What's New List Serve Post Display

ARB Newsclips for March 5, 2012. 

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.

AIR POLLUTION

Federal court rejects delay of N.M. power plant pollution
controls. A federal appeals court has ruled that the owners of
the San Juan Generating Station, a huge coal-fired power plant
near Farmington, N.M., must continue with plans to install strong
pollution controls. Several California cities purchase
electricity from the plant. The federal Environmental Protection
Agency ruled last fall that the plant was required to install
strong "selective catalytic reduction," or SCR, equipment to cut
its yearly output of 16,000 tons of ozone, fine particulate
matter and other pollutants in order to meet federal standards.
Posted.
http://www.latimes.com/news/local/environment/la-me-gs-court-wont-let-san-juan-power-station-stall-pollution-controls-20120305,0,558773.story

Summit to clear air about asthma in S.J. Daylong event shares
innovative research, tips on ways to cope. Stoctkon - If all
115,000 residents of San Joaquin County with asthma decide to
attend the upcoming free asthma summit, the organizers will have
to find a new venue. "Connecting Community to Combat Asthma" is a
one-day, two-part health summit for professional health care
providers and those interested in learning more about the
incurable, chronic disorder that causes a person's lung airways
to swell and narrow, leading to wheezing, shortness of breath,
chest tightness and coughing. Posted.
http://www.recordnet.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20120305/A_NEWS/203050308

Air Pollution Exposure Tied to Allergies.  Increased exposure to
common air pollutants, such as nitrogen dioxide and fine
particulate matter, was associated with sensitivity to both
indoor and outdoor allergens, a researcher said here.  After
adjusting for age, gender, race/ethnicity, urban-rural status,
poverty, and smoking, each 10-ppb increment in average nitrogen
dioxide exposure was associated with a 25% higher likelihood of
sensitivity to outdoor allergens (odds ratio 1.25, 95% CI 1.04 to
1.49), said Capt. Charles Weir, MPH, of the U.S. Public Health
Service, currently stationed in Atlanta.  Posted. 
http://www.medpagetoday.com/MeetingCoverage/AAAAIMeeting/31472

CLIMATE CHANGE

More Americans now believe in global warming. After several years
of finding that fewer and fewer Americans believed in man-made
climate change, pollsters are now finding that belief is on the
uptick.  The newest study from the National Survey of American
Public Opinion on Climate Change, which is a biannual survey
taken since fall 2008 and organized by the Brookings Institute,
shows that 62 percent of Americans now believe that man-made
climate change is occurring, and 26 percent do not. The others
are unsure.  Posted.
http://www.sacbee.com/2012/03/05/v-print/4312116/more-americans-now-believe-in.html
http://www.latimes.com/news/local/environment/la-me-gs-more-americans-now-believe-in-global-warming-20120229,0,2120287.story?track=rss
http://www.sgvtribune.com/lottery/ci_20099297

Climate change melting backyard hockey rinks in Canada,
scientists say. Shorter Canadian winters could well mean no more
Wayne Gretzkys, a scientific study reports Monday. Five years of
meticulous analysis by researchers at McGill and Concordia
universities tracked evidence for the “significant shortening” of
the outdoor skating season across Canada. Fewer backyard rinks
and less time on the ice means an attack on “a critical component
of Canadian identity and culture,” the study says. “Wayne Gretzky
learned to skate. Posted.
http://www.therecord.com/news/local/article/681518--climate-change-melting-backyard-hockey-rinks-in-canada-scientists-say

In climate wars, radicalization of researchers brings risks. 
Everybody talks about the weather, Mark Twain famously wrote, but
nobody does anything about it.  Many climate researchers are no
longer following Twain’s adage, noted Michael McPhaden, president
of the American Geophysical Union. “Scientists today, they don’t
just want to talk about it. They want to do something about it,”
he said in an interview. “We’re the trustees of information
which, in many ways, is of critical benefit to society.”  Posted.
 http://www.washingtonpost.com/national/health-science/in-climate-wars-radicalization-of-researchers-brings-risks/2012/02/24/gIQAcQWsrR_story.html

