What's New List Serve Post Display

California Air Resources Board News Clips for June 16, 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/GHG’S

Obama Tells Congress To 'Seize The Moment' On Climate
Legislation. President Obama challenged the country last night to
unify behind a "national mission" to reduce its reliance on oil
and coal, using his first Oval Office address to pressure
Congress into acting quickly on clean energy legislation. The
primetime speech sought to confront stinging criticism around the
president's handling of the wayward oil spill in the Gulf of
Mexico, an ongoing catastrophe that has stretched on for nearly
two months, with crude still pouring from the open BP well.
Posted. http://www.eenews.net/climatewire/print/2010/06/16/1
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/06/16/us/politics/16obama.html?ref=politics

Head To Head: Should California Suspend AB 32, Its 2006 Global
Warming Law? THE ISSUE: A 2006 law, Assembly Bill 32, requires
California to roll back greenhouse gas emissions to 1990 levels
by 2020. A proposed ballot initiative backed by two Texas oil
companies would block the state from carrying out AB 32 until the
state's unemployment rate falls to 5.5 percent or less for four
consecutive quarters. Pia Lopez: No California has been a
national economic leader in new technology-driven industries –
from information technology to biotechnology. Posted.
http://www.sacbee.com/2010/06/16/v-print/2825292/head-to-head-should-california.html

Dan Walters: Debate Heats Up Over Greenhouse Gas Measure. A
great debate has been under way for months over whether
California's leading role in reducing greenhouse gas emissions
would reap rich economic returns or retard recovery from deep
recession. The debate will intensify in the coming months as
voters decide the fate of a ballot measure that would suspend
implementation of Assembly Bill 32, California's landmark
anti-global warming law, and as gubernatorial candidates Democrat
Jerry Brown and Republican Meg Whitman argue. Posted.
http://www.sacbee.com/2010/06/16/v-print/2825714/dan-walters-debate-heats-up-over.html

Climate Bill Heads Into Choppy Waters With New Cargo, A Price
Tag. The Senate's leading climate bill would cost households up
to $146 a year, according to a government analysis that promises
to sharpen the debate around pricing carbon emissions as
lawmakers race into a tight election-year schedule. Sens. John
Kerry (D-Mass.) and Joe Lieberman (I-Conn.) used the report by
U.S. EPA to steer their bill back into the spotlight, hoping to
fend off competing Democratic energy initiatives that threaten to
eliminate their plan to put a price on carbon. Posted.
http://www.eenews.net/climatewire/print/2010/06/16/2

How Do You Count Climate Adaptation Money? Wealthy countries
have exceeded their goals for short-term climate change
assistance to vulnerable nations -- at least on paper. The United
States and other industrialized nations have so far collectively
pledged $31.32 billion by 2012 to help countries mitigate
emissions, avoid deforestation and cope with the impacts of
global warming, according to a World Resources Institute (WRI)
analysis. That's slightly more than countries at Copenhagen
promised last year. But, WRI researchers found, the pledges don't
tell the whole story. Posted.
http://www.eenews.net/climatewire/print/2010/06/16/4

Climate Splitting Democrats. Senate Republicans fell short,
47-53, of overturning the Environmental Protection Agency’s
authority to regulate greenhouse gases, but exposed a significant
split among Democrats that may bode ill for passage this year of
comprehensive energy and climate-change legislation. Posted.
http://www.vvdailypress.com/opinion/splitting-19924-overturning-agency.html


Obama to Consider Range of Options for Senate Climate and Energy
Bill. President Obama used his first primetime Oval Office
address to tout the need for a climate and energy bill, but he
skimped on details about what the White House wants in Senate
legislation. Backers of a comprehensive energy and climate bill
hoped the president would lay out a road map as the Senate
prepares for a summer floor debate, but Obama offered few
specifics and may have lent credence to a "smorgasbord" measure
combining aspects of various bills -- including a renewable
electricity standard and increasing energy efficiency but not
necessarily including a cap on greenhouse gas emissions. Posted.
http://www.nytimes.com/cwire/2010/06/16/16climatewire-obama-to-consider-range-of-options-for-senat-93744.html

U.S. Dominated '09 Voluntary Carbon Trading On Expectations Of
Climate Bill. As prospects for a U.S. climate bill faded,
speculative trading in the voluntary carbon credit market
continued growing in 2009 on anticipation that a proposed
cap-and-trade program had the legs to overcome political hurdles.
Speculative trading of pre-compliance credits designed to prepare
companies for a U.S. program accounted for the biggest share of
buying and selling in the 2009 voluntary market, according to a
joint study by Ecosystem Marketplace and Bloomberg New Energy
Finance. Posted.
http://www.eenews.net/climatewire/print/2010/06/16/5

