What's New List Serve Post Display

California Air Resources Board News Clips for July 14, 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

Google Science Fair Winner Stands Up For Air Quality.  Naomi
Shah, winner of the Google science fair in the 15-16 age group,
isn't just a budding research scientist. She's also an
environmentalist. And her project, which focuses on the effects
of air quality triggers on asthma sufferers, highlights why other
people should be environmentalists too.  Shah noticed that
medical practitioners immediately prescribe steroids and other
inhalers, instead of addressing the quality of the air asthma
sufferers are breathing.  Posted. 
http://www.grist.org/list/2011-07-14-google-science-fair-winner-stands-up-for-air-quality

CLIMATE CHANGE

Administration Grossly Underestimated Carbon Cost, Says Study.
The social cost of carbon, the economic value of avoiding the
negative consequences of climate change, could be close to $900
per ton of CO2 in a worst-case scenario -- nearly 45 times the
$21 per ton established two years ago, according to a study by
the group Economics for Equity and the Environment (E3). Posted.
http://www.nytimes.com/cwire/2011/07/14/14climatewire-administration-grossly-underestimated-carbon-69396.html?pagewanted=print

Utility Shelves Ambitious Plan to Limit Carbon. A major American
utility is shelving the nation’s most prominent effort to capture
carbon dioxide from an existing coal-burning power plant, dealing
a severe blow to efforts to rein in emissions responsible for
global warming. American Electric Power has decided to table
plans to build a full-scale carbon-capture plant at Mountaineer,
a 31-year-old coal-fired plant in West Virginia, where the
company has successfully captured and buried carbon dioxide in a
small pilot program for two years. Posted. 
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/07/14/business/energy-environment/utility-shelves-plan-to-capture-carbon-dioxide.html?_r=1&ref=earth

Business Briefs: Fresno Ranks 13th In Clean-Jobs Study.  A
Brookings Institution analysis of jobs in the "clean" or "green"
economy has ranked the Fresno area 13th among the nation's
largest metropolitan areas for its share of clean jobs.  The
study, "Sizing the Clean Economy," reports that Fresno had 9,301
jobs in clean-economy industries, including organic food and
farming, hydropower, conservation, energy-saving building
materials, air and water purification and alternative energy.
Posted. 
http://www.fresnobee.com/2011/07/13/2463768/business-briefs-fresno-ranks-13th.html#storylink=misearch

Bay Area Green Driving Campaign Aims To Reduce Greenhouse Gases. 
The Bay Area will begin planning California's first regional
campaign aimed at getting motorists to change their driving
habits to fight climate change.  The Metropolitan Transportation
Commission's administration committee on Wednesday authorized the
start of a $2.4 million public education campaign encouraging
drivers to observe the 65 mph freeway speed limit and avoid
sudden starts and stops.  Posted. 
http://www.insidebayarea.com/ci_18470614
http://www.contracostatimes.com/ci_18470614

Luminant May Shut Power Plants Over Clean-Air Regs.  The major
electric power provider for much of North and West Texas is
considering how to respond to new federal clean-air regulations,
including closing or reducing operations at some of its
coal-fired plants and coal mines, according to a regulatory
filing Wednesday.  In a filing with the U.S. Securities and
Exchange Commission, Energy Future Holdings Corp. said it was
considering the shutdowns or slowdowns, as well as seasonal or
temporary shutdowns.  Posted. 
http://www.insidebayarea.com/ci_18472532
http://www.contracostatimes.com/ci_18472532
http://www.vcstar.com/news/2011/jul/13/luminant-may-shut-power-plants-over-clean-air/

Power Company Puts Carbon Capture Project On Hold. American
Electric Power Co. said Thursday it was putting a hold on its
plans for a commercial-scale carbon dioxide capture and storage
project in West Virginia because of uncertainty surrounding U.S.
climate policy and what the company described as a weak economy.
Posted.
http://www.modbee.com/2011/07/14/1774668/power-company-puts-hold-on-carbon.html

Soils Appear To Amplify The Warming Power Of Greenhouse Gases –
Study. Soil microorganisms absorb carbon dioxide only to convert
it into much more potent greenhouse gases, negating almost 17
percent of the Earth's ability to absorb heat-trapping emissions,
a new study suggests. The study, published in this week's issue
of Nature, measured the release of methane (CH4) and nitrous
oxide (N2O) gases from soils in forests, grasslands, wetlands and
agricultural fields, including rice paddies. Posted.
http://www.eenews.net/climatewire/print/2011/07/14/2

