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newsclips -- Newsclips for October 21, 2010.

Posted: 21 Oct 2010 12:12:22
California Air Resources Board News Clips for October 21, 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.
AIR POLLUTION

Paying To Pollute? New Smog Fee Proposed. Drivers in the San
Joaquin Valley may soon be paying to pollute with a new smog fee
attached to yearly vehicle registration.  The San Joaquin Valley
Air Pollution Control District says the recommended surcharge
could be $10 to $24 and will go into a fund for pollution control
efforts. The exhausting problem started this past summer, when
the federal government fined the Valley for exceeded ozone
emissions limits. Posted.
http://www.news10.net/news/local/story.aspx?storyid=101809&catid=29
http://www.modbee.com/2010/10/20/1392567/air-board-ponders-tighter-rules.html
                                     
http://www.bakersfieldnow.com/news/local/105399183.html 

San Joaquin Valley Air Pollution Control District ponders tighter
rules. Air quality officials today will consider expanding rules
aimed at reducing emissions from dairy farms and other livestock
operations. The board of the San Joaquin Valley Air Pollution
Control District will take up the issue at its Fresno
headquarters. People in the north valley can address the board
via a video feed in Modesto. The rules, adopted in 2006, deal
with volatile organic compounds, which mix with other pollutants
and sunlight to form smog.. Posted.
http://www.sacbee.com/2010/10/20/v-print/3120378/san-joaquin-valley-air-pollution.html

Tehama to Consider Air Pollution Fees. Nearly a year after
rejecting an initial proposal, Tehama County supervisors are
poised to vote next week on a set of new-construction fees aimed
at reducing air pollution. Under the latest plan the so-called
indirect source fees would be phased in, charged at 50 percent
starting July 1 with the full amount kicking in Jan. 1, 2012.
That means, for example, developers would pay $172 per
single-family home during the initial six-month period before the
fee goes to $344. Posted.
http://www.redding.com/news/2010/oct/20/tehama-to-consider-air-pollution-fees/

Release Of Divisive EPA Ozone Regs Seen As Unlikely Before
Election. With Election Day less than two weeks away and
Republicans rallying around their opposition to U.S. EPA
regulations, the agency is expected to wait before it tightens
the nationwide limit on ozone pollution. At issue is the Obama
administration's revision of the National Ambient Air Quality
Standards (NAAQS) for ground-level ozone, which is linked to
breathing problems and heart disease. Posted.
http://www.eenews.net/Greenwire/print/2010/10/21/1

CLIMATE CHANGE

Gates Gives $700,000 To No On 23 Campaign. Bill Gates, the
nation's wealthiest man, has donated $700,000 to the campaign
opposing the rollback of the state's landmark climate change law.
Gates, Microsoft Corp.'s co-founder is the latest high-tech
billionaire to back the state's 4-year-old greenhouse gas
reduction law. Last week, Google Inc. co-founder Sergey Brin
contributed $200,000 to the No on 23 committee while Intel Corp.
co-founder Gordon Moore contributed $1 million. Posted.
http://www.sacbee.com/2010/10/21/v-print/3119960/gates-gives-700000-to-no-on-23.html
http://www.fresnobee.com/2010/10/20/2125942/bill-gates-contributes-700000.html#ixzz130je9hZr

UofA to head SW Climate Science Center. The University of Arizona
will head the Southwest Climate Science Center. It's one of eight
regional centers being set up by the U.S. Department of the
Interior to assess the impact of climate change on natural and
cultural resources. The Arizona Daily Star says the UofA will set
up the center with a five-year, $3.1 million grant. The effort
will bring together university and federal researchers. Also
involved are researchers from UCLA, the University of
Colorado-Boulder, University of California-Davis, the Desert
Research Institute in Reno, Nev., and the Scripps Institution of
Oceanography at UC San Diego. Posted.
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/n/a/2010/10/20/state/n171632D18.DTL&type=science

California Vote Has Canadian Green Partners on Edge. Canadian
provinces moving to cut their greenhouse gas emissions are facing
a setback if California, a key partner, decides the battle
against global warming should wait for better economic times.
British Columbia, Quebec, and Ontario plan to launch a carbon
cap-and-trade market with California and New Mexico in 2012 -- a
market scheduled to be joined later by Manitoba and at least four
additional U.S. states. Posted.
http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSTRE69J5FA20101020

U.K. ‘Stealth’ Carbon Tax May Add 10% to Company Energy Bills.
The U.K. Treasury’s decision to keep about 3.5 billion pounds
($5.5 billion) from a carbon-cutting program for large
electricity users may add 10 percent to energy bills for
universities, hospitals and shops. The change, announced by the
Treasury yesterday after Chancellor of the Exchequer George
Osborne’s spending review, will add about a tenth more to the
bills of the program’s participants, said Ben Wielgus, lead
adviser on the program for the accounting firm KPMG. Posted.
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/print/2010-10-21/u-k-stealth-carbon-tax-may-add-10-to-company-energy-bills.html