Japan Looks To Pass Climate Bill Before U.N. Conference. Japan
will try to pass its long-delayed emission reduction targets in
advance of the U.N. meeting on climate change in Mexico later
this year, the environment minister announced yesterday. The
government had hoped to pass the bill during the current session
of Parliament, but time ran out for deliberations. The bill will
now be resubmitted to Parliament after an election expected on
July 11. Environment Minister Sakihito Ozawa said he wanted the
bill passed before the U.N. meetings begin on Nov. 29 to show the
country's "determination" on climate policy. Posted.
http://www.eenews.net/climatewire/print/2010/06/16/10

CLU Report Says Green Law May Hurt Economy. Californians need to
acknowledge the full consequences of the state’s efforts to
reduce greenhouse gas emissions and accept the reality “that the
net result of green policies may be negative for the economy,”
says a report released today by the California Lutheran
University Center for Economic Research and Forecasting. The
report, co-authored by the center’s director, economist Bill
Watkins, was commissioned by the California Manufacturers and
Technology Association. Posted.
http://www.vcstar.com/news/2010/jun/15/clu-report-says-green-policies-will-hurt-economy/?print=1

Climate Change May Cause Alps To Become More Dangerous, Study
Suggests. Climate change may cause the Alps to see more heat
waves, floods and avalanches, making the famous peaks more
dangerous for mountaineers and skiers. Heat waves, floods,
avalanches and other deadly natural disasters could become more
common in mountainous regions thanks to climate change, a new
study suggests, making the famous peaks more dangerous for
mountaineers and skiers. Extreme weather events are predicted to
become more frequent on a warmer Earth. Posted.
http://www.csmonitor.com/layout/set/print/content/view/print/308471

RAILYARD

San Bernardino Rail Yard Cleanup Plan Unveiled. A proposed
air-pollution cleanup plan for the BNSF Railway yard in San
Bernardino calls for slashing 85 percent of diesel emissions that
drift into a nearby neighborhood. People who live near the BNSF
operation in southwest San Bernardino faced an increased cancer
risk because of the pollution -- an additional 2,500 cases per
million people, based on a lifetime of exposure -- worse than any
other rail yard in the state. Most of the emissions reductions
outlined in the plan would result from state and federal rules
already in place to curb pollution from locomotives, trucks and
other equipment. Posted.
http://www.pe.com/business/local/stories/PE_News_Local_D_railair16.2590ceb.html

GREEN ENERGY

Brown Sets Far-Reaching Renewable-Energy Goals. When he was
California's governor in the 1970s, Jerry Brown won plaudits -
and mockery in some quarters - for being one of the first
politicians to champion renewable sources of energy like solar
and wind. Now Brown is pitching a new round of clean-energy goals
as part of his current run for governor - and himself as a
wizened political veteran who knows how to slice through the
bureaucracy to make them happen and bring what he estimated to be
500,000 jobs to California over the next decade. Posted.
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2010/06/16/BAP51DVPH8.DTL&type=printable

Green Group Asserts Biomass-Fired Power Plants Will Destroy
Forests. Fueling more U.S. power plants with woody products could
amount to the loss of 30 million acres of trees and spew 4.7
billion tons of carbon emissions into the atmosphere by 2025, a
new report finds. The Environmental Working Group analysis states
that meeting the surge in biomass plant demands will require
cutting down and burning large tracts of forests. It follows a
report last week commissioned by Massachusetts that upended
long-standing assumptions that biomass power plants were a
"carbon neutral" alternative to coal-fired power plants. Posted.
http://www.eenews.net/climatewire/print/2010/06/16/3

Obama's Uncertain 'Battle Plan' President Barack Obama declared
war on the Gulf oil spill Tuesday. Too bad so many of his troops
are still waiting for a clear battle plan. Presidents often save
the Oval Office address for matters of war and peace, and Obama’s
decision to speak to the nation from behind his desk Tuesday
night conveyed the image of a leader on wartime footing. Yet by
raising the stakes so high — and framing the environmental crisis
as a “battle” and a “siege” — he underscored the threat the spill
poses not only to the Gulf but to his own credibility as
president after nine weeks of failure, criticism and frustration.
Posted.
http://dyn.politico.com/printstory.cfm?uuid=3E3BA67D-18FE-70B2-A80ADEEA5C2CAFE2

Green Cleaning Is The Tupperware Of The 21st Century. It took
Melody Graves just a few seconds to whip a pile of baking soda
and liquid castile soap into a light and fluffy white cloud. "You
know it's done when it looks like buttercream frosting," she
said. The concoction looked good enough to eat, but it was never
intended to be spread on anything other than the kitchen sink, or
maybe the bathroom tub. The creamy soft scrub that Graves made
was just one of the recipes presented during a recent
green-cleaning party. Posted.
http://www.sacbee.com/2010/06/16/v-print/2826330/green-cleaning-is-the-tupperware.html

