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California Air Resources Board News Clips for December 30, 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.

Calif. Gov. Schwarzenegger Announces 244 Proposed Renewable
Energy Projects Throughout State. Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger
today announced the first comprehensive list of 244 proposed
renewable energy projects that could produce up to almost 70,000
megawatts (MW) of clean energy annually, building on California’s
aggressive renewable energy goals. These proposed projects
throughout the state include solar, wind, geothermal, biomass and
small hydro facilities and will help move California towards
achieving the Governor’s renewable energy goal of 33 percent by
2020. Currently California facilities produce just over 8,000 MW
of renewable energy annually. Posted.
http://californianewswire.com/2009/12/30/CNW6385_014323.php 

Methane Migraine. When it comes to renewable energy portfolios,
California is an archetype for other states developing standards
to follow. Targets increasing the use of renewable power to 20
percent by 2010 and 33 percent by 2020 have set the clean energy
bar high, especially when coupled with the state’s stringent air
quality regulations. Posted.
http://www.biomassmagazine.com/article.jsp?article_id=3377

CARB to Begin Enforcing Reefer Regulation This Thursday, Dec.
31. The California Air Resources Board begins enforcement of its
new emissions rule for reefers beginning this Thursday, Dec. 31.
CARB said enforcement of in-use performance standards will begin
in January 2010 for all trucks with model year 2002 and older
reefers. Posted.
http://www.landlinemag.com/todays_news/Daily/2009/Dec09/122809/122909-02.htm


General Produce Company Receives $30,900 Fine From CARB for
Violations. The California Air Resources Board (CARB) fined
General Produce Company $30,900 recently for violations reported
during 2006 at its Sacramento CA facility. General Produce failed
to submit a one-time report for its transportation refrigeration
units at the facility, as required by law. Posted.
http://refrigeratedtrans.com/food-distributors/foodservice/general_produce_co_receives_carb_fine_1228/?smte=wr

Ethanol and Farm Groups Sue California over Fuel Standard. The
ethanol trade groups, Growth Energy and the Renewable Fuels
Association, along with state and local farm groups, have filed a
federal lawsuit challenging Calfornia's low carbon fuel standard.
The groups' lawsuit alleges that the new rule, which will be
phased in starting in 2011, unfairly discriminates against
corn-based ethanol made primarily in the Midwest, in violation of
the Commerce and Supremacy clauses of the U.S. Constitution.
Posted.
http://www.agriculture.com/ag/story.jhtml?storyid=/templatedata/ag/story/data/1262117785895.xml


Orange Grove: The 'Pollutant' Vital to Earthly Life. The air we
breathe contains 20 percent oxygen, which is vital to the
survival of all human and animal life. Without oxygen we would
all die within minutes. Atmospheric carbon dioxide on the other
hand, at less than 0.04 percent, is a seemingly insignificant gas
unworthy of legislative concern. Yet U.S. Environmental
Protection Agency Administrator Lisa Jackson, without
congressional direction or approval, declared this month that CO2
is a dangerous pollutant that endangers the health of every human
on Earth and must be controlled by her bureaucracy. Posted.
http://www.ocregister.com/opinion/co2-226259-every-percent.html 

Americans Can Take the Lead Toward Stopping Climate Change. The
agreement at Copenhagen is a call to Americans to take a
leadership role in stopping climate change. Unlike Kyoto, the
U.S. is signing on, yet there is also room for each country to do
the minimum or to do more. We can be the leaders in developing
solutions, not only reducing and reusing, but also developing the
best least-expensive and most user-friendly technology to allow
us to use the sun, wind, tides and other green sources of energy
to supply our energy needs. Posted.
http://www.thecalifornian.com/article/20091230/OPINION03/912300310/1014/OPINION


Can Wall Street Save the World? When President Obama wrangled an
agreement in the waning hours of the Copenhagen climate change
summit, left unsaid was how agreed-upon subsidies from wealthy
nations to poor nations will be paid. The ambiguity of the
agreement, which calls for $100 billion to be doled out annually
beginning in 2020, along with an appeal from several European
Union members to tap into the financial markets, has given
momentum to the prospect of a worldwide financial transaction tax
to help pay the freight for climate change solutions. Posted.
http://www.foxbusiness.com/story/markets/industries/finance/wall-street-save-world/


How We Live Now: A Shift In The Landscape. At the turn of the
millennium, "carbon footprint" wasn't a household term, "paper or
plastic" hadn't become a moral dilemma, and reduce, reuse and
recycle didn't yet come to mind as the three R's. But in the past
decade, we've moved toward more sustainable living and begun
thinking more seriously about how our lifestyle affects the
environment. Posted.
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2009/12/30/DDUE1B325L.DTL#ixzz0bC9OIpOa

Plans for Nuclear Power Plant in Central Valley. A prominent
French engineering company will help develop a nuclear power
plant in California's Central Valley, even though state law
forbids such facilities. The company, Areva, said Tuesday that it
has signed a letter of intent with a group of investors trying to
build one or two nuclear reactors in either Fresno County or
Madera County. The company will work with the investors to pick a
location for the plant and apply for federal permits. Posted.
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2009/12/29/BU071BB587.DTL&type=business#ixzz0bCBBi7RG

Eco-Officers are Moving into Executive Suites. During his more
than three decades in real estate David Pogue played many roles,
but environmental expert was never one of them. That didn't stop
his company, Los Angeles real estate brokerage CB Richard Ellis,
from naming him the company guru of all things eco-friendly
nearly two years ago. Posted.
http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-green-officers30-2009dec30,0,3283781.story


Blogs

Energy Star Gets Tough on LG Electronics. The Department of
Energy has announced that, as of Jan. 20, LG Electronics will be
banned from using the Energy Star label on 20 of its
refrigerator-freezer models. The agency, which has received
criticism for failing to ensure the integrity of products bearing
the Energy Star label, said the refrigerators did not deliver
required energy and cost savings, and that it was taking steps to
protect the American public. Posted.
http://greeninc.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/12/30/energy-star-gets-tough-on-lg-electronics/?scp=3&sq=air%20pollution&st=cse


Scientist Tackles Reader’s Question: Is the Planet Cooling? We
asked last week for climate questions from readers, and received
some thoughtful, interesting responses. Here is reader Charie
Baker’s question about whether the planet is cooling; below that,
the answer from Eric Rignot, a researcher at UC Irvine and NASA’s
Jet Propulsion Laboratory who specializes in glaciers, ice sheets
and climate change. Posted.
http://greenoc.freedomblogging.com/2009/12/29/scientist-tackles-readers-question-is-the-planet-cooling/17843/