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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