Mayor's Green Initiative Team Starts Work On Plan. Mayor Kevin
Johnson's green initiative team met Tuesday at Sacramento City
College to begin outlining its plan for the next several months.
The team discussed what plans and initiatives are taking place in
the region to help attract green technology jobs and foster
sustainable living. The goal of Johnson's initiative is to make
Sacramento a hub for clean technology firms. Posted.
http://www.modbee.com/2010/06/16/1211751/mayors-green-initiative-team-starts.html#ixzz0r2AxWRNi

PORTS

Long Beach Port Emitted Fewer Air Pollutants In '09. In 2009,
the Port of Long Beach, Calif., improved air quality for the
third-straight year, with some pollutant emissions declining up
to or more than 50 percent, according to an emissions inventory
report released Monday. Diesel particulate matter emissions fell
52 percent, sulfur oxide emissions dropped 46 percent and
nitrogen oxide emissions decreased 35 percent compared with 2008
levels. Posted.
http://www.progressiverailroading.com/news/article.asp?id=23601

AIR POLLUTION

EPA Lists Areas Exceeding Tougher Lead Limits. Parts of 12
states have failed to meet stricter airborne lead standards put
in place by the George W. Bush administration, U.S. EPA said
yesterday in preliminary advice to states. The national air
quality standard for lead, tightened in 2008 for the first time
in 30 years, allows 0.15 micrograms of lead per cubic meter --
one-tenth the previous limit. EPA is slated to make some final
nonattainment decisions in October, followed by another round
next year, with yesterday's letters to states highlighting some
areas of the country that are likely to come up short. The
letters list 20 counties with airborne lead hotspots, 16 of which
had been recommended by state agencies. Posted.
http://www.eenews.net/Greenwire/print/2010/06/16/12

ETHANOL

California Gets A Look At Greener Ethanol Numbers This Week.
Most farmers are painfully aware that corn prices have been
trending down for much of this spring, even as the ethanol
industry recovers and expands its use of the grain to make fuel.
California doesn't know. At least officially, at the California
Air Resources Board, or CARB. CARB is in charge of a state law
that aims to lower the carbon emissions from fuels 10% by 2020.
Posted.
http://www.agriculture.com/ag/story.jhtml?storyid=/templatedata/ag/story/data/1276636823240.xml



VEHICLES

Prototype Prius Plug-In Getting Road Tests. The plug-in Prius
has arrived. Well, the prototype has, at least. Toyota Motor
Sales presented the Silicon Valley Leadership Group in San Jose
with three plug-in versions of the company's Prius hybrid car on
Tuesday. Toyota will loan 150 of the cars to organizations
nationwide for the next 18 months to see how they perform on the
road. The results will help Toyota spot any kinks in the plug-in
Prius before it goes on sale in 2012. Posted.
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2010/06/16/BU391DVH6Q.DTL&type=printable

Tesla Motors Hopes To Raise At Least $178M In Much-Anticipated
IPO. Palo Alto's Tesla Motors now hopes to raise at least $178
million in its much-anticipated IPO. In a regulatory filing with
the Securities and Exchange Commission, the electric-car maker
said it hopes to raise at least $178 million by selling 11.1
million shares of common stock to the public. Earlier, it had
given a target of $100 million. Tesla said it expects the shares
to price from $14 to $16 each. Posted.
http://www.mercurynews.com/bay-area-news/ci_15301463?source=rss

BLOGS

Can You Solve Global Warming Without Talking About Global
Warming? To expand a bit on a point I made on Rachel Maddow's
show, I'm just not sure how you do a response to climate change
if you can't really say the words "climate change." And that's
where we are right now: The actual problem we're trying to solve
is politically, if not scientifically, controversial. And so
politicians, rather than continuing to try to convince the
American people that we need to do something about it, have
started talking about more popular policies that are related to
solving climate change. Posted.
http://voices.washingtonpost.com/ezra-klein/2010/06/can_you_solve_global_warming_w.html

Texas Oil Company Pumps More Cash Into Delay Of Global Warming
Law. Valero Energy Corp. has given hundreds of thousands of
dollars in additional contributions to a November ballot
initiative that would suspend California’s global warming law
until unemployment falls significantly. Valero, a Texas-based oil
company, has been the largest contributor to the campaign,
donating more than $500,000 since February. This month, in
filings with the secretary of state's office, the California Jobs
Initiative acknowledged two more contributions from Valero
totaling $550,000, bringing the company's total contributions to
the campaign to more than $1 million. Posted.
http://www.californiawatch.org/watchblog/oil-company-dumps-more-money-anti-global-warming-initiative

EPA Evaluates the American Power Act. Both the Congressional
Budget Office and the Environmental Protection Agency are a
little weird when it comes to climate change. They score costs,
but not benefits. There are good methodological reasons for this.
But it's a bit like looking at food based only off its
possibility of making you fat, not its ability to feed you. It's
not totally wrong, but just as humans wouldn't be eating food if
we had no need to eat, there'd be no effort to price carbon if we
didn't need to avert climate change. Posted.
http://voices.washingtonpost.com/ezra-klein/2010/06/epa_evaluates_the_american_pow.html