Climate change will shake the Earth — literally.  The idea that a
changing climate can persuade the ground to shake, volcanoes to
rumble, and tsunamis to crash on to unsuspecting coastlines
seems, at first, to be bordering on the insane. How can what
happens in the thin envelope of gas that shrouds and protects our
world possibly influence the potentially Earth-shattering
processes that operate deep beneath the surface? Posted. 
http://grist.org/climate-change/climate-change-will-shake-the-earth-literally/

Climate Change: Insurers Confirm Growing Risks, Costs.
Stakeholders from the insurance industry met with members of the
U.S. Senate to acknowledge the role global warming plays in
extreme weather-related losses, and to issue a call for action.
The politics of global warming have typically involved much
debate as to the role climate change plays in growing
weather-related risk.  Yesterday, however, at a Capital Hill a
press conference on the cost of climate change, debate was not on
the agenda. Posted.
http://www.insurancenetworking.com/news/insurance-climate-change-risk-ceres-30007-1.html?zkPrintable=true

DIESEL EMISSIONS

Study links heavy diesel exhaust to lung cancer.  There's new
evidence that exposure to exhaust from diesel engines increases
the risk of lung cancer. Diesel exhaust has long been classified
as a probable carcinogen. But the 20-year study from the National
Cancer Institute took a closer look by tracking more than 12,000
workers in certain kinds of mines—facilities that mined for
potash, lime and other nonmetals. They breathed varying levels of
exhaust from diesel-powered equipment, levels higher than the
general population encounters.  Posted. 
http://www.fresnobee.com/2012/03/02/2744491/study-links-heavy-diesel-exhaust.html#storylink=misearch
http://www.contracostatimes.com/ci_20089528
http://www.modbee.com/2012/03/02/2094754/study-links-heavy-diesel-exhaust.html
 SUBSCRIPTION ONLY
http://www.news-medical.net/news/20120304/Diesel-exhaust-fumes-linked-to-lung-cancer-among-miners.aspx?page=2

FUELS

Fuel economy: Auto fleet average starts to climb. Gas prices
continue their relentless climb and consumers are reacting. Small
cars were the hottest segment of auto sales last month. About 24%
of the vehicles sold last month were small cars, according to
Erich Merkle, the sales analyst at Ford Motor Co. That compares
to less than 20% just two months ago, he said. The consumer move
toward purchasing more fuel-efficient vehicles appears to be more
than just a reaction to gasoline price spikes. It is a much
longer trend. Posted.
http://www.latimes.com/business/money/la-fi-mo-car-fuel-economy-20120305,0,1456797.story?track=rss

EPA heightens scrutiny over Pa. gas drilling. Tugging on rubber
gloves, a laboratory worker kneels before a gushing spigot behind
Kim Grosso’s house and positions an empty bottle under the clear,
cold stream. The process is repeated dozens of times as bottles
are filled, marked and packed into coolers.  After extensive
testing, Grosso and dozens of her neighbors will know this week
what may be lurking in their well water as federal regulators
investigate claims of contamination in the midst of one of the
nation’s most productive natural gas fields.  Posted. 
http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2012/mar/5/epa-heighten-scrutiny-pennsylvania-marcellus-shale/

Ethanol groups file brief supporting injunction on California
LCFS.  A coalition of national ethanol groups, along with
California and Midwest farming groups, filed a brief urging the
U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals to uphold a court-ordered
injunction on the California Air Resource Board’s low-carbon fuel
standard. The coalition includes Growth Energy and the Renewable
Fuels Association.  Posted. 
http://domesticfuel.com/2012/03/03/ethanol-groups-order-injunction-on-california-lcfs/

http://westernfarmpress.com/government/ethanol-groups-file-brief-supporting-injunction-california-lcfs