Climate Change Could Make Oceans A Less Efficient Carbon Sink.
Carbon dioxide emissions hit a record high in 2010, while a new
study shows that the ocean is having a harder time absorbing C02.
Humans depend on the ocean to take up about a quarter of the
world's carbon per year and slow the effects of climate change.
But the analysis, published in the journal Nature Geoscience,
found that rising water temperatures are hindering the absorption
capacity of this natural carbon sink. Posted.
http://www.eenews.net/climatewire/print/2011/07/14/3

VEHICLES

Charging Stations Along I-5 In Wash. Due This Year.  Washington
state transportation officials on Wednesday announced a new
initiative to place electric vehicle charging stations at key
intervals along the West Coast's busiest highway - a development
that should allow drivers to cruise the 580 miles from the
southern border of Oregon all the way to Canada by the end of the
year.  Posted. 
http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/U/US_GREEN_HIGHWAY?SITE=FLPEJ&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT
 
AP Newsbreak:

http://www.washingtonpost.com/national/environment/electric-car-charging-stations-along-interstate-5-in-washington-to-come-this-year/2011/07/13/gIQAcc1ADI_story.html
http://www.fresnobee.com/2011/07/13/2463618/charging-stations-along-i-5-in.html#storylink=misearch
http://www.vcstar.com/news/2011/jul/13/charging-stations-along-i-5-in-wash-due-this/

Navy Engineers Testing Diesel-Powered Hybrid Vehicles. Testing of
diesel-powered hybrid vehicle technology for possible deployment
to Navy and Marine Corps bases worldwide officially started June
15 by Navy engineers in San Diego and Bangor, Wash. The program
kicked off with the May 12 delivery of two vehicles to the NAVFAC
Southwest Coastal Integrated Product Team (IPT) in San Diego. A
second pair of trucks was pressed into service in June with the
recycling team in Bangor, Wash. Posted.
http://www.vcstar.com/news/2011/jul/14/navy-engineers-testing-diesel-powered-hybrid/?print=1

New-Vehicle Emissions Fall 14% Since 2007, Study Says. Emissions
from recently purchased new vehicles have fallen 14 percent over
the past three and a half years, according to a University of
Michigan study. The decline underscores consumers' shift to
smaller vehicles and industry efforts to reduce pollution and
boost fuel economy, says Brandon Schoettle, a University of
Michigan research associate who helped create the index. Posted. 
http://www.autonews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20110714/OEM/110719938/1135

Growing EV Industry Still Divided Over DC Charging.  The plug-in
electric vehicle (PEV) arena will soon get more crowded as
automakers Mitsubishi and Toyota are in the final stages of
preparing to compete head on with the Nissan LEAF and the
Chevrolet Volt in North America. While the new entrants agree
that there is great enthusiasm for PEVs, their contrary views on
fast charging of vehicles reinforces the split that is
complicating investment in infrastructure.  Posted. 
http://www.plugincars.com/growing-ev-industry-still-divided-over-dc-charging-107369.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%253A+PluginCars

GREEN ENERGY

Green Jobs Flourish In Sacramento Area. The green economy
accounts for about one of every 22 jobs in the Sacramento area,
according to a report by the Brookings Institution. In a
nationwide study of more than 100 metropolitan areas, the
Washington, D.C.-based institution said local solar installers,
government agencies, recyclers; organic farms and other clean
companies employed a total of 37,319 people, or about 4.5 percent
of the capital region's workforce. Posted.
http://www.sacbee.com/2011/07/14/v-print/3768448/green-jobs-flourish-in-sacramento.html

White House Environmental Official Coming To Conn.  President
Barack Obama's environmental policy adviser is coming to
Connecticut to visit a fuel cell company in South Windsor and a
city park in Hartford. Nancy Sutley is set to visit UTC Power and
Keney Park on Thursday. She's chairwoman of the White House
Council on Environmental Quality. Posted. 
http://www.vcstar.com/news/2011/jul/14/white-house-environmental-official-coming-to/

Calif. Governor's Campaign Promise Of Renewables Might Be Hard To
Fill. When Jerry Brown ran for California's highest office for a
third time, he touted his age and experience as weapons for
fighting special interests. But he may not have been referring to
the right enemy, at least when it comes to his campaign goal of
building 12,000 megawatts of distributed renewable energy
generation, close to electricity-sucking cities and skirting the
need for new transmission lines. Posted.
http://www.eenews.net/climatewire/print/2011/07/14/7

