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California Air Resources Board News Clips for May 9, 2011.
  
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

DESERT: Senator Demands Immediate Action To Curb Mecca Odors.
Sen. Barbara Boxer is demanding that the U.S. Environmental
Protection Agency act immediately to protect Mecca residents from
strong chemical odors that have been blamed for illnesses in the
rural Coachella Valley community. In a May 5 letter to EPA
administrator Lisa Jackson, the California Democrat asked that
Jackson personally intervene to help families "living in
unbearable conditions caused by the horrendous odors." Posted.
http://www.pe.com/localnews/stories/PE_News_Local_D_mecca07.3fb09e8.html

Obama's Challenge: Unite Groups On Emissions Targets For 2017-25.
Washington--The Obama administration faces a challenge in uniting
disparate groups behind a single national program of fuel economy
and tailpipe-emission standards for 2017-25 models--especially in
light of recent conflict between automakers and California state
regulators. Private talks are under way among the EPA, the
National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, the California
Air Resources Board, and automakers in the hope that the
administration can propose a rule by September and approve it by
July 2012. Posted.
http://reviews.cnet.com/8301-13746_7-20061090-48.html

SB 375 Approaches a Crucial Phase. The rubber is finally hitting
the road for California's elaborate sustainable planning model,
known commonly as SB 375. Nearly three years after the landmark
environmental law was enacted, local governments are beginning to
adopt the complex strategies required to implement it. Two weeks
ago, the San Diego Association of Governments adopted a draft
Regional Transportation Plan, forecasting investments in streets
and highways over the next several decades. Posted.
http://www.publicceo.com/index.php/local-governments/151-local-governments-publicceo-exclusive/2883-sb-375-approaches-a-crucial-phase

CLIMATE CHANGE

UN Climate Change Panel Says 80 Percent Of Energy Needs Could Be
Met By Renewables By 2050.  Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates --
Renewable sources such as solar and wind could supply up to 80
percent of the world's energy needs by 2050 and play a
significant role in fighting global warming, a top climate panel
concluded Monday.  But the U.N. Intergovernmental Panel on
Climate Change said that to achieve that level, governments would
have to spend significantly more money and introduce policies
that integrate renewables …Posted.  
http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/un-climate-change-panel-says-80-percent-of-energy-needs-could-be-met-by-renewables-by-2050/2011/05/09/AFoweyWG_story.html
http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2011/may/9/un-renewable-energy-key-in-climate-change-fight/
http://www.modbee.com/2011/05/09/1680296/un-renewable-energy-key-in-climate.html
http://www.fresnobee.com/2011/05/09/2381269/un-renewable-energy-key-in-climate.html#storylink=misearch
http://www.nctimes.com/news/science/article_1ae6c80b-7cae-565f-8c2a-074ab05dd9d7.html

Group Urges 'Climate Justice'.  About 70 people calling for
"climate justice" gathered at Cesar Chavez Plaza in Sacramento on
Sunday as part of an international "iMatter March" to publicize
the campaign to halt global warning.  The brief gathering was
marked by a short march to the west steps of the state Capitol,
with loud chants and placards.  Participants were the local face
of what was billed as the "largest-ever mobilization of youth," a
group that vowed to counter climate change and become the next
generation of environmental stewards.  Posted. 
http://www.modbee.com/2011/05/09/1680119/group-urges-climate-justice.html

Scientists Measure Arctic Soot In Bid To Slow Global Warming,
Oceans' Rise.  WASHINGTON -- American scientists working on an
island far above the Arctic Circle have been launching unmanned
aircraft and digging snow samples to measure how soot helps melt
Arctic snow and ice.  Satellite observations in recent decades
show longer warm seasons and more melting throughout the region. 
Posted. 
http://www.modbee.com/2011/05/08/1679194/scientists-measure-arctic-soot.html

Program Helps Grocery Stores Snuff Out Carbon Footprint. Among
climate scientists, it’s not the smorgasbord of foods and
sundries in grocery stores and supermarkets that are concerning,
but the large amount of greenhouse gases emitted from the
buildings. But that may change. On Friday, the U.S. Environmental
Protection Agency announced that supermarkets in all 50 states
had promised to try to control these gases by voluntarily signing
up for the agency’s GreenChill program. Posted.
http://californiawatch.org/dailyreport/program-helps-grocery-stores-snuff-out-carbon-footprint-10183