Study finds gasoline exhaust contributes more to formation of
secondary organic aerosols than diesel.  Contrary to
expectations, exhaust from gasoline vehicles contributes more to
the production of secondary organic aerosols (SOA) than exhaust
from diesel vehicles, according to a new study by scientists from
the Cooperative Institute for Research in Environmental Sciences
(CIRES), NOAA’s Earth System Research Laboratory (ESRL) and other
colleagues.  Based on their study, the team estimated that within
a day of processing…Posted. 
http://www.greencarcongress.com/2012/03/bahreini-20120303.html

Gasoline worse than diesel when it comes to some types of air
pollution.  The exhaust fumes from gasoline vehicles contribute
more to the production of a specific type of air pollution --
secondary organic aerosols -- than those from diesel vehicles,
according to a new study by scientists from the University of
Colorado Boulder’s Cooperative Institute for Research in
Environmental Sciences, or CIRES, NOAA’s Earth System Research
Laboratory and other colleagues.  Posted. 
http://www.colorado.edu/news/releases/2012/03/02/gasoline-worse-diesel-when-it-comes-some-types-air-pollution

BP Rises Most in Month After Gulf of Mexico Spill Settlement:
London Mover. BP Plc (BP/) rose the most in a month after
Europe’s second-biggest oil company reached a $7.8 billion
settlement with businesses and individuals over the 2010
Deepwater Horizon oil rig disaster. BP climbed as much as 3.1
percent, the biggest intraday advance since Feb. 1, and traded at
507.90 pence as of 8:06 a.m. in London. The benchmark FTSE 100
Index was down 0.3 percent. Posted. 
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-03-05/bp-rises-most-in-month-after-gulf-of-mexico-spill-settlement-london-mover.html

VEHICLES

Electric-Car Loans Dry Up Ahead of Election on Solyndra. Four
times, the U.S. Energy Department offered terms to Bright
Automotive Inc. for a loan the startup company was seeking to
finance production of electric commercial vans. Each successive,
conditional offer arrived with stiffer terms, Chief Operating
Officer Mike Donoughe said in an interview. He likened the
experience to offering to buy a car for $20,000 and having the
dealer try to bargain up to $40,000. Posted.
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/print/2012-03-05/electric-car-producers-shun-u-s-loans-as-post-solyndra-red-tape-increases.html

GM to pause Chevy Volt production for 5 weeks. General Motors
will temporarily lay off about 1,300 workers at its Detroit
Hamtramck plant while it stops making Volts. GM has surplus Volts
waiting to be sold, the automaker says. Auto giant General Motors
Co. is pausing production of its Chevrolet Volt and temporarily
laying off about 1,300 employees because of slow sales of the
plug-in hybrid. Posted.
http://www.latimes.com/business/autos/la-fi-autos-gm-volt-20120303,0,7772508,print.story

Tracy earns funds for green vehicles. The San Joaquin Valley Air
Pollution Control District has awarded the city a $100,000 grant
to purchase five alternative-fuel vehicles. Grant funds are part
of a program to help government agencies and public institutions
meet clean-air projects that directly affect the air quality for
Valley residents.  Posted. 
http://www.recordnet.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20120305/A_NEWS/120309950&cid=sitesearch

Austerity brings smaller cars to Geneva auto show. Automakers are
thinking small _ in size, not ambition. After years marked by
environmental concerns, then the economic downturn and now
European austerity measures, car manufacturers have honed their
products to cater for cost-conscious buyers. Posted. 
http://www.nctimes.com/business/austerity-brings-smaller-cars-to-geneva-auto-show/article_31a3e875-4eb4-549e-b466-9824b71ffbaf.html#ixzz1oGdT3bq1

