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California Air Resources Board News Clips for May 12, 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.

CLIMATE CHANGE

Climate Change Is The True Crisis. The following editorial
appeared in the Los Angeles Times on Tuesday, May 11: To
paraphrase Oscar Wilde: One deadly explosion while extracting
fossil fuels may be regarded as a misfortune, but two within a
month looks like carelessness. That's the problem lawmakers are
wrestling with amid hearings and federal investigations of the
Upper Big Branch mine blast in West Virginia and the BP oil rig
collapse in the Gulf of Mexico. We're pleased to see that the
reactive machinery is functioning, and confident that it will
result in regulations to better protect miners and oil workers.
Posted.
http://www.sacbee.com/2010/05/12/v-print/2744948/climate-change-is-the-true-crisis.html

Some Businesses Will Cut Emissions With Or Without A Climate
Law. For a growing number of U.S. companies, the potential
failure of Congress to pass a law reducing carbon emissions will
not be a disaster. They will continue reducing emissions anyway
because it increases their profits and helps them find new and
often lucrative markets. The companies, gathered in Washington
this week for the Energy Efficiency Global Forum & Exposition,
are not necessarily hanging on every nuance of language as Senate
Democrats reveal their latest version of climate legislation.
Posted. http://www.eenews.net/climatewire/2010/05/12/2

Climate Bill's Release Coincides With Rising Conservative
Backlash. Signs of a conservative backlash to Democratic
initiatives are increasing as Senate sponsors release an
ambitious plan to reduce carbon emissions. The charged political
environment potentially complicates efforts to convince a handful
of Republicans to support the measure. As Utah Republicans were
replacing veteran Sen. Bob Bennett Saturday with a new
conservative primary candidate, a separate surprise shift to the
right was taking place in Maine, home to two Republican senators
considered crucial to the carbon effort. Posted.
http://www.eenews.net/climatewire/2010/05/12/1

U.S. Climate Legislation Crucial To Climate Talks' Progress --
E.U. official. London -- It is vital for the future of global
climate change talks that the United States pass its promised
climate legislation, despite all the problems it is facing, the
European Union's new climate action commissioner, Connie
Hedegaard, said yesterday. The 27-nation European Union had
backed off from openly pushing the Obama administration to move
forward, because it had proved to be counterproductive. Posted.
http://www.eenews.net/climatewire/2010/05/12/3

Senate's Delayed Climate Change-Energy Bill Set For Unveiling --
And Uncertainty. Senators John Kerry and Joe Lieberman's
legislation is aimed at limiting greenhouse gas emissions and
spurring clean energy. Kerry says the gulf oil spill adds to the
urgency. Reporting from Washington — After months of negotiations
and weeks of delay, Sens. John F. Kerry (D-Mass.) and Joe
Lieberman (I-Conn.) will unveil their plan to limit greenhouse
gas emissions and spur clean energy growth Wednesday — and the
biggest challenge will be selling the notion that the bill has
any chance of passage. Posted.
http://articles.latimes.com/2010/may/11/nation/la-na-climate-change-20100512

OIL RIG

Gulf Of Mexico Oil Spill May Scuttle California Offshore
Drilling Deal. The Tranquillon Ridge project in the Santa Barbara
Channel was supported by a number of environmental groups. But
now it looks dead in the water. It isn't just the waters of the
Gulf of Mexico that have been turned murky by the
gulf-oil-spill-the-blame-game. 
Consider its impact on California's offshore waters.
Specifically, an undersea formation in the Santa Barbara Channel
known as Tranquillon Ridge. Posted.
http://www.latimes.com/news/science/la-fi-hiltzik-20100512,0,4641687,print.column

Oil Rig Blast Caused By Gas Hydrates, Berkeley Professor
Believes. UC Berkeley professor Robert Bea says leaked documents
suggest that gas hydrates probably contaminated the cement
encasing the well, allowing natural gas to shoot up a riser pipe
and explode. A UC Berkeley professor who is conducting an
informal assessment of the Deepwater Horizon wellhead blast said
Tuesday that BP documents leaked to him indicate that
contaminants in cement encasing the well were the initial cause
of the explosion that led to the ongoing oil spill in the Gulf of
Mexico. Posted.
http://www.latimes.com/news/science/environment/la-na-oil-spill-cause-20100512,0,2862971,print.story

East Bay Salons Collecting Hair To Aid In Cleaning Of Gulf Coast
Oil Spill. Fremont — Salons throughout the city are collecting
hair that will be used to help clean the massive oil spill on the
Gulf Coast. The hair will be sent to the San Francisco-based
nonprofit Matter of Trust, which uses the donations to create
"hair booms" — stockings or nylon stuffed with hair. Organizers
and volunteers are using the hair booms to soak up oil at clean
up efforts, officials said. Posted.
http://www.contracostatimes.com/environment/ci_15043641