Experts Push For Carbon Labeling, Yet Efforts At Home Are Slow To
Start. While large-scale efforts to curb greenhouse gases aren't
likely to happen in the near future, advocates are thinking of
smaller ways to reduce emissions in the meantime. Recently,
Vanderbilt University professor Michael Vandenbergh and two
others proposed the idea of voluntarily labeling carbon
footprints on products in the journal Nature Climate Change.
Posted. http://www.eenews.net/climatewire/print/2011/05/09/2

E.U. Proposes 24-Hour Delay On ETS Carbon Transactions To Fight
Fraud. The European Commission last week proposed a 24-hour delay
in carbon dioxide transactions, shortly after carbon permit
thefts estimated at €50 million brought the world's largest
carbon market to a halt. The European Union's Emissions Trading
System (ETS) was closed for spot emissions trading for more than
two weeks in January and February after hackers illegally
transferred about 4 million permits from accounts in Austria, the
Czech Republic, Italy, Greece and Romania. Posted.
http://www.eenews.net/climatewire/2011/05/09/3

FUEL

Feinstein, GOP Senator Fight Subsidies For Ethanol. Washington --
Democratic Sen. Dianne Feinstein of California and Oklahoma
Republican Sen. Tom Coburn have joined forces with Tea Party
activists in an attempt to kill $6 billion a year in ethanol
subsidies, taking on the corn lobby and anti-tax crusader Grover
Norquist. Ethanol, an alcohol fuel made from corn and used as a
gasoline additive, for decades has received lavish federal
subsidies in the form of tax breaks, import tariffs and
regulations that set a goal of gasoline to contain up to 10
percent ethanol. Posted.
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2011/05/07/MN5N1JCFTV.DTL&type=printable

Corn Food Vs. Fuel Battle Turns Political Again. Corn prices are
way up, and cattle ranchers, dairymen and others who depend on
the grain to feed their animals are pointing to corn ethanol as
the culprit. Prices are up, they say, because demand for corn
used as a fuel source has skyrocketed. The battle has once again
found its way into the political realm, where efforts are under
way at both the state and national levels to cut subsidies for
the corn-based additive, which is blended into gasoline to help
it burn more cleanly. Posted.
http://www.fresnobee.com/2011/05/08/2381097/corn-food-vs-fuel-battle-turns.html

Colombia Pursues Sweet Dream Of Becoming A Sugar-Cane Ethanol
Powerhouse. Cauca Valley, Colombia -- Laborers swing sickles and
machetes under a punishing equatorial sun to harvest sugar cane
in the narrow flatlands along the Cauca River. Though 85 percent
of Colombia's cane crop is harvested this old-fashioned way,
industry leaders say they have no intention of mechanizing the
harvest, for fear of mass unemployment in a rural area where
people suffered during Colombia's five-decade-long civil war.
Posted. http://www.eenews.net/Greenwire/print/2011/05/09/1

Molecules For Sale: Biofuel Outfits Bet On Chemicals. Many
biofuel companies are finding the best way to make money is to
stay away from biofuels, at least for a while. A number of
biofuel companies are first focusing on industrial chemicals or
food supplements as they seek a route to get out of the lab and
into the market. Chemicals used in everyday products, such as
rubber or plastics, are also made from oil as fuels are but they
can command higher prices than gasoline and diesel. Posted.
http://news.cnet.com/8301-11128_3-20060433-54.html

VEHICLES

On The Money: Brush Up On Alternative-Fuel Vehicles.  The timing
couldn't be better. Just as gas prices at the pump climb rapidly,
automakers finally have a wide range of new fuel-efficient,
alternative fuel and hybrid cars and trucks to offer for budget
and environmentally conscious motorists.  Posted. 
http://www.modbee.com/2011/05/09/1680334/on-the-money-brush-up-on-alternative.html

Target 62 Mpg: CAFE Debate To Reshape Industry. Quiet
negotiations going on in Washington could change profoundly the
nature of U.S. cars and trucks over the next 13 years, making
more of them electrified and more costly. New federal fuel
economy and emissions rules took effect Jan. 1, requiring
automakers to hit 35.5-mpg corporate average fuel economy by the
2016 model year. Posted.
http://www.autoweek.com/article/20110509/GREEN/110509845

Barring Cars to Clear the Air.  Brussels — Cruising through
cities in cars has been a part of urban life for decades.  But
for some European drivers, that pastime could be coming to an end
where the authorities want to bar the most polluting vehicles. 
“The future in city centers belongs to small cars and electric
vehicles,” Nathalie Kosciusko-Morizet, the French minister for
ecology and transport, told a French newspaper, Le Parisien, last
month.  Posted. 
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/05/09/business/energy-environment/09green.html?_r=1&scp=1&sq=green%20vehicles&st=cse

