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California Air Resources Board News Clips for May 18, 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

Senate Climate Bill Under A Cloud. The following editorial
appeared in the Los Angeles Times on Monday, May 17: Seldom have
we encountered a bill that we hated to love as much as the
American Power Act, the long-awaited climate and energy bill
unveiled last week by Sens. John F. Kerry, D-Mass., and Joe
Lieberman, I-Conn. It is simultaneously a gift to polluters and
the most significant step ever taken by this nation to solve the
world's most pressing environmental problem. It is a gorgeous
mess. Posted.
http://www.sacbee.com/2010/05/18/v-print/2758543/senate-climate-bill-under-a-cloud.html

WWF Emerges as Leading Lobbyist on Senate Climate Bill. An
environmental group that made its name battling on behalf of
pandas, polar bears and pelicans now is fighting for what it
fears is a politically imperiled species: U.S. climate
legislation that has a global perspective. The World Wildlife
Fund spent the past year lobbying zealously for a bill that would
provide assistance preserving forests, funds to spark demand for
clean technologies in developing countries and money to help the
most vulnerable countries adapt to climate-induced changes.
Posted.
http://www.nytimes.com/gwire/2010/05/18/18greenwire-wwf-emerges-as-leading-lobbyist-on-senate-clima-9600.html?pagewanted=print

Analyst's Report: AB 32 Will Hurt California Economy. A report
by the state Legislative Analyst's Office forecasts a significant
impact on some parts of California's economy from AB32, but
concludes the exact impact is hard to calculate, and the overall
impact on the economy will be modest. The analysis, commissioned
by Assemblyman Dan Logue, R-Linda, looked largely at how the
measure to curb the state's carbon emissions would compel
economic leakage to other states and countries if California had
a "go-it-alone" approach to global warming. Posted.
http://www.appeal-democrat.com/common/printer/view.php?db=marysville&id=94991

OPINION

OPINION: Senate Climate Bill Under A Cloud. Although the
Kerry-Lieberman measure is deeply flawed, its positives far
outweigh its negatives. Seldom have we encountered a bill that we
hated to love as much as the American Power Act, the long-awaited
climate and energy bill unveiled last week by Sens. John F. Kerry
(D-Mass.) and Joe Lieberman (I-Conn.). It is simultaneously a
gift to polluters and the most significant step ever taken by
this nation to solve the world's most pressing environmental
problem. Posted.
http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/editorials/la-ed-climate-20100517,0,5218941,print.story
VESSELS

Low-Emission Ferry Joins Fleet. Oakland - In 1851, riding a
ferry from the foot of Broadway across the Bay to San Francisco
cost $1. Horses, wagons and cattle cost $3. Today, the boats
carry workday commuters who, under an ambitious expansion plan 10
years in the making, could soon choose to travel far beyond those
two destinations in high-speed, earth-friendly vessels. The
latest addition to the fleet of four new low-emission ferries
made its maiden voyage in Bay Area waters Monday not far from
Oakland's original ferry stop. Posted.
http://www.insidebayarea.com/oaklandtribune/localnews/ci_15103887

ENERGY

Scientists Weigh Use Of Bacteria For Cleaner Fossil Fuel
Production. Much of the world's oil reserves lies in giant tar
sand stretches in places like Alberta and Venezuela. While the
oil industry uses an energy-intensive and fairly dirty process to
make steam to cook the oil out of the tar sands, underground
bacteria simply eat the crude oil and break it down into methane,
or natural gas. In nature, that process takes millions of years.
A small group of cross-disciplinary microbiologists with their
feet both in the oil industry and academic geochemistry wants to
speed up the work. Posted.
http://www.eenews.net/climatewire/print/2010/05/18/1

VEHICLES

Honda 'Lacks Confidence' in Electric-Car Demand (Update1). Honda
Motor Co. remains skeptical about demand for electric cars 10
years after it stopped selling its EV Plus battery-powered model,
the head of research at Japan's second-largest carmaker said. "We
lack confidence" in the electric-vehicle business, Tomohiko
Kawanabe, president of Honda's research and development unit,
said in an interview in Wako City, northwest of Tokyo. "It's
questionable whether consumers will accept the annoyances of
limited driving range and having to spend time charging them."
Posted.
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/g/a/2010/05/17/bloomberg1376-L2LQ9K0UQVI9-3.DTL&type=printable

AIR POLLUTION

Move To Regulate Farms To Ease Nitrate Problem. Farmers and
state officials are exploring solutions to nitrate pollution in
heavily impacted parts of the state, including regulating Central
Valley farmers who rely on commercial fertilizer. "The largest
problem is irrigated agriculture," said Jean Moran, professor of
earth and environmental science at Cal State East Bay and a
former research scientist at Lawrence Livermore National
Laboratory. Posted.
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2010/05/17/MNLC1DCRM0.DTL&type=printable

BLOGS

Air Pollution Raises Blood Pressure. My blood pressure just
jumped up: People who live in urban areas are more likely to have
hypertension, and the effects are greater in women than men,
according to German researchers. The scientists reported their
findings at the current meeting of the American Thoracic Society
in New Orleans. Though you could imagine all kinds of stresses
are linked to city dwelling, this study — of 5,000 people who
were part of something called the Heinz Nixdorf Recall Study —
fingers fine particulates in the atmosphere. Blood pressure ups
and downs correlated with higher or lower levels of these
particulates. Posted.
http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/booster_shots/2010/05/air-pollution-raises-blood-pressure.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+BoosterShots+%28Booster+Shots%29

Spotlight on Climate Science Panel. After months of controversy,
a review of the workings of the United Nations’ main scientific
body on climate change has just gotten under way in Amsterdam.
Over the next few months, a 12-member panel of scientific experts
will analyze the makeup, procedures and conduct of the body,
known as the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate
Change. The review, organized by Britain’s InterAcademy Council,
was requested at a meeting of the United Nations Environment
Program in February, and the findings are due in August. Posted.
http://green.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/05/17/spotlight-on-u-n-climate-panel/?pagemode=print