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California Air Resources Board News Clips for July 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.

CLIMATE CHANGE/GHG’S

British Climate Researchers Had High Scientific Standards,
Review Finds. Scientists in the 'Climategate' affair failed to
respond to critics in an open manner, but did not manipulate
climate data, panel says. Climate-change researchers at a British
university failed to respond to critics in an open manner but
hewed to high standards in their science and did not manipulate
their data, according to findings released Wednesday of an
independent review of hundreds of hacked e-mails. Posted.
http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/world/la-fg-britain-climategate-20100708,0,2326050,print.story

Western Climate Group Sees Carbon Cuts And Savings. Vancouver -
A coalition of U.S. states and Canadian provinces planning a
cap-and-trade market to curb carbon emissions can meet their
environmental goals and reap modest cost savings, a study
released on Wednesday said. The analysis by the Western Climate
Initiative (WCI) said the effort to foster a clean-energy economy
can significantly reduce emissions of the greenhouse gases linked
to climate change and achieve about $100 billion in net savings
by 2010. Posted.
http://af.reuters.com/article/energyOilNews/idAFN0716880420100707

OPINION: After Three Strikes, Is The Climategate Scandal Out?
The New York Times reports Wednesday that a third independent
panel of experts has cleared the scientists behind the notorious
"Climategate" e-mails of any scientific improprieties. The report
also defends the actions of East Anglia University
administrators, and says the work there didn't weaken the global
warming evaluation made by the embattled Intergovermental Panel
on Climate Change. Will the new report shore up support for
climate legislation in Washington? Posted.
http://opinion.latimes.com/opinionla/2010/07/after-three-strikes-is-the-climategate-scandal-out.html

Do Enviros Need To Reassess Their Big-Picture Climate Strategy?
Yesterday, I asked seven of Grist's favorite journos and wonks
what policies reformers should focus on this year now that
chances for a cap-and-trade bill appear dim. Read their answers.
Today, they grapple with a broader question. Today's question:
Given that the pursuit of cap-and-trade has fallen short yet
again, is there reason for energy reformers to reassess their
broad legislative strategy? Posted.
http://www.grist.org/article/2010-07-08-do-enviros-need-to-reassess-their-big-picture-climate-strategy/PALL/print

AIR POLLUTION

OPINION: Breathing The Filth. Hydrocarbons In The Air Are More
Toxic Than Oil In The Gulf. What a relief it will be when the oil
leak in the Gulf of Mexico gets plugged, ending the colossal mess
caused by gushing crude. Or will it? Once the spill stops, oil
will resume flowing as it always has, to be burned in engines,
released to the sky and breathed deep into our bodies. We know
now that these emissions contribute to a longer-term and perhaps
ultimately more dangerous form of pollution — climate change.
Posted.
http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/commentary/la-oe-polakovic-20100708,0,7933558,print.story

Pollution? What Pollution? Beijing - Every day, the weather page
of the popular New Beijing News gives lots of helpful advice,
should readers wish to exercise early in the morning, climb a
mountain or wash their car. But like other major newspapers in
one of the most polluted cities in the world, it doesn’t tell
them something really important: how clean is the air? This week,
temperatures topped 40 degrees Celsius (104 degrees Fahrenheit).
“Wear short sleeves,” it urged, next to a helpful drawing of a
golf shirt. Posted.
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/07/09/world/asia/09iht-letter.html?_r=1&pagewanted=print

Industry Chafes Against Public Disclosure Of GHG Data. Companies
concerned that disclosing their greenhouse gas emissions data
will also give competitors a window into their trade secrets
received little solace yesterday when U.S. EPA formally laid out
exactly what emissions data will be open to public scrutiny. In a
proposed rule published in the Federal Register, EPA said it
plans to make public all data on a facility's location, the
quantity of emissions, the methodology for how emissions numbers
were calculated and any explanations for why data might be
missing. Posted.
http://www.eenews.net/climatewire/print/2010/07/08/3

EPA Agrees to Review Air Pollution Rules for 28 Industries. In
response to a challenge from environmentalists, U.S. EPA has
agreed to examine its air pollution rules for 28 industry sectors
within the next eight years, setting the stage for review of the
emissions control technologies used by large sectors including
the paper, furniture and aerospace industries. Posted.
http://www.nytimes.com/gwire/2010/07/07/07greenwire-epa-agrees-to-review-air-pollution-rules-for-2-46627.html?pagewanted=print

