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California Air Resources Board News Clips for September 1, 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

Apple blasted for alleged pollution by suppliers.  Apple is
defending itself against a fresh barrage of criticism from
Chinese environmental activists over alleged pollution by the
manufacturers who make its iconic iPhones, iPads and other
products.  In a report issued Wednesday, a group of
nongovernmental organizations accused the technology giant of
violating its own corporate responsibility standards by using
suppliers it said its investigations found are violating the law
and endangering public health by discharging heavy metals and
other toxins.  Posted. 
http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/A/AS_CHINA_APPLE_POLLUTION?SITE=AZTUS&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT

AP Newsbreak:
http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2011/sep/1/apple-blasted-for-alleged-pollution-by-suppliers/
http://www.washingtonpost.com/business/apple-fends-off-criticism-over-alleged-pollution-by-suppliers-in-china/2011/09/01/gIQA8FQLtJ_story.html
http://www.fresnobee.com/2011/08/31/2520106/apple-blasted-for-alleged-pollution.html#storylink=misearch
http://www.modbee.com/2011/08/31/1839800/apple-blasted-for-alleged-pollution.html
http://www.insidebayarea.com/ci_18802155
http://www.contracostatimes.com/ci_18802155
http://www.vcstar.com/news/2011/sep/01/apple-blasted-for-alleged-pollution-by-suppliers/
http://www.nctimes.com/business/article_be110c36-ba7b-5967-b701-74563c2e1db8.html

CA city, tribe, ecologists fight proposed quarry. Antique shops
line the streets of Temecula, Calif.'s quaint downtown fashioned
after the Old West, with tour vans waiting to whisk visitors to
scenic vineyards outside the city and hot air balloons gliding
above the greenery. It's a postcard image amid a series of desert
towns in inland Southern California -- one that hundreds of
residents, ecologists and members of an Indian tribe fear is
threatened by a proposal to build a quarry on a mountain
overlooking the city. Posted.
http://www.businessweek.com/ap/financialnews/D9PF4OG00.htm
http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-quarry-20110901,0,411413.story
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/n/a/2011/09/01/state/n013827D02.DTL
http://www.pe.com/localnews/stories/PE_News_Local_D_quarry01.11caff86b.html

Calif. metal scrapper settles air pollution suit.  A metal
recycling company accused of releasing toxic substances into the
air agreed Wednesday to pay nearly $3 million to settle a
lawsuit, the Los Angeles County district attorney's office said. 
Deputy District Attorney Daniel Wright said SA Recycling LLC, an
automotive and appliance shredding company, agreed to the
settlement Wednesday and it was signed by Superior Court Judge
Debre K. Weintraub. The civil lawsuit and settlement were filed
last week.  Posted. 
http://www.fresnobee.com/2011/08/31/2519874/calif-metal-scrapper-settles-air.html#storylink=misearch
http://www.insidebayarea.com/ci_18798626
http://www.contracostatimes.com/ci_18798626
http://www.dailybreeze.com/news/ci_18799989

Valley air sets cleanliness mark in August.  For the first time
on record, the San Joaquin Valley had no August violations of the
one-hour federal ozone standard.  Air officials said a new blitz
of alerts about bad-air days might have been the difference,
especially last week when pollution nearly eclipsed the federal
standard.  If the Valley continues to avoid the violations over
the next three years, the federal government will revoke a $29
million penalty for ozone levied on the region.  Posted. 
http://www.fresnobee.com/2011/09/01/2520692/valley-air-sets-cleanliness-mark.html#storylink=misearch

In Stockton, heat takes August off. For the first time in 20
years, Stockton made it through August without hitting 100
degrees. The relatively cool weather may help explain why the San
Joaquin Valley, for the first time since record-keeping began in
the 1980s, saw ozone pollution levels stay within a federal
standard each day of the month. Last week, expecting ozone levels
to rise, Valley air cops called their first-ever Air Alert.
Posted. 
http://www.recordnet.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20110901/A_NEWS/109010311&cid=sitesearch

