anyone who might need to
breathe in a truck or bus’s vicinity. But diesel engines can also
be cleaned up dramatically — indeed, they already have been. And
the north state’s air will enjoy the benefits. Posted.
http://www.redding.com/news/2010/aug/23/diesel-upgrades-help-everyone-breath-easier/

New Smog-Fighting Tactic Planned For San Bernardino. Southern
California's regional air quality agency wants to make San
Bernardino a testing ground for a new, neighborhood-focused
approach to protecting people's health in communities hammered by
multiple pollution sources such as freeways, rail yards and heavy
industry. Posted.
http://www.pe.com/localnews/stories/PE_News_Local_D_airplan22.30c073e.html

EPA Agrees to Examine Truck Emissions Claims in Navistar
Settlement. U.S. EPA has finalized a settlement with truck
manufacturer Navistar International Corp., which agreed earlier
this week to drop three lawsuits on the condition that EPA
examine whether truckers can cheat the emissions control
technology used by Navistar's competitors. Posted.
http://www.nytimes.com/gwire/2010/08/19/19greenwire-epa-agrees-to-examine-truck-emissions-claims-i-75190.html

Obama Accelerates Crackdown on Dirty Trucks. Tough new U.S. rules
governing greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from large trucks and
buses edged forward last week when the Environmental Protection
Agency (EPA) sent draft proposals to the White House. The agency
has been working with the U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT)
since May to craft improved emissions standards after President
Barack Obama announced that he wanted new rules to come into
effect for medium and heavy-duty trucks between 2014 and 2018.
Posted. http://www.reuters.com/article/idUS256749797120100823

ENERGY/GREEN ENERGY

BLM Releases Final EIS On 1,000 MW Calif. Power Plant. The Bureau
of Land Management has issued its final environmental analysis of
a large-scale, 1,000 megawatt solar power plant that Chevron
Energy Solutions and Solar Millennium LLC want to build just east
of Joshua Tree National Park in California. Clearing the BLM
environmental review is one of the final steps the developers
must take before they can begin construction. Also under way in
parallel is a review from the California Energy Commission, which
has yet to release its proposed decision on the plant. Posted.
http://www.eenews.net/Greenwire/print/2010/08/23/11

10 Eco-Tips for College Students. Headed off to college? Here are
10 ways to green your dorm, your classes and even your beer while
you're off at school. Posted.
http://www.mercurynews.com/bay-area-living/ci_15831402?nclick_check=1

Campus Receives Perfect Score in Green 'Honor Roll'. For the
second year in a row, the Princeton Review has placed UC Berkeley
on its "Green College Honor Roll" as one of the 18 schools to
receive a perfect score this year. The company tallied the scores
of 703 institutions on a scale of 60 to 99 based on survey
results from the 2009-10 school year concerning the schools'
environmental policies, practices and academic offerings. Posted.
http://www.dailycal.org/article/110079/campus_receives_perfect_score_in_green_honor_roll_

RAILYARDS

2 Studies Monitoring Pollution At Rail Yard. San Bernardino - The
potential ill effects from diesel pollution around BNSF Railway's
yard have received increasing attention since state officials
warned two years ago of elevated cancer risks, but scientists
have yet to quantify exactly how dangerous trains' emissions
actually are. That's expected to change in the next couple of
years. Loma Linda University researchers are preparing a two-year
study to measure cancer incidents and respiratory ailments around
the Westside yard. Posted.
http://www.redlandsdailyfacts.com/sanbernardinocounty/ci_15863585

OPINION/EDITORIALS

Another View: No Serious Dispute Over Diesel's Role In Dirty Air.
Despite Dan Walters' assertion in his Aug. 17 column, "Storm hits
again over diesel rules," there is no scientific debate about the
health dangers of diesel soot. To the contrary, there is strong
scientific consensus. While the danger of breathing diesel fumes
is obvious to anyone engulfed in smoke spewing from a dirty
diesel truck or bus, researchers also have carefully studied the
health impacts. Posted.
http://www.sacbee.com/2010/08/22/v-print/2972914/no-serious-dispute-over-diesels.html
http://www.modbee.com/2010/08/22/1304860/another-view-no-serious-dispute.html#ixzz0xRkVPmvL

VEHICLES

Playing Up the Sporty Side of a Honda Hybrid Coupe. GIVEN the
sputtering economy, it is hard enough for a marketer to sell a
familiar product, much less interest consumers in trying a new
one. And if the new product is a durable good like a car, the
challenge could be as formidable as getting a mad man like Don
Draper to stop smoking or drinking. Posted.
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/08/23/business/media/23adco.html?_r=2&ref=todayspaper&pagewanted=print

Stalling Problems Could Affect 1.2 Million Toyotas. The National
Highway Traffic Safety Administration has intensified a safety
investigation on 2005-7 Toyota Corollas and Matrixes. Above, a
2007 Corolla LE. The National Highway Traffic Safety
Administration has intensified an investigation into stalling
problems on almost 1.2 million Toyotas. The models are the 2005-7
Corolla and Matrix. The safety agency began an investigation,
called a preliminary evaluation, last November. Posted.
http://wheels.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/08/23/stalling-problems-could-affect-1-2-million-toyotas/?pagemode=print

MISCELLANEOUS

UCLA Purge of Professor Who Blew Whistle on CARB Researcher
Raises New Questions about Runaway Environmental Correctness in
California. The environmental wars have turned even uglier in
California with the firing of controversial UCLA professor James
Enstrom, whose outspoken views have made him the target of the
environmental community and a friend to business folks who have
to comply with some of the strictest pollution regulations in the
country. Posted.
http://www.cunninghamreport.com/news_item.php?id=1341

When a Superfund Site as a Neighbor Isn’t the Biggest Hazard. For
the past three years, Manuel Pimentel and his wife and two small
children lived half a block from a toxic Superfund site in West
Oakland.  The site — a gated concrete lot with the Environmental
Protection Agency’s yellow testing wells and a few buildings
covered in graffiti — was the old AMCO chemical distribution
facility. The ground is full of cancer-causing contaminants like
vinyl chloride, and the chemicals have seeped under the old row
houses on Third Street.  Posted.
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/08/22/us/22bcmiguel.html?_r=1&pagewanted=print

BLOGS

Study Finds No Link Tying Disaster Losses to Human-Driven
Warming. The pull of the “ front-page thought” and the eagerness
of climate campaigners to jog the public have sometimes created a
tendency to tie mounting losses from weather-related disasters to
human-driven global warming. But finding a statistically robust
link between such disasters and the building human climate
influence remains a daunting task. A new analysis of nearly two
dozen papers assessing trends in disaster losses in light of
climate change finds no convincing link. Posted.
http://dotearth.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/08/23/study-finds-no-link-tying-disaster-losses-to-human-driven-warming/