Poll Has Calif. Climate Referendum Headed For Defeat. A
California ballot measure that would derail the state's climate
change law by linking it to the worst unemployment figures in a
generation is headed for defeat in less than two weeks' time,
according a poll out from the Public Policy Institute of
California. In a survey conducted Oct. 10-17, the nonpartisan
research organization found that 48 percent of those polled
intend to vote "no" on Proposition 23, which would suspend the
climate law until unemployment drops to 5.5 percent for a full
year. Posted.
http://www.eenews.net/climatewire/print/2010/10/21/3

Californians to Vote on Greenhouse Gas Law . On November 2,
Californians will cast a critical vote pertaining to the balance
of environmental policy with economic stability. A state ballot
initiative, Proposition 23 (The California Jobs Initiative),
would suspend implementation of A.B. 32, the Global Warming
Solutions Act of 2006, until the state’s unemployment rate
records four consecutive quarters at 5.5% or lower. NACS fully
supports this initiative, which highlights the need to balance
environmental regulations with economic stability. Posted.
http://www.nacsonline.com/NACS/News/Daily/Pages/ND102110.aspx

DIESEL 

Clean Diesel, Upcoming GHG Standards Topics at Washington, D.C.,
Event. This political season is full of angry noise about
intrusive, wasteful government regulation, but on Tuesday a choir
of businessmen and regulators gathered in Washington, D.C., to
sing praises of each other. Truck and engine manufacturers joined
with environmental activists and the Environmental Protection
Agency to celebrate a successful, decade-long effort to build a
clean diesel engine -- and to look ahead to upcoming fuel
efficiency standards. Posted.
http://www.truckinginfo.com/news/news-detail.asp?news_id=71990

FUELS

State Dept. Poised To Approve Oil-Sands Pipeline. Secretary of
State Hillary Rodham Clinton appears ready to approve an oil
pipeline stretching from Canada to Texas that has been decried by
environmentalists for its potential to increase greenhouse gas
emissions. In remarks in San Francisco, Clinton said "we've not
yet signed off on it. But we are inclined to do so" in reference
to the Canada-United States pipeline, known as Keystone XL.
Posted. http://www.eenews.net/climatewire/print/2010/10/21/6

GREEN ENERGY

SF Opens up Green Power Grid to Boats. Anyone who's watched the
picturesque ferries chugging across the bay has probably noticed
that there's something not-so-picturesque about them: plumes of
exhaust. In an effort to cut down on emissions in the Bay, San
Francisco has unveiled technology to connect boats to the city's
power grid. Only three other ports in the world offer such a
feature, with Los Angeles and San Diego expecting to follow suit
soon. It took five years to make San Francisco's new electrical
connection possible. Posted.
http://www.nbcbayarea.com/news/green/SF-Opens-up-Green-Power-Grid-to-Boats-104512769.html

Porterville Solar Facility To Power 4,300 Homes. By the end of
the year, Porterville will become home to California’s largest
utility-owned photovoltaic solar facility generating enough power
for 4,300 homes in the area. The first of the 29,000 solar panels
was put in place last week at the 34-acre project site adjacent
to the Porterville Municipal Airport. Posted.
http://www.thebusinessjournal.com/energy/6827-porterville-solar-facility-to-power-4300-homes

Calif. Gets More Time To Deliver Stimulus Cash For Retrofits. The
Obama administration has granted California a reprieve from
today's deadline for delivering $33 million in stimulus cash for
energy efficiency retrofits. The state's distribution of the cash
is hung up by a lawsuit, which led last week to a temporary
injunction against its plan to link homeowners with incentives
and contractors via a new website, Energy Upgrade California.
Posted. http://www.eenews.net/Greenwire/print/2010/10/21/14

Concerns Rise That A GOP Wave Could Wash Away State Climate
Policies. A liberal advocacy group warns that state climate
policies may suffer if Republicans win gubernatorial races in key
battleground states. But those rollbacks would be difficult to
achieve, says an outgoing Democratic governor, who likened such
reversals to a "magic act." At stake in the coming elections are
several state renewable energy standards, says the Center for
American Progress Action Fund. Posted.
http://www.eenews.net/climatewire/print/2010/10/21/4

VEHICLES

GM Unveils Compressed Natural Gas Cargo Vans. General Motors
unveiled a compressed natural gas cargo van this week at the
Green Fleet Conference in San Diego, indicating the company's
primary fuel preference for a new wave of light-duty vehicles.
Domestic competitor Ford (NYSE: F) and several foreign automakers
are developing plug-in electric fleet vehicles. But GM has chosen
natural gas--though it hedged its bet in August with an
investment in Bright Automotive, which is building a plug-in
hybrid cargo van, designed from the ground up for commercial and
government fleets.  Posted.
http://www.sustainablebusiness.com/index.cfm/go/news.display/id/21274