ENERGY

Germany Could Give Up Fossil Fuels By 2050 – Agency. Germany
could be the first nation to derive all of its electricity from
renewable energy by 2050, according to the country's Federal
Environment Agency. "A complete conversion to renewable energy by
2050 is possible from a technical and ecological point of view,"
said Jochen Flasbarth, president of the agency. The country
already gets 16 percent of its energy from wind, solar and other
sources. Posted.
http://www.eenews.net/climatewire/print/2010/07/08/9

FUELS

Opinion: Ethanol Is A Fuel Alternative That Fits Our Domestic
Infrastructure. Last month, the United States Environmental
Protection Agency (EPA) delayed action yet again on allowing an
increase in the amount of ethanol that can be blended with
gasoline. Raising the ethanol blend allowance in gasoline from 10
percent to 15 percent is in the best interest of our state, our
country, our economy and our environment. And, contrary to myths,
higher ethanol blends will not harm vehicle engines. In fact,
there has been more testing of E15 than there has been of any
other fuel additive in the history of the EPA waiver process.
Posted.
http://www.capitolweekly.net/article.php?_c=yyycu1bjuc92zk&xid=yywu0guiho1yey&done=.yyycu1bjucw2zk#

ELECTRIC VEHICLES

Calif. Punting the Prius, Hybrids from HOV Lanes. Special access
for hybrid cars to expire at the end of 2010. You may remember
that in California, 85,000 lucky owners of three hybrid vehicles
were granted special stickers giving them access to
High-Occupancy Vehicle lanes, even with only a single occupant in
the car. Well, their luck runs out on December 31, the last day
those stickers are valid. While Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger
signed a bill yesterday that extends certain HOV-Lane Access
stickers for four more years, the ones for hybrids aren't
included. Posted.
http://www.foxnews.com/leisure/2010/07/08/calif-punting-prius-hybrids-hov-lanes/

OPINION: Roadshow: Carpool Perk For Plug-In Hybrids Could Change
The Way We Drive. Getting 71.3 mpg should have made me happy as I
tested a Prius plug-in hybrid for the past two weeks. It didn't.
I wanted more. And Sacramento may be poised to give us more. Gov.
Arnold Schwarzenegger signed Assembly Bill 1500 Wednesday,
extending the perk that allows electric vehicles and those
running on compressed natural gas with white carpool stickers to
be driven by solo drivers in California diamond lanes until 2015.
Posted. http://www.mercurynews.com/opinion/ci_15463342

Electric-Car Lovers Already Lining Up For Tesla's Model S Sedan.
Venture capitalist Steve Jurvetson was skimming the information
packet for his Tesla Motors board of directors meeting last year
when he hit pay dirt about page 50. Spotting details for the
Model S sedan that the electric-car company had on the drawing
boards, he knew he had to have one. Better yet, he had to have
the first one. Posted.
http://www.insidebayarea.com/oaklandtribune/localnews/ci_15462309?source=rss

Santa Rosa's Zap merges with China's Jonway. The partnership
between a small Santa Rosa electric vehicle manufacturer and a
Chinese motorbike manufacturer is now a full-blown marriage. Zap
Inc., known for a range of inexpensive, urban-oriented
all-electric cars and trucks, announces today a $60 million
merger with Jonway Automobile Co. Ltd., a subsidiary of China's
Jonway Group. The combined company, to be known as Zap Jonway,
will be 51 percent-owned by Zap. Posted.
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2010/07/08/BUC81EAOTE.DTL&type=printable

BLOGS

San Francisco Home To Most Green Jobs In The Nation. So much for
criticism that California's environmental leadership — notably AB
32 — kills jobs: The state has the most green-collar jobs of any
in the nation, and San Francisco leads the Golden State with
42,000 positions. For a city with a population of 809,000, that's
pretty impressive. Posted. 
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/blogs/green/detail?&entry_id=67217#ixzz0t6vboxET

The Link Between Record-Breaking Global Heat Waves and Climate
Change. Can you say that a particularly massive heatwave -- or
any single weather event, for that matter -- is caused by climate
change? Nope. Now, is there a link between a trend of
record-breaking hot temperatures over the years and climate
change? Indeed. There's a fine line between the two, and it's a
fine line that makes it tough for the media to successfully
discuss the correlation between, say, a miserable heatwave that's
currently sweeping the East Coast and the greater phenomenon of
human-caused global warming. Posted.
http://www.treehugger.com/files/2010/07/link-record-breaking-global-heat-waves-climate-change.php