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newsclips -- Newsclips for February 5-8, 2010.

Posted: 08 Feb 2010 11:55:29
California Air Resources Board News Clips for February 5-8, 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.

Viewpoints: EPA Must Tighten Up Controls On Smog. As a lung
surgeon, I encounter the corrosive damage of smog in my patients
on a daily basis. Smog burns lung tissue, making these essential
membranes red and inflamed. As a physician I know the human costs
are too high to delay reducing this threat any longer. Smog
shortens the lives of people like my patients. Smog hits the most
vulnerable people especially hard, including infants, children
and teens, as well as adults with lung disease. As a Californian,
I applaud the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's proposal to
tighten the limits on ozone "smog" pollution. Posted.
http://www.sacbee.com/1190/v-print/story/2517246.html

Effort Underway To Suspend California's Global-Warming Law.
Conservatives propose an initiative that would delay curbs on
greenhouse gas emissions until the state's unemployment rate
drops to 5.5%, a level not seen since 2007. Republican
politicians and conservative activists are launching a ballot
campaign to suspend California's landmark global-warming law, in
what they hope will serve as a showcase for a national backlash
against climate regulations. Posted.
http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-ballot-warming6-2010feb06,0,7996760,print.story
http://www.modbee.com/business/story/1035964.html#ixzz0exrp9pqU
http://www.contracostatimes.com/california/ci_14335987

California’s Smog Czar Touts Golden State’s Efforts to Create
Sustainable Communities. Mary Nichols acknowledged it took some
chutzpah for California's smog czar to lecture Vermonters about
sprawl, pollution and land-use planning given the differences in
how the two states have handled those issues. "I'm not even a
planner," said Nichols, who delivered the sixth annual Norman
Williams Distinguished Lecture in Land Use Planning and the Law
at Vermont Law School on Feb. 4. "I'm an air pollution regulator
who's struggled with local communities" to get their cooperation
in tackling the Golden State's air, water and sprawl problems.
Posted.
http://www.vermontlaw.edu/News_and_Events/News/California%E2%80%99s_Smog_Czar_Touts_Golden_State%E2%80%99s_Efforts_to_Create_Sustainable_Communities.htm

CARB To Hand Out $20 Million For Hybrid Trucks. The California
Air Resources Board has launched a $20 million “funding
assistance program” aimed at spurring the purchase of hybrid
trucks and buses. As usual with most CARB grant programs – the
program is restricted to vehicles to be used in-state only. CARB
will hand out vouchers ranging from $10,000 to $45,000. The
program is expected to put as many as 800 vehicles on the road.
Vouchers will be distributed on a first-come, first-served
basis.
“Regardless of the size of their fleet, (each) is limited to a
maximum of 100 vouchers,” a CARB statement read. Posted.
http://www.landlinemag.com/todays_news/Daily/2010/Feb10/020110/020510-03.htm

Editorial: Backing Down On Climate Change. Washington appears to
have lost its appetite for attacking the problem of global
warming. If changes in the public mood and the party alignment of
the U.S. Senate have stalled healthcare legislation, they may
have thrown the highly anticipated climate bill under a bus. 
Even before Republican Scott Brown's stunning election to the
Senate in traditionally Democratic Massachusetts last month, it
was proving hard to corral moderate Democrats to support a bill
capping greenhouse gas emissions. Posted.
http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/editorials/la-ed-climate5-2010feb05,0,4351967.story

New Calif. Power Plant Gets Greenhouse Gas Limits. San
Francisco—A new power plant approved for the San Francisco Bay
area will be built with strict federal limits on greenhouse gas
emissions, the first such project in the nation, regulators said.
Regulators called Calpine Corp.'s new plant in Hayward an
important first step in federal efforts to use the existing
federal Clean Air Act to help regulate the heat-trapping gases
that contribute to climate change. Posted. 
http://www.contracostatimes.com/california/ci_14334108?nclick_check=1
http://www.nytimes.com/gwire/2010/02/04/04greenwire-planned-calif-power-plant-would-be-nations-fir-73676.html