MOTOR VEHICLE

Electric Cycles Hit The Racetrack. A new generation of racing
technology rolled onto Infineon Raceway Tuesday, where sleek,
handcrafted motorcycles reached racetrack speeds while sounding
no louder than a kitchen blender. “Just a low whine,” said Kenyon
Kluge of Santa Cruz, the owner and rider of K Squared Racing.
“That is part of the resistance ... people want the noise.” The
class is Time Trial Xtreme Grand Prix, or TTXGP, and the
motorcycles are electric-powered and a new, loosely regulated
international class that is racing for the first time in the
United States this weekend. Posted.
http://www.pressdemocrat.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20100511/articles/100519897&tc=yahoo&tc=ar&template=printart

Plug-In Prius To Hit San Diego In Summer. Toyota is adding an
electric plug to some of its Prius hybrids in 2012, allowing them
to skip using gasoline, but some San Diego drivers won’t have to
wait that long to drive on electric power. The company says it is
lending some of the cars to institutions in San Diego for lengthy
test-drives designed to see how well the car works in the real
world. San Diego is one of several cities, which are getting a
total of 150 cars for an 18-month test beginning this summer.
Posted.
http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/2010/may/12/plug-in-prius-to-hit-san-diego-in-summer/

FUELS

Tweaking Model Improves Ethanol's Footprint. CALIFORNIA has led
the charge in enforcing stricter air emissions requirements. For
ethanol, an initial analysis from Purdue University made ethanol
seem less attractive at reducing greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions
compared to other alternatives. Now, a revision to the Purdue
economic analysis is showing that ethanol could be a somewhat
better option than previously thought. Posted.
http://sl.farmonline.com.au/news/nationalrural/agribusiness-and-general/general/tweaking-model-improves-ethanols-footprint/1824701.aspx#

MISCELLANEOUS

Bike To Work Day Is Thursday. Bay Area residents are invited to
commute by bicycle Thursday on the region's annual Bike to Work
Day. Volunteers at hundreds of energizer stations throughout the
nine Bay Area counties will give out drinks, snacks and tote bags
to cyclists Thursday morning. Workers can sign up as a company
cycling team. Posted.
http://www.insidebayarea.com/oaklandtribune/localnews/ci_15063285

County Air Quality One Of The Worst In Nation. The latest study
released by the American Lung Association shows Stanislaus County
still has great strides to make in its quest for clean air. The
association’s 2010 State of the Air Report issued a failing grade
to Stanislaus County when it comes to healthy air. The county was
ranked the 10th worst county in the nation for air quality. The
news was just as grim, if not worse, for other California cities
and counties. The report found that Californians breathe some of
the worst air in the nation. Posted.
http://www.turlockjournal.com/news/article/4041/

LA City Council OKs Plan To Turn Dormant Sun Valley Landfill
Into Transfer Station. Three years after the Bradley Landfill in
Sun Valley shut down, the City Council approved the building of a
new transfer station at the facility under a deal hammered out in
lengthy negotiations with wary neighbors. Posted.
http://www.contracostatimes.com/california/ci_15066498?nclick_check=1

Australia to Establish A $652 Million Fund for Renewable Energy.
Australia will spend A $652 million ($588 million) on a fund to
develop renewable energy after shelving its carbon-trading plan
earlier this year. "We will roll out the most substantial
renewable energy plan this country has seen," Treasurer Wayne
Swan said in his budget speech today. "This government accepts
the science of climate change and the need for combined global
and domestic action." Posted.
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/g/a/2010/05/11/bloomberg1376-L2913Q3T6SR6-3.DTL&type=printable

EDF, E.ON Face Nuclear Hurdle From U.K.'s Coalition Government.
E.ON AG, Electricite de France SA and Centrica Plc may find it
harder to build new nuclear reactors in the U.K. because of a
division on energy policy between Conservatives and Liberal
Democrats in the coalition government. The two parties, which
agreed yesterday to combine forces to command a majority in
Parliament, will have to resolve differences on nuclear power
soon to ensure the U.K. has enough electricity in 2020, said Ian
Parrett, energy analyst at the consultant Inenco. Posted.
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/g/a/2010/05/12/bloomberg1376-L2B1YQ0UQVI9-8.DTL&type=printable

Blogs

U.N. Report Warns About The Importance Of Biological Diversity
Protection Measures. Far too many of the world's plants and
animals -- and the wild places that support them -- are at risk
of collapse, a U.N. report (PDF) finds, despite a global goal set
in 2002 for major improvement by this year. Frogs and other
amphibians are most at risk of extinction, coral reefs are the
species deteriorating most rapidly and the survival of nearly a
quarter of all plant species is threatened, the U.N. Convention
on Biological Diversity said Monday in a report issued every four
years. Posted.
http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/unleashed/2010/05/un-biodiversity-report.html

Senate Climate Bill Makes Its Debut Today. Senators John F.
Kerry, Democrat of Massachusetts, and Joseph I. Lieberman,
independent of Connecticut, plan to roll out their long-delayed
proposal to address global warming and energy later today. The
nearly 1,000-page plan provides something for every major player
– loan guarantees for nuclear plant operators, incentives for use
of natural gas in transportation, exemptions from emissions caps
for heavy industry, free pollution permits for utilities, modest
carbon dioxide limits for oil refiners and expansion of offshore
drilling for those states willing to accept the risks. Posted.
http://green.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/05/12/senate-climate-bill-makes-its-debut-today/?pagemode=print