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California Air Resources Board News Clips for August 26, 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.

AB 32

Business Owners, Leaders Back Prop. 23. Local community leaders
and small business owners said Wednesday that Central Coast
commerce and government would be devastated if Proposition 23
does not pass in the November election. The proposition would
suspend Assembly Bill 32, a comprehensive greenhouse gas
reduction program, until the state’s unemployment reaches and
remains at 5.5 percent for at least four quarters. Posted.
http://www.santamariatimes.com/news/local/govt-and-politics/article_65f23098-b0d9-11df-8a40-001cc4c002e0.html?print=1

CLIMATE CHANGE/GHG’S

In Alaska, Doubts About Climate Change Rise With a New
Politician. Alaska's cliffhanger primary is poised to propel a
climate skeptic toward the U.S. Senate, observers say, likely
bolstering the number of nominations achieved by conservative
candidates who challenge manmade global warming. Republican Joe
Miller, a former judge with a Yale law degree, showcased Sen.
Lisa Murkowski's past support for climate legislation, among
other things, before slipping by her at the voting stations
Tuesday to capture a 1,900 vote lead with several thousand
absentee ballots still being counted. Posted.
http://www.nytimes.com/cwire/2010/08/26/26climatewire-in-alaska-doubts-about-climate-change-rise-w-72310.html?pagewanted=print

FUELS

Opinion: ARB On Ethanol: Science Shows Greenhouse Gases Linked To
Land-Use Changes. In a recent article, the California Ethanol
Vehicle Coalition stated that the Air Resources Board is clinging
to “discredited” theories on the impact on global land use
changes associated with the production of corn-based ethanol for
use in transportation fuels. This is not true.  The science
clearly and unequivocally supports the fact that there are
greenhouse gas emissions associated with land use changes
resulting from the growing of corn to produce fuel. Posted.
http://www.capitolweekly.net/article.php?_c=z34h9zbyjkte2q&xid=z34gbk55lc98ug&done=.z34h9zbyjlie2q#

ENERGY

Big California Solar Energy Push Moves Forward. California's
long-awaited boom in solar power plant construction took a major
step forward Wednesday when state regulators approved the first
in a string of projects that will soon blanket thousands of acres
of desert with mirrors harnessing the energy of the sun. The
California Energy Commission unanimously approved the Beacon
Solar Energy Project, which a Florida company plans to build on
the Mojave Desert's western edge. Posted.
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2010/08/26/BUPV1F396C.DTL&type=printable
http://www.eenews.net/Greenwire/print/2010/08/26/4
http://green.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/08/25/california-approves-first-u-s-thermal-solar-plant/?pagemode=print

Bill Would Delay Labels For Calif's TV Rules. Sacramento,
Calif.—A labeling requirement related to the nation's first
energy-efficiency standards for televisions would be delayed by
six months if Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger signs a bill approved by
the California Senate. The bill sent to his desk Wednesday would
push back the deadline for manufacturers to post details about
the energy use of their TVs to July 2011 from January. Posted.
http://www.mercurynews.com/breaking-news/ci_15897474?nclick_check=1

DIESELS

Corning To Hike Filter-Making Capacity In Germany. Corning Inc.
said Thursday it will spend $44 million to increase its capacity
for making light-duty filters in Kaiserslautern, Germany. The
expansion is expected to begin in the second half of 2011.The
company said tighter restrictions on emissions are driving demand
for filters for diesel engines. The company said more than half
the passenger cars in Europe are diesel and will be equipped with
a filter by 2011. The filters are designed to remove soot
particles from diesel vehicle exhaust. Posted.
http://www.businessweek.com/ap/financialnews/D9HR7PS80.htm

MISCELLANEOUS

EPA Rules Will Bar Ships From Discharging Sewage Near California
Coast. EPA officials say the new rules taking effect next year
prohibit cruise and cargo ships from releasing about 20 million
gallons of sewage into coastal waters every year. New federal
regulations will bar cruise vessels and large commercial ships
from discharging sewage within three miles of California's
coastline, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency announced
Wednesday. Posted.
http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-cruise-sewage-20100826,0,5777712,print.story
http://green.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/08/25/keeping-ship-sewage-from-the-california-coast/