Legally Binding? It's so 2009. Washington's climate policy
analysts from environmental groups are quietly abandoning -- at
least temporarily -- the once sacrosanct notion that nations must
agree to legally binding emission targets. Several experts with
ties to the Obama administration either personally or through
their organizations said in recent interviews they don't view a
new global treaty as likely or even desirable by the time
countries meet in December for the next U.N. climate summit in
Cancun, Mexico. Action is the new buzzword, it seems. Posted.
http://www.eenews.net/climatewire/print/2010/02/08/1

NOAA Reorganizes With Eye Toward Assessing Effects of Climate
Change. he National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration
launched a new climate service today, a reorganization effort
aimed at improving long-range assessments of climate change,
sea-level rise and severe weather. The effort is aimed at
providing long-term forecasts to assist fisheries managers,
farmers, state governments, renewable energy developers, water
managers and others. Posted.
http://www.nytimes.com/gwire/2010/02/08/08greenwire-noaa-reorganizes-with-eye-toward-assessing-eff-30957.html?pagewanted=print

Despite Millions In Tax Credits, Wind Energy Firms Aren't
Hiring. Washington -- Despite the Obama administration's efforts
to create jobs making wind turbines in America, some companies
say that sluggish demand for wind energy is holding them back.
The U.S. installed more wind power last year - 9,900 megawatts,
or enough to power 2.4 million homes - than in any other year.
The growth in wind farm installations in the U.S. was a product
of federal stimulus spending. Nonetheless, wind equipment
manufacturers cut as many as 2,000 jobs last year. Posted.
http://www.sacbee.com/702/v-print/story/2521171.html

Viewpoints: Thicket Of Regulation Strangles Jobs. For all the
rosy talk, California's new "green" jobs now account for less
than 1 percent of the state's work force. Certainly we need these
jobs and should be doing everything we can to nurture them. But
pretending that they alone will pull California out of our
current economic bog is naive. Growing thousands of green jobs
while driving away hundreds of thousands of manufacturing jobs
won't recapture our state's economic glory. We need both to
reignite our economy. Posted.
http://www.sacbee.com/1190/v-print/story/2514710.html

Opinion: Transit Bills Fight Climate Change. When President
Barack Obama took office, he inherited some of the greatest
challenges the nation has ever faced, with a potential economic
collapse and climate crisis topping the list. He also faced a
public that had placed its hopes in his ability to change the way
America operates, from revitalizing the economy and reforming
health care, to ending our expensive addiction to oil and reining
in dangerous global warming pollution. Posted.
http://dyn.politico.com/printstory.cfm?uuid=AB5D7533-18FE-70B2-A83E1D43148F5A7C

New Federal Climate Change Agency Forming. Washington—The Obama
administration is proposing a new agency to study and report on
the changing climate. Also known as global warming, climate
change has drawn widespread concern in recent years as
temperatures around the world rise, threatening to harm crops,
spread disease, increase sea levels, change storm and drought
patterns and cause polar melting. Posted.
http://www.contracostatimes.com/environment/ci_14358072

FORUM: Climate Change Can Trip Temperature Extremes. The column
by Richard Kirk ("Global warming drenching," Feb. 2) reeks of
hostility to science and ignorance of the current state of
scientific conclusions. He first jumps all over a few rare,
isolated instances of scientific misconduct (none at American
facilities such as NASA or NOAA) trying to discredit all science,
even though the problematic actions were rectified by scientific
protocols, without discrediting published peer-reviewed science.
Posted.
http://www.nctimes.com/news/opinion/commentary/article_37bd696b-eda6-5955-9f70-7b315acc6498.html

Buying Green: Cities and County’s Find Their Way. California’s
500-plus state government agencies purchase an average of $9
billion a year in products and services. From March 2007 to March
2008, that figure swelled to almost $11 billion with some major
building projects underway; the next year, when the recession
began, it shrunk to $8 billion. While the 2009 figures (March
2009 – March 2010) statistics are not yet available, the figure
will probably be lower. Posted.
http://www.green-technology.org/green_technology_magazine/buyingg.htm