Las Vegas Leads In Green Construction. Las Vegas has one of the
highest concentrations of environmentally sound construction and
architecture jobs, but is below the national average in overall
green jobs, according to a new study by the Brookings
Institution, a policy think tank. Green construction employment
is seven times higher in southern Nevada than the national
average, with 2,507 such jobs last year, and has grown 48 percent
annually since 2003. Posted.
http://www.eenews.net/climatewire/print/2011/07/14/10

Republicans Cite Jobs In Attacking Federal Environmental
Regulations.  Republicans in the House of Representatives are
waging an all-out war to block federal regulations that protect
the environment. They loaded up a pending 2012 spending bill with
terms that would eliminate a broad array of environmental
protections, everything from stopping new plants and animals from
being placed on the endangered species list to ending federal
limits on water pollution in Florida. Posted. 
http://www.modbee.com/2011/07/14/1774586/republicans-cite-jobs-in-attacking.html

A Long-Elusive Definition For 'Green' Jobs In US.  Everywhere you
turn, "green jobs" are touted for their ability to pull the
nation out of its economic slump. But what exactly is a green
job? Is the U.S. creating any? Do they pay?  For the first time
since the term was coined, someone has answers.  Posted.
http://www.fresnobee.com/2011/07/13/2463817/a-long-elusive-definition-for.html#storylink=misearch

OPINION

Battle Against Air Pollution Is Far From Lost.  Are the days of
crystal blue skies in the Coachella Valley over? One would think
after the recent Desert Sun article “Pollution in paradise.” We
shouldn't accept the premise that brown skies are our future. The
article focused on the poor quality of the air throughout
Riverside County but there also was good news. Posted.
http://www.mydesert.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=2011107130370

Keep Our Desert Sky Clear.  The azure sky above the Coachella
Valley is one of the things that attracts tourists, snowbirds and
full-time residents to our desert. So it might come as a surprise
that the American Lung Association's “State of the Air” report
gave Riverside County an F for ozone and particle pollution — the
same grade the county has received since the annual report first
came out in 1999. Posted.
http://www.mydesert.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=2011107130371

Secondhand Smoke Kills. Editor: While my family can afford to
live in a home and free of secondhand smoke exposure, there are
many Kings County residents who cannot. I am aware of the harm of
exposure to secondhand smoke, as I have asthma, and being exposed
can land me in the hospital with an asthma attack. Unfortunately,
children and our vulnerable seniors who live in apartments are at
risk of exposure to secondhand smoke. Posted.
http://www.hanfordsentinel.com/news/opinion/mailbag/article_6e88251a-ae2f-11e0-92a5-001cc4c002e0.html

Crisp: Climate-Change Views — Then And Now. My moderate hoarding
tendencies throughout the latter days of this age of print make
moving from one house to another a challenging and enlightening
exercise. Recently, I excavated from a congested closet a
150-pound database of fine writing in the form of every issue of
Harper's Magazine published since mid-1985. For someone weaned on
print, paper invites browsing in a way that web browsers don't.
Posted. 
http://www.vcstar.com/news/2011/jul/13/crisp-climate-change-views-151-then-and-now/

BLOGS

‘Green’ Economy Is Real But Needs A Push, Study Suggests. Like so
many buzz phrases, “green economy” is an expression that is
generously tossed around with little regard for its meaning. In
his State of the Union address in January, President Obama
stressed the importance of nurturing America’s green economy to
“strengthen our security, protect our planet and create countless
new jobs for our people.” Posted. 
http://green.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/07/14/green-economy-is-real-but-needs-a-push-study-suggests/?scp=6&sq=green%20energy&st=cse

Car2go, Daimler-Backed Sharing Program, to Go Electric in San
Diego. San Diego will soon be home to an all-electric, one-way
car sharing service from Car2go, the Daimler subsidiary. The
first of its kind in the United States, the program would allow
members to rent the Smart Fortwo Electric Drive by the minute in
a city that is becoming a focal point for E.V. launches. Posted. 
http://wheels.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/07/13/car2go-daimler-backed-sharing-program-to-go-electric-in-san-diego/?scp=6&sq=vehicles&st=cse