GM trucks use CNG and gasoline. General Motors this week will
unveil redesigned heavy-duty pickups, the Chevrolet Silverado and
GMC Sierra 2500, that switch between compressed natural gas and
regular gasoline. GM will begin selling the bifuel pickups in the
fourth quarter as 2013 model. It will sell them through its
dealers primarily to fleet customers, although individual buyers
also will be able to order them. Posted. 
http://www.autonews.com/article/20120305/OEM03/303059965#ixzz1oGlldkV8

GREEN ENERGY

Gov. hopes new plan will reactivate green energy. Gov. John
Kitzhaber has a new 10-year plan he hopes will be able to
reactivate green energy in Oregon. Despite the state's embrace of
wind and solar companies, they're not making much of a
contribution to the state's energy needs. The Columbia Plateau is
now draped in wind turbines, but they supply only 3 percent of
Oregon's electricity. Solar and geothermal make a small
contribution. Existing hydro-electricity is a big contributor,
but fossil fuel plants still contribute half the state's
electricity. Posted. 
http://www.vcstar.com/news/2012/mar/04/gov-hopes-new-plan-will-reactivate-green-energy/

MISCELLANEOUS

Saving desert tortoises is a costly hurdle for solar projects.
BrightSource Energy has spent $56 million so far to protect the
endangered creatures, but calamities have befallen the effort.
Reporting from Ivanpah Valley, Calif.— Stubborn does not come
close to describing the desert tortoise, a species that did its
evolving more than 220 million years ago and has since remained
resolutely prehistoric. Its slowpoke take on biological
adaptation has exposed modern vulnerabilities. Posted.
http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-solar-tortoise-20120304,0,6145488.story

OPINIONS

Take the Subway. OUR plan was to meet for lunch at noon in
Moscow. It was to be just myself and Fyodor Lukyanov, the editor
of the journal Russia in Global Affairs. He picked the
restaurant. It had been snowing that day, and the Moscow traffic
— already nearly impossible because the city, which 15 years ago
had 300,000 cars and today hosts nearly four million registered
vehicles — was even more impossible than usual…As we hurriedly
put on our coats, Lukyanov had one piece of advice for me, and it
wasn’t that the U.S. should stay out of Syria. It was: “Take the
subway.” Posted. 
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/03/04/opinion/sunday/friedman-take-the-subway.html?scp=2&sq=smog&st=cse

Drill Baby Drill, Redux. It’s campaign season and the pandering
about gas prices is in full swing. Hardly a day goes by that a
Republican politician does not throw facts to the wind and claim
that rising costs at the pump are the result of President Obama’s
decisions to block the Keystone XL pipeline and impose sensible
environmental regulations and modest restrictions on offshore
drilling. Posted. 
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/03/05/opinion/drill-baby-drill-redux.html?_r=1&scp=3&sq=fuels&st=cse

Gasoline prices got you down? Re "Gas prices deliver a blow,"
Feb. 28. It is time we started looking at gasoline prices as a
matter of patriotism, or a lack thereof. When oil companies raise
prices precipitously at a time the economy is showing the first
signs of recovery, it is sure to have a chilling effect, thus
harming the interests of millions of struggling people and the
nation itself. It would be one thing if the oil companies were
merely passing on cost increases, but they have raked in record
profits. Posted.
http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/letters/la-le-0304-sunday-20120304,0,6606410.story

Cigarettes' lessons for climate change. Successful anti-smoking
efforts of decades past offer a blueprint for how we might tackle
global warming. In the 1970s it seemed like we had problems we
could never fix — and I'm not talking about white polyester disco
suits and the band Air Supply. The '70s presented America with
the residue of a catastrophic war, soaring inner-city crime
rates, runaway inflation and subjugation to Middle East oil.
Posted.
http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/commentary/la-oe-schendler-cigarettes-lessons-for-climate-cha-20120304,0,6134172.story