Garia LSV Offers Electric Luxury At 25 Mph. The two-seat
street-legal golf cart features an elegant look and hand-stitched
leather seats. And getting in and out of this plug-in vehicle is
easy because there are no doors. As gas prices escalate toward $5
a gallon, one novel fuel saver is generally overlooked: the
street-legal golf cart. These electric, low-speed vehicles, or
LSVs, have been available since 1998 but have yet to catch on
with urban commuters who may not be keen to avoid freeways and
chug along at 25 mph. Posted.
http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-autos-garia-lsv-review-20110505,0,4080678,print.story

GREEN ENERGY

US Ranks 17 As Clean Tech Producer, China Is No. 2.  Amsterdam --
Denmark earns the biggest share of its national revenue from
producing windmills and other clean technologies, the United
States is rapidly expanding its clean-tech sector, but no country
can match China's pace of growth, according to a new report
obtained by The Associated Press.  Posted. 
http://www.modbee.com/2011/05/07/1679002/us-ranks-17-as-clean-tech-producer.html

Energy Expert Issues Dire Warning Over Oil.  Energy crisis expert
Michael C. Ruppert says the sky is falling and makes a strong
argument as to why you should heed his warnings.  Ruppert
marshals compelling facts about the imminent collapse of the oil
fields, whose cheap energy has fueled developed society's way of
life for more than a century.  Posted. 
http://www.pe.com/business/local/stories/PE_Biz_D_bizbooks08.30cf2a8.html

World May Draw 77% Of Its Power From Clean Sources By 2050 –
IPCC. United Nations -- The world could be drawing almost 80
percent of its energy from renewable sources by 2050, the
Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change said in a report
released today. Taking a broad view of renewable power --
including not only wind, solar and geothermal power but also wood
scavenged in the developing world -- the report says renewables
could constitute about 77 percent of all power generation,
measured in exajoules per year, up from 13 percent. Posted.
http://www.eenews.net/Greenwire/print/2011/05/09/2

MISCELLANEOUS

Final Free Tire Recycling Friday In Yolo County.  Yolo County
will offer its final free tire recycling event Friday in Esparto.
 County officials said the tire recycling has allowed residents
to properly dispose of waste tires that can pose fire, health and
environmental hazards. They noted that illegally dumped tires
often pollute roads, open spaces, waterways, and the county's
farms and ranches.  Posted. 
http://www.modbee.com/2011/05/08/1679507/final-free-tire-recycling-friday.html

OPINION

Conn Carroll: Energy issues are Pawlenty's Achilles Heel. When
Fox News' Chris Wallace told former Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty
he was about to play an Environmental Defense Action Fund radio
ad during last Thursday's Republican presidential debate,
Pawlenty quipped "Do we have to?" After stoically listening to
his own his own voice proclaim, "Cap greenhouse gas pollution,
now," Pawlenty turned to the camera and said: "I've said I was
wrong. It was a mistake, and I'm sorry." Posted.
http://washingtonexaminer.com/print/opinion/columnists/2011/05/conn-carroll-energy-issues-are-pawlentys-achilles-heel

BLOGS

Climate Panel Charts Options for Renewable Energy.  The
Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change has issued the summary
of its first report on the potential role of renewable forms of
energy, from dams to wind turbines and solar panels, in cutting
emissions of greenhouse gases in coming decades.  The document
doesn’t take readers much beyond what is already well
established: that without sustained and focused climate and
energy policies by governments around the world, …Posted. 
http://dotearth.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/05/09/climate-panel-charts-options-for-renewable-energy/

Climate: The Next Generation. What do they want? Climate Justice!
When do they want it? You guessed it. Young activists are taking
to the streets to call for immediate action against change. Youth
turned out in eleven cities across California over the weekend in
a series of coordinated demonstrations. Dubbed the i-Matter
marches, youth from Eureka to San Diego and from grammar school
to college, demanded "climate justice" for their generation.
Posted.
http://blogs.kqed.org/climatewatch/2011/05/09/climate-the-next-generation/

Political Polarization Of Climate Change Is On The Rise. It's
time to find a good way to reconsider whether carbon cap and
trade would eliminate jobs.  Samuel Clemens published under the
pen name of Mark Twain. If Al Gore had followed this strategy for
"Inconvenient Truth" would we now have passed more aggressive
Federal legislation for slowing the growth of greenhouse gas
emissions? Posted.
http://www.csmonitor.com/Business/Green-Economics/2011/0509/Political-polarization-of-climate-change-is-on-the-rise