Earth, Wind And Wire: Going Beyond Solar Panels. Here's a look
at three technologies that California residents are using to cut
their energy bills and turn their homes into clean mini-power
plants. Not long ago, people who wanted to generate their own
green energy at home had to content themselves with rooftop solar
panels. But new technologies -- and hefty government subsidies --
are now allowing homeowners to tap the wind, the Earth and other
renewable sources in their own backyards. Call it the green
evolution. Posted.
http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-cover-beyond-solar7-2010feb07,0,38189,print.story

Pesticide Regulations Improve V.C. Air Quality. The California
Department of Pesticide Regulation is pleased to announce that
volatile organic compound pesticide emissions that contribute to
smog in California dropped significantly in 2008, the first year
restrictions on agricultural fumigant applications specifically
targeting air quality were in effect. Posted.
http://www.vcstar.com/news/2010/feb/06/pesticide-regulations-improve-vc-air-quality/


Final Permit Approved For Hayward Power Plant. Hayward —
Opponents of a 600-megawatt natural gas-fired facility at the
Hayward shoreline vowed to appeal a final permit for the project
approved Wednesday. While Calpine says that its Russell City
Energy Center will be the first plant in the nation to abide by
federal greenhouse gas limits, opponents say it would be anything
but a victory for the environment. Posted.
http://www.insidebayarea.com/business/ci_14337296

Rounds Says He Pushed For SD In Energy Meeting. Pierre,
S.D.—Gov. Mike Rounds said Thursday he pushed for federal action
that would help South Dakota develop ethanol plants and
wind-generated electrical power when he met this week with
President Barack Obama and top federal officials. Posted.
http://www.contracostatimes.com/news/ci_14335058

Socal Rejects $11 Million In Ethanol Funding. Los Angeles—A
Southern California group has declined about $11 million in
federal money that was earmarked to build ethanol fueling
stations across the region. The Southern California Association
of Governments rejected the stimulus funds Thursday. It says
using more ethanol in Southern California would actually increase
pollution because it must be trucked from farms in the Midwest.
http://www.contracostatimes.com/california/ci_14341610

Maritime Administration Knew Of Mothball Fleet Paint Pollution
In 1997. The U.S. Maritime Administration knew in 1997 that paint
falling off its obsolete ships anchored in Suisun Bay could cause
toxic pollution, yet took no action for more than a decade while
denying a problem existed, according to federal documents.
Posted.
http://www.insidebayarea.com/oaklandtribune/localnews/ci_14345307

Inquiry On Tank Farm Touches Middle School. The regulatory
agency overseeing an investigation of a former Carson oil tank
farm has widened the probe to include Wilmington Middle School,
where contractors have checked the soil and indoor air in search
of possible contaminants. Posted.
http://www.contracostatimes.com/california/ci_14349476

Blogs

Trucking and Oil Industries Protest Fuel Mandate in California.
California’s new mandate for cleaner, low-carbon fuels is being
met with resistance by the trucking and petroleum industries. 
Several groups came together Tuesday to jointly file a lawsuit
against the state, claiming the mandate makes doing business
prohibitively expensive and violates federal laws regarding
interstate commerce. Posted.
http://greeninc.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/02/05/trucking-and-oil-industries-protest-fuel-mandate-in-california/

Tree Of The Week: A Balance Sheet. Urban trees are moneymakers.
They return far more in value of benefits than they cost in
maintenance. The publicly owned trees of our urban forest are
major capital assets and a part of the commonly owned
infrastructure, just like roads and utilities. Direct and
indirect benefits of trees increase year after year, and their
status should be regularly reviewed like any investment
portfolio. It probably will not surprise you that aerial
photographs of Los Angeles show that the wealthiest neighborhoods
have the highest number of trees. On the positive side, studies
show that trees generate clear social, psychological,
environmental and economic benefits. Posted.
http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/money_co/2010/02/tree-of-the-week-an-urban-forest-balance-sheet.html

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