Technology, Legislation Aim To Curb Black Carbon Emissions. The
effect that black carbon has on the global climate is an issue
that is complex and poorly understood but also heavily tied to
the successful implementation of advanced diesel technology.
Targets for reducing vehicle emissions in the trucking,
construction, agriculture and maritime sectors have been made
primarily to address local air quality and health concerns
arising from smog-forming emissions. Posted.
http://www.eenews.net/climatewire/print/2010/10/21/5

OPINION 

Reverse AB 32 With Proposition 23. Economists are famous for
avoiding definitive statements by saying “on the one hand”
followed immediately by “on the other hand.” In the case of
California’s Proposition 23, however, the sound one would hear
from economists is both hands clapping. Voters will take up Prop.
23 in less than four weeks, but the ramifications will last
decades. Posted.
http://www.capitolweekly.net/article.php?_c=z7uxqt326b9f0o&xid=z7ujnd72gf93is&done=.z7uxqt326bvf0o#

Don’t Let Corporations Push 23 Through. Who will benefit from
Proposition 23? Certainly not California citizens, who will lose
the cleaner air and green energy jobs coming through in the four
years since Assembly Bill 32 put California in the lead for
pollution accountability by corporations. Follow the money! The
dollars for those ads are coming from Tesoro, Valero and
undercover donors like the Koch Brothers. Oil companies from
Texas are manipulating genuine concern about jobs with a false
connection between pollution regulation and lost jobs. Posted.
http://napavalleyregister.com/news/opinion/mailbag/article_8171f89a-dcde-11df-96e1-001cc4c002e0.html

No Clear Consensus on Effects of Prop. 23. Exactly what would
happen if voters approve Proposition 23 in the Nov. 2 election is
up for as much debate as the ballot measure itself. Opponents of
the proposition, which would indefinitely suspend the state’s
landmark climate-change law that seeks to reduce carbon dioxide
emissions— argue it would create a confusing mix of rules.
Posted.
http://www.vcstar.com/news/2010/oct/20/no-clear-consensus-on-effects-of-prop-23/#ixzz130er5Nzz


BLOGS

Climate: Why Bipartisanship on Energy Won't Be Easy—and Why It's
Necessary. Last week I wrote about a paper on energy and climate
policy that came from scholars at the leftish Brookings
Institution, the conservative American Enterprise Institute and
the (centrist and technology-focused) Breakthrough Institute.
Called "Post-Partisan Power" (download a PDF here), the paper
laid out a research and development focused approach to energy
and climate policy. Instead of a firm carbon cap—which is dead
now—Posted.
http://ecocentric.blogs.time.com/2010/10/21/climate-why-bipartisanship-on-energy-wont-be-easy%E2%80%94and-why-its-necessary/#ixzz1310PnOaS

The Cost Of Emissions. I just recently listened to an interesting
presentation by Tom Marangon, managing director of Baumot UK,
which makes diesel particulate filters (DPF) for a variety of
diesel-powered applications worldwide. From Marangon’s point of
view, one of the major “cost points” in the grand global emission
control debate that does NOT get discussed enough is how reducing
vehicle emissions – particularly particulate matter (PM) or soot
from diesel engines – reduces health care expenses while
eliminating a far more potent accelerant of “climate change.
Posted.
http://blog.fleetowner.com/trucks_at_work/2010/10/21/the-cost-of-emissions/

Carbon Reduction Beyond Cap and Trade or the Carbon Tax. With All
The Commotion Over The Up Coming November Mid-Term Elections, The
Recent Death Of Cap-And-Trade Has Been Quietly Dismissed. The
American Clean Energy and Security Act of 2009 (ACES), more
commonly known as the Waxman-Markey Bill, was intended to set a
price for carbon.  Since the threat of pricing carbon through
legislation has disappeared, the current market for carbon
offsets at the Chicago Climate Exchange has plummeted next to
zero.    Posted.
http://www.triplepundit.com/2010/10/carbon-reduction-beyond-cap-trade-carbon-tax/

But What about the Children? Calling Climate Champions. The Air
Resources Board announced today the creation of what they're
calling a "Climate Generation Program" - it's modeled after the
British Council's similar program in the UK and elsewhere. The
idea is to compete through school and homework to connect their
lives to the environment. Posted.
http://www.scpr.org/blogs/environment/2010/10/20/what-about-children-climate-champions/

Motorists May Foot Bill for Pollution Fines. San Joaquin Valley
residents may soon have to chip in and help clean the air dirtied
by their cars’ emissions. At least that’s what the valley’s air
district regulators are proposing: A $10 to $24 surcharge tacked
onto residents’ annual car and truck registration fees. The
district is facing a $29 million fine for exceeding federal ozone
limits. In order to keep that fine off the backs of the
industries and businesses in the region, officials are looking to
have drivers help out. Posted.
http://californiawatch.org/watchblog/motorists-may-foot-bill-pollution-fines-5854

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