LOIS HENRY: Ranch takes double hit: from CARB, terrorists.
Ludicrosity alert! Ludicrosity alert! No, that's not a real word,
but you'll be using it too by the time you finish reading this
tale about the California Air Resources Board, Harris Ranch and a
cowardly act of terrorism. Oh, I should clarify: The cowardly act
of terrorism was done by true criminals, as opposed to CARB,
which isn't technically a crime syndicate but, as I've reported
before, often employs a legal form of intimidation to achieve its
ends. More on that in a bit. Posted.
http://www.bakersfieldcalifornian.com/columnists/lois-henry/x1498654977/LOIS-HENRY-Ranch-takes-double-hit-from-CARB-terrorists

Mark Landsbaum: Carbon market a doomed government fantasy. 
California's political class yearns to be European. Here's some
advice for Gov. Jerry Brown and associates: Beware of what you
desire. You just may get it.  Their latest self-destructive
fascination is the lunacy of a carbon trading market. It's part
of the still-loonier cap-and-trade scheme to save California from
the looniest concept of all, make-believe devastation from
manmade global warming. It doesn't get more European than that. 
Posted. 
http://www.ocregister.com/opinion/carbon-342902-government-europe.html

Cap-and-trade is not a budget solution. “Good news! We found
billions of dollars to help the state budget and fund more
government programs.” If this sounds too good to be true, you’re
right. The Governor’s plan to spend billions extracted from
California employers under AB 32’s cap-and-trade program is
actually bad news that will hurt the environment and kill jobs.
The purpose of cap-and-trade is to reduce greenhouse gas
emissions, not raise billions in new revenue for state coffers.
Posted.
http://www.capitolweekly.net/article.php?_c=10eiw3519iy1fqh&xid=10eivgmg9gxp9zo&done=.10eiw3519iyefqh

GREENHUT: Saving the Earth, one fraud at a time. If the theory of
man-made global warming were such a self-obvious truth, the
result of scientific consensus, then why do advocates for this
idea keep committing frauds to advance it? Even more disturbing,
why are some writers willing to defend this behavior? The latest
embarrassment for global-warming activists came on Feb. 20 after
Peter Gleick, founder of the Pacific Institute for Studies in
Development, Environment and Security in Oakland, admitted
…Posted. 
http://www.nctimes.com/news/opinion/columnists/greenhut/greenhut-saving-the-earth-one-fraud-at-a-time/article_75767d33-19e2-5062-9647-9e199f62f598.html#ixzz1oGd81s00

Budget sub-committee ponders use of cap-and-trade revenues.  The
Assembly Budget Subcommittee 3 hosted an informational hearing on
the potential use of revenues from the AB 32 Cap-and-Trade
program due to begin January 2013. The California Air Resources
Board (CARB) will hold the first auctions of allowances in August
and November this year. The Governor’s proposed budget assumes $1
billion in auction revenue for the 2012-2013 budget year. He
would use the revenue to offset $500 million of current general
fund spending for environmental purposes, and the balance would
fund new environmental programs. Posted. 
http://www.cmta.net/page/legupdate-article.php?legupdate_id=2129%22

BLOGS

GM shutting down Chevy Volt production for five weeks. Even with
the new HOV-eligible 2012 Chevrolet Volt models heading to
California and sales up in February, General Motors has
reportedly decided to shut down production of the plug-in hybrid
for five weeks because of overall sluggish sales. With a 150-day
supply of Volts sitting on dealer lots around the country, this
shut down will temporarily lay off 1,300 employees. Posted. 
http://green.autoblog.com/2012/03/02/gm-shutting-down-chevy-volt-production-for-five-weeks/

GM's funding of climate-change denying Heartland Institute stirs
up trouble. The Heartland Institute is a big daddy in climate
change denialism and recently became a more household name thanks
to a trove of documents that were exposed on DeSmogBlog. The
documents purport to be leaked internal memos that detail the
ways the institute is funded and disseminates its "nothing to see
here, folks" message. Posted.  http://green.autoblog.com/