CLIMATE CHANGE

Few insurers planning for climate change – report. New York -
Only one in eight insurers has a formal policy in place to manage
climate risk, despite rising evidence that environmental changes
are exacerbating insurers' disaster losses, according to a
coalition of public interest groups. The coalition, Ceres, looked
at 88 filings from six states by insurance companies, using a
form developed by the National Association of Insurance
Commissioners. Ceres said it was the first-ever effort to
quantify how U.S. insurers manage climate risk in their
day-to-day operations. Posted.
http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/09/01/insurance-environment-idUSN1E77T1B720110901

Cap, trade, emit, breathe. The Byron Sher Auditorium at the
California Environmental Protection Agency headquarters
transformed into a lively flurry of green last Wednesday morning.
Dozens of activists and environmentalists, who arrived by bus
from as far away as Los Angeles and the Bay Area, wore green
shirts and held green signs that read “Cap-and-trade didn’t work
in the EU.” Some even sported bandanas over their faces to
symbolize the need for cleaner air. Posted.
http://www.newsreview.com/sacramento/cap-trade-emit-brea/content?oid=3469233

Neb. governor urges Obama to deny pipeline permit. Nebraska Gov.
Dave Heineman urged President Barack Obama and U.S. Secretary of
State Hillary Clinton on Wednesday to deny a federal permit for a
pipeline that would carry Canadian oil over an aquifer that
supplies drinking and irrigation water to parts of several
states. Heineman said he supports pipeline projects but opposes
the proposed TransCanada Keystone XL route that would cross the
vast Ogallala aquifer. Posted. 
http://www.vcstar.com/news/2011/aug/31/neb-governor-urges-obama-to-deny-pipeline-03/
http://www.nctimes.com/news/national/article_f298e2ef-046e-56f3-a15e-4f45802fba91.html

The polarizing effect of cap-and trade. Last week a crowd of
residents from Richmond, Huntington Beach, and Hunter’s Point, to
name a few, gathered at the California State Capital in
Sacramento to rally against the cap-and-trade proposal in the
AB32 Scoping Plan. Their testimonies were heart breaking, telling
stories of their children with asthma and other pollution-related
health problems associated with living in close proximity to some
of California’s largest refineries. There really isn’t an
argument against access to clean air. Posted.
http://sustainableindustries.com/articles/2011/09/polarizing-effect-cap-and-trade

Calif. cap-and-trade proposal criticized as inadequate, harmful
to industry.  The California Air Resources Board said it must
produce a final regulation on cap and trade for greenhouse gases
by Oct. 28, but many stakeholders are objecting to the proposal
as unfair, bad for jobs, and filled with mistaken assumptions,
unworkable features and requirements that will be impossible to
meet.  Continuing the rulemaking process, CARB staff released
formal 15-day changes on July 25 and 27 to an initial proposed
regulation that the board released in December 2010. Posted. 
http://www.cospp.com/news/2011/09/1490602313/calif-cap-and-trade-proposal-criticized-as-inadequate-harmful-to-industry.html

Canada: Quebec Publishes Draft Regulation On Cap-And-Trade
System.  In July 2010, the Western Climate Initiative (WCI), of
which Quebec is a partner, published detailed operational rules
for a cap-and-trade system for greenhouse gas (GHG) allowances
with a view to setting up a North American regional carbon
market. According to these rules, as a first step, all partner
states and provinces that will participate in the WCI North
American regional carbon market must adopt regulations to
implement a GHG cap-and-trade system in their respective
jurisdictions. Posted.  BY SUBSCRIPTION ONLY. 
http://www.mondaq.com/canada/article.asp?articleid=143922&login=true&nogo=1

DIESEL EMISSIONS

CARB fines motor carrier $59,050 over port emissions violations.
The California Air Resources Board has fined an in-state motor
carrier nearly $60,000 for dispatching trucks to the state’s
ports that didn’t meet emissions requirements spelled out in
CARB’s port truck regulation. CARB recently fined IVVE
Transportation of Ontario, CA, for violating CARB’s Drayage Truck
Regulation. From the fine, $44,287 will go to the California Air
Pollution Control fund, which is used to support air quality
research, and $14,762 will go to the Peralta Community College
district to fund diesel education classes. Posted.
http://www.landlinemag.com/todays_news/Daily/2011/Aug11/082911/083011-03.shtml

