What's New List Serve Post Display

California Air Resources Board News Clips for December 4-7, 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.

WALTERS: Soot-Covered Pall Clouds CARB Policy. A year ago, high
officials of the California Air Resources Board learned that the
author of a statistical study on diesel soot effects had
falsified his academic credentials. The CARB researcher, Hien
Tran, acknowledged the deception and agreed to be demoted, but
after his data were given another peer review, they remained the
basis of highly controversial regulations that will cost owners
of trucks, buses and other diesel-powered machinery millions of
dollars to upgrade their engines. Posted.
http://www.nctimes.com/news/opinion/columnists/walters/article_eb4c8d98-554b-5874-abc3-cd05882b8abe.html
http://www.todaystrucking.com/news.cfm?intDocID=22945
http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/2009/dec/04/still-shameful-air-boards-response-scandal-appalli/
http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/2009/dec/04/roberts-ignored-scandal-year/
http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/2009/dec/04/sac-bee-defies-own-policy-wont-correct-error/
http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/2009/dec/04/time-clear-air-and-breathe/
http://www.pe.com/localnews/opinion/editorials/stories/PE_OpEd_Opinion_S_op_06_ed_arbdiesel1.33ca782.html
http://www.bakersfield.com/opinion/editorials/x211509139/Suspend-diesel-regs-then-do-it-right

Obama Administration Will Formally Declare Danger Of Carbon
Emissions. The Obama administration will formally declare Monday
that carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gas emissions pose a
danger to the public's health and welfare, a move that lays the
groundwork for an economy-wide carbon cap even if Congress fails
to enact climate legislation, sources familiar with the process
said. Posted.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/12/07/AR2009120701645_pf.html
http://online.wsj.com/article/BT-CO-20091207-709708.html
http://www.latimes.com/news/nation-and-world/la-fg-obama-environment8-2009dec08,0,3159719.story
http://www.eenews.net/Greenwire/print/2009/12/07bn/1

Global Climate Summit Opens With Calls For Action, Rebukes Of
Critics. Island nations push for a binding treaty to deal with
global warming. The U.S. EPA declares greenhouse gases a danger
and subject to federal regulation. With strong appeals for action
and sharp rebukes of their critics, diplomats from around the
world launched a two-week negotiating summit in the Danish
capital today in hopes of producing a new agreement to curb
climate change. Posted.
http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/world/la-fg-climate-summit8-2009dec08,0,2691769,print.story

What Global Warming?  A Look At The Arguments The Skeptics
Make—And How Believers Respond. When we recently ran an article
about ideas on ways to cool the planet, we were swamped with
emails from people who were impassioned in their belief that
global warming is a myth. It was striking that so many people
held views at odds with what is apparently the consensus among
climate scientists, as well as policy makers. Posted.
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703819904574551303527570212.html?mod=WSJ_hpp_MIDDLENexttoWhatsNewsTop#printMode

Min: Global CO2 Cut Pledges Not Enough For EU To Raise Target.
Copenhagen -International commitments to cut greenhouse gas
emissions to fight global warming are still too low to prompt the
European Union to raise to 30% its 2020 target for reductions in
carbon dioxide emissions, Sweden's Environment Minister said
Monday. "At this particular moment, the bids on the table are too
low, and we still expect the parties to deliver more," said
Andreas Carlgren during a press conference on the first day of
negotiations in Copenhagen for a global deal to fight climate
change. Posted.
http://online.wsj.com/article/BT-CO-20091207-708615.html

Act Naturally. Thousands of experts and politicians are
gathering in Copenhagen to search for ways to sharply reduce the
amount of carbon we release into the atmosphere. Whatever limit
they agree to — whether it is 350 or 400 parts per million — will
require, first and foremost, curtailing global emissions. Posted.
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/12/08/opinion/08iht-edlopoukhine.html

Op-Ed: Common sense: Suspend AB32. When Gov. Arnold
Schwarzenegger signed Assembly Bill 32 in 2006, California's
unemployment rate was a modest 4.8 percent. Now it stands at 12.5
percent. AB32 requires a massive reordering of our state's
economy and massive tax increases to pay for these shifts. It
includes a provision for it to be suspended if our state faces
economic hardships — and that time has come. Posted.
http://www.appeal-democrat.com/common/printer/view.php?db=marysville&id=89365

OPINION: Cap and Fade. AT the international climate talks in
Copenhagen, President Obama is expected to announce that the
United States wants to reduce its greenhouse gas emissions to
about 17 percent below 2005 levels by 2020 and 83 percent by
2050. But at the heart of his plan is cap and trade, a
market-based approach that has been widely praised but does
little to slow global warming or reduce our dependence on fossil
fuels. It merely allows polluters and Wall Street traders to
fleece the public out of billions of dollars. Posted.
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/12/07/opinion/07hansen.html?_r=1&pagewanted=print

Editorials on Climate Conference in Copenhagen. The following
editorial appeared in the St. Louis Post-Dispatch on Monday, Dec.
7: MOMENTUM BUILDS FOR CLIMATE CHANGE AGREEMENT. More than 100
world leaders are expected to make appearances at the
international climate summit that begins Monday in Copenhagen.
President Barack Obama is expected on Dec. 18, the conference's
last day. He won't come home with a treaty for the Senate to
ratify, but he may be able to close a tentative deal. Posted.
http://www.modbee.com/opinion/world/story/962661.html#ixzz0Z1PfdADd