Bacteria Seem To Be Doing A Good Cleanup Job In Gulf. Data
collected months ago show populations of carbon-eating bacteria
rising in parts of a plume of oil. Now, in the area where the
bugs were collected, scientists 'do not see detectable oil.' As
efforts continue to clean the oil that gushed from the blown-out
well in the Gulf of Mexico, a team of scientists has found that
nature's microbial helpers are hard at work too — and doing a
better job than researchers had expected. Posted.
http://www.latimes.com/news/science/la-sci-oil-bacteria-20100825,0,1182073,print.story

Prop 26 Pits Corporate Interest “Goliaths” Against Public
Interest “David’s”. Putting a white hat on a November ballot
measure funded almost exclusively by big oil, tobacco, and
alcohol companies is no easy task, but the Yes on Proposition 26
campaign found a way. If approved by voters, the measure would
make it much tougher for state or local government to collect
industry-specific mitigation fees on business activities that
cause harm to the environment or public health. Posted.
http://www.californiaprogressreport.com/site/?q=print/8098

Improving Infrastructure in CA vs. Green At All Costs.
California’s public transportation system has made for ripe
comedic fodder for many years. Particularly in Southern
California, the transit system is a joke on wheels. Over the last
year, however, state leaders have been working to obtain funding
for a high speed rail project to run the length of the state. On
November 23, Governor Schwarzenegger’s Office informed the public
that he, alongside California’s two Democratic senators, sent a
letter to President Obama in an attempt to speed the process of
obtaining federal funding for the transit project. Posted.
http://caivn.org/print/7196

AIR QUALITY

Air Quality Takes A Costly Hit On 110-Degree Day. This week's
sudden heat wave, along with back-to-school traffic, has caused
an ozone spike that air officials had been hoping to avoid this
summer -- and as a result, Valley businesses will owe a $29
million dirty-air penalty next year. The air monitor in Parlier
on Tuesday measured 141 parts per billion of ozone, well above
the federal one-hour threshold of 125 ppb and the Valley's
highest reading of the summer. Posted.
http://www.fresnobee.com/2010/08/25/v-print/2054190/another-triple-digit-day-today.html

BLOGS

San Francisco Shares Its Long List of Green Vendors. In 2005, the
City of San Francisco instituted strict purchasing standards
requiring municipal departments to buy products that met certain
environmental, health and toxicity guidelines. Now the city has
put online the database it has developed over the past five years
to serve as a resource for other cities as well as for corporate
purchasing agents and consumers. Called the SF Approved List, the
Web site lists more than 1,000 products, like bathroom
disinfectants and computer keyboard cleaners, that do not emit
greenhouse gases.  Posted.
http://green.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/08/26/san-francisco-shares-vetted-list-of-green-vendors/?pagemode=print

Global Warming: Can The San Bernardino Flying Squirrel Be Saved?
Environmentalists have petitioned the U.S. Fish and Wildlife
Service to list the San Bernardino flying squirrel, a nocturnal
glider native to Southern California mountains, as an endangered
species, threatened by climate change. The petition, filed
Tuesday by the Tucson-based Center for Biological Diversity,
opens a new front in an effort to combat global warming through
the Endangered Species Act. Posted.
http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/greenspace/2010/08/global-warming-san-bernardino-flying-squirrel.html

Clean Energy Investors, Google Fight Prop. 23. The battle for the
future of California’s landmark climate legislation, AB32, is
heating up, with clean energy investors and venture capital
stepping in to combat this November’s Proposition 23 ballot
initiative. Proposition 23, whose primary backers include oil
companies Valero and Tesoro (and now, the Adam Smith Foundation
of Jefferson City, MO,) aims to “suspend” AB32 by making enaction
contingent on a sustained and unrealistic 5.5% unemployment rate
in California.
http://www.triplepundit.com/2010/08/clean-energy-investors-google-fight-prop-23/