GREEN ENERGY

Seattle office building aims to set new 'green' standard. 
Workers are digging a hole on Seattle's Capitol Hill neighborhood
for a new office building unlike any commercial structure the
planet's ever seen before.  You want green? There's never been
anything greener. The Bullitt Center, which celebrated its
official groundbreaking this week, has been designed to produce
as much energy as it consumes.  Posted. 
http://www.fresnobee.com/2011/09/01/2520400/seattle-office-building-aims-to.html#storylink=misearch

California Moves to Avoid Europe's Perils in Encouraging Green
Power. The state has become one of few governments worldwide—and
the first in the U.S.—to finalize a unique auction program to
ramp-up renewables. Trying to avoid the potential perils of
European-style feed-in tariffs, California regulators are moving
forward with a new financing technique to stimulate immediate
development of small-scale renewable energy projects. Posted.
http://solveclimatenews.com/news/20110830/california-feed-in-tariff-auction-europe-spain-germany-solar-power
 
‘Solar home rule’ could power the D.C. economy.  For many years
the citizens of Washington, D.C., struggled for the basic right
to elect their own leaders. In 2011, they should use their
political home rule to maximize the economic benefits of local
renewable energy with "electricity home rule."  Currently,
residents and businesses in D.C. spend over $1.5 billion dollars
a year on electricity. Posted. 
http://www.grist.org/solar-power/2011-08-31-solar-home-rule-could-power-d.c.s-economy

MISCELLANEOUS

Bill requires Air Resources Board to have member with small-biz
experience. The California Senate has passed a bill that ensures
that at least one member of the California Air Resources Board
has experience running a small business. The move was cheered
Wednesday by The National Federation of Independent Business,
which has urged Gov. Jerry Brown to sign the bill. Advocacy
groups contend that CARB is one of the state’s most powerful
agencies that can have very broad impact on small businesses.
Posted.
http://www.bizjournals.com/sacramento/news/2011/09/01/calif-air-resources-board-business.html?s=print

Air Pollution Documentary Premiers in Santa Monica. The South
Coast Air Quality Management District (AQMD) premiered “The Right
To Breathe,” a documentary film about the hazards of air
pollution in Los Angeles, at the Women in Green Forum at the
Sheraton in Santa Monica Tuesday. “I think a lot of people forget
how bad [the air pollution] is,” the film's director Alexandre
Phillipe told The Lookout. Posted.
http://www.surfsantamonica.com/ssm_site/the_lookout/news/News-2011/September-2011/09_01_2011_Air_Pollution_Documentary_Premiers_in_Santa_Monica.html

OPINIONS

LETTERS: The Californian, Sept. 1, 2011. There is not one square
foot of concrete in North County that didn't get its source of
sand and rock from a quarry of some kind. That is true worldwide.
... When will we learn that without the products, without
developers (nasty word), we would be living in an uncivilized
type of environment that our great-grandparents worked so hard to
upgrade? ... Posted.
http://www.nctimes.com/news/opinion/letters/article_3027c043-5feb-5d18-93c0-2f8d4c93219f.html

BLOGS

Sierra magazine ranks UC Irvine among top 10 green schools. An
environmentally minded magazine has named UC Irvine as one of
America's top 10 coolest schools for green initiatives. For a
second year, Sierra magazine ranked UC Irvine No. 6, noting it as
one of the most energy-efficient schools, the Daily Pilot
reported. In its iSeptember/October issue, the magazine singled
out the school's use of a co-generation facility to meet most of
its heat and electricity needs. Posted.
http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/greenspace/2011/09/sierra-magazine-ranks-uc-irvine-among-top-10-green-schools.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+GreenspaceEnvironmentBlog+%28Greenspace%29