Dairies May Benefit From Clean Air Rules. Kern dairies could be
among the early winners in a proposed "cap and trade" system now
under consideration statewide as a way of reducing California's
greenhouse gas emissions. Using different manure-management
technologies, more than a few local dairymen stand to make money
by selling clean air credits to companies that produce more
pollution than would be allowed under pending state regulations.
http://www.bakersfield.com/news/business/economy/x211509052/Dairies-may-benefit-from-clean-air-rules

Decade Of 2000s Was Warmest Ever, Scientists Say. It dawned with
the warmest winter on record in the United States. And when the
sun sets this New Year's Eve, the decade of the 2000s will end as
the warmest ever on global temperature charts. Warmer still,
scientists say, lies ahead. Through 10 years of global boom and
bust, of breakneck change around the planet, of terrorism, war
and division, all people everywhere under that warming sun faced
one threat together: Posted.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20091207/ap_on_re_us/decade_s_end_climate/print

In East Bay, Where Pollution Goes, Health Problems Follow. In
some hardscrabble East Bay neighborhoods, people die of heart
disease and cancer at three times the rates found just a few
miles away in more well-to-do communities. Children living near
busy freeways in Oakland are hospitalized for asthma at 12 times
the rate of young people in Lafayette's wooded housing tracts.
Posted.
http://www.insidebayarea.com/oaklandtribune/localnews/ci_13919582

Next Phase Of Clean Truck Program Takes Effect Jan. 1 At Port Of
L.A. San Pedro, Calif. — The Port of Los Angeles says the next
phase of its “successful clean truck program” will take effect
Jan. 1, 2010, when trucks equipped with engine model years 1993
and older will be banned from the port. Additionally, “trucks
equipped with engine model years 1994 to 2003 also will be denied
terminal access unless retrofitted with an approved diesel
emission control system,” stated a port news release. Posted.
http://www.thetrucker.com/News/Stories/2009/12/7/NextphaseofcleantruckprogramtakeseffectJan1atPortofLA.aspx

Plug-In Hybrids Have Miles To Go For Widespread Use. Many major
automakers have unveiled vehicles at the L.A. Auto Show that are
within a year or two of the showroom, but a lot has to change for
such cars to be common sights in the U.S. private fleet. Anyone
strolling about the exhibition floor of the L.A. Auto Show this
week can be forgiven for thinking that the battle for the green
car has been won, and the plug-in electric hybrid is the victor.
Posted. 
http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-hiltzik7-2009dec07,0,5713301,print.column

Emission Trading Programs Struggle to Find Traction. Does Russia
hold hostage the future of a carbon cap-and-trade system that
many experts see as a critical tool for curbing global warming
gases? Improbable as it may seem, the answer appears to be yes.
Posted.
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/12/07/business/global/07iht-rbogcarbon.html?scp=1&sq=carbon%20emissions&st=cse


LA/LB Watch Impact Report Progress. The clearance of a
seven-year Environmental Impact Report logjam is one of the most
important port issues from the point of view of the Marine
Exchange of Southern California. “This will result in a new VLCC
(very large crude carrier) berth and several stalled container
terminal upgrades to deepen berths, add shore power, improve
acreage and improve rail access,” says Richard McKenna. Posted.
http://www.portstrategy.com/archive101/2009/december/regional_survey_us_west_coast/green_issues


Blogs

CARB Should Do the Right Thing and Revisit Truck Rule. Just when
everyone thought we were all set to move forward with the
California Air Resources Board’s (CARB) pollution rules set to go
into effect next year, a wrinkle has been thrown into the plans.
CARB member Dr. John Telles, a cardiologist, has requested the
rule that requires the installation of diesel particulate filters
on trucks operating in the state be revisited after he learned
that one of the authors of the report CARB used to create the
rule “misrepresented his credentials,” according to a story this
week in the Fresno Bee. Posted.
http://blog.fleetowner.com/trucking-straight-talk/2009/12/04/carb-should-do-the-right-thing-and-revisit-truck-rule/


The Jobs Initiative - Suspend AB32. When Governor Arnold
Schwarzenegger signed AB32 [assembly bill 32] in 2006,
California’s unemployment rate was a modest 4.8%. This past
Friday we learned that it now stands at 12.5%. AB32 requires a
massive reordering of our state’s economy and massive tax
increases to pay for these shifts. It includes a provision for it
to be suspended if our state faces economic hardships, and that
time has come. Posted.
http://foxandhoundsdaily.com/blog/dan-logue/5990-the-jobs-initiative-suspend-ab32

Appeals For Action Open Copenhagen Climate Talks. With strong
appeals for action and sharp rebukes of their critics, diplomats
from around the world launched a two-week negotiating summit in
Copenhagen today in hopes of producing a new agreement to curb
climate change. Posted.
http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/greenspace/2009/12/last-chance-appeal-opens-copenhagen-talks.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+GreenspaceEnvironmentBlog+%28Greenspace%29