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California Air Resources Board News Clips for August 19, 2009. 
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.

Climate Change Has Some Species Fleeing The Texas Heat. Fort
Worth, Texas -- As the hot days in Texas get even hotter, it may
just be too much for some birds and fish. From the American
goldfinch to the gray snapper, some species have been moving
north for years, searching for cooler ground. And their quest may
someday lead them to migrate out of the state - forever -
especially if climate change continues to make Texas warmer, as
predicted. Posted.
http://www.sacbee.com/702/v-print/story/2121599.html
http://www.sanluisobispo.com/528/story/820553.html

No More Loopholes For King Coal. The American Climate and Energy
Security Act takes a big first step toward reining in both our
addiction to fossil fuels, and the global warming pollution that
is slowly cooking our planet. But the House bill, engineered by
environmental champions Henry Waxman and Ed Markey, contains one
big loophole that needs to be closed by the Senate. Although
coal-fired power plants account for roughly a third of U.S.
carbon-dioxide emissions, the legislation gives them a free pass
to continue business as usual - without making any serious
reductions in heat-trapping carbon dioxide for 15 years or more.
Posted. http://www.sacbee.com/702/v-print/story/2121600.html

Fresno Fined For Diesel Violations. State air regulators have
fined the city of Fresno $49,500 for violating California diesel
emission regulations. As part of a settlement, the city has
agreed to spend up to $1 million to buy as many as 20 cleaner
off-road diesel vehicles by March 2011. The state’s Air Resources
Board said last week that the city had not been testing,
measuring, recording and maintaining records on emissions from
its diesel fleet. Posted.
http://www.mercurynews.com/news/ci_13153101?nclick_check=1
http://www.fresnobee.com/local/story/1604861.html
http://www.centralvalleybusinesstimes.com/stories/001/?ID=12832
http://www.contracostatimes.com/california/ci_13153101

Australian Parties Agree On Renewable Energy Law. Canberra,
Australia—Australia's main political parties struck an agreement
Wednesday on a new law requiring that 20 percent of the country's
electricity comes from renewable sources such as the sun and wind
by 2020—more than twice the current level. The law would
quadruple the renewable energy target set by the previous
government in 2001 and provide enough clean electricity to power
the households of all 21 million Australians. Posted.
http://www.contracostatimes.com/nationandworld/ci_13156852
http://www.modbee.com/world/story/822034.html?storylink=pd
http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/2009/08/19/world/AP-AS-Australia-Renewable-Energy.html?scp=3&sq=carbon%20emissions&st=cse
http://www.sanluisobispo.com/528/story/820555.html  

NY Governor Kicks Off California-Style Emission Cuts. Offering
few specifics, Gov. David Paterson recently approved an agreement
for New York to cut greenhouse gas emissions to 80 percent below
1990 levels by the year 2050. On Aug. 6, Paterson signed an
executive order to prepare a climate action plan to create
several bodies to come up with a draft Climate Action Plan by
Sept. 30, 2010. Posted.
http://www.landlinemag.com/todays_news/Daily/2009/Aug09/081709/081809-03.htm


Oil Industry Backs Protests of Emissions Bill. Hard on the heels
of the health care protests, another citizen movement seems to
have sprung up, this one to oppose Washington’s attempts to
tackle climate change. But behind the scenes, an industry with
much at stake — Big Oil — is pulling the strings. Posted.
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/08/19/business/energy-environment/19climate.html?em
 

More Fake Letters to Congress on Energy Bill. Congressional
investigators have uncovered five more letters sent to members of
Congress that falsely claimed to be from charities expressing
opposition to climate change legislation. Posted.
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/08/19/us/politics/19charity.html?scp=3&sq=global%20warming&st=cse


The Greenback Effect. IN nature, every action has consequences,
a phenomenon called the butterfly effect. These consequences,
moreover, are not necessarily proportional. For example, doubling
the carbon dioxide we belch into the atmosphere may far more than
double the subsequent problems for society. Realizing this, the
world properly worries about greenhouse emissions. Posted.
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/08/19/opinion/19buffett.html?_r=1&scp=1&sq=carbon%20emissions&st=cse


Breathe Easy. NASA scientists have found that houseplants are
useful in absorbing potentially harmful gases and cleaning the
air inside modern buildings. The foliage of indoor plants is
capable of removing low levels of pollution, while the plants
roots, assisted by activated carbon filters, removed air
pollutants at higher concentrations. In tests, these filters
removed and biologically degraded pollutants before they
accumulate. Posted.
http://www.sacbee.com/702/v-print/story/2122068.html
http://www.sanluisobispo.com/528/story/820668.html 

8 Airlines To Use Renewable Synthetic Diesel For Ground
Equipment. Eight major airlines have agreed to use renewable
synthetic diesel fuel for their ground service equipment at Los
Angeles International Airport starting in 2012. Rentech Inc. of
Los Angeles will sell as much as 1.5 million gallons a year of
its RenDiesel fuel to Alaska Airlines, American Airlines,
Continental Airlines, Delta Air Lines, Southwest Airlines, United
Airlines, UPS Airlines and US Airways. Posted.
http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-clean-diesel19-2009aug19,0,2950507,print.story


Southern California Edison Makes Big Solar Power Deal. Southern
California Edison will pair with Arizona company First Solar Inc.
on two large solar power projects in Riverside and San Bernardino
counties that will be able to supply electricity to as many as to
170,000 homes, the companies said Tuesday. Posted.
http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-solar19-2009aug19,0,7157081.story
http://www3.signonsandiego.com/stories/2009/aug/18/ca-socal-edison-solar-081809/?science&zIndex=151226


Blogs

Retrofitting Dams to Generate Electricity. Environmental
opposition often means that new hydropower facilities are
non-starters. But there may be a way around that: retrofitting
existing dams. Only 3 percent of the 80,000 dams in the United
States are used to generate power, according to Norm Bishop, a
vice president at MWH, a water engineering firm.  Posted.
http://greeninc.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/08/19/retrofitting-non-electctric-dams-for-power/?scp=2&sq=carbon%20emissions&st=cse


The Horror of Climate Engineering? In response to my column and
post on climate engineering, Charlie offered a comment: “I am
really surprised that a libertarian and climate skeptic such as
yourself does not react with horror at the concept of
geoengineering.” He chastised me for putting too much faith in
the computer climate models that would be used to engineer the
climate, and for not being skeptical of “willful intrusion by
state actors in a complex, chaotic, global system.” “Posted.
http://tierneylab.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/08/19/the-horror-of-climate-engineering/?hp