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California Air Resources Board News Clips for September 12, 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

Valley air alert called off for today.  An air alert for the
Valley will not be extended to today because of lower
temperatures and an increased chance for thunderstorms this
weekend that could bring rain to the Valley floor.  "All that
will help move out the pollution that has been forming in the
Valley," said Jaime Holt, spokeswoman for the San Joaquin Valley
Air Pollution Control District.  Posted. 
http://www.fresnobee.com/2011/09/09/2531291/valley-air-alert-will-end-today.html#storylink=misearch

Appeals court warms to EPA's revised 'hot spot' rule. Federal
judges considering a challenge to a U.S. EPA rule that regulates
emissions from new transportation projects appeared supportive
today of the agency's legal position. All three judges on the
U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia panel
expressed skepticism about the arguments made by the Natural
Resources Defense Council and other environmental groups about
EPA's "hot spot" rule. The rule allows the construction of new
transportation projects as long as developers undertake efforts
to offset additional emissions. Posted.
http://www.eenews.net/Greenwire/print/2011/09/12/3 BY PAID
SUBSCRIPTION

CLIMATE CHANGE

Legislators push through eleventh-hour CEQA exemptions.
California's legislative session ended Saturday night with
several bills allowing exemptions from environmental laws headed
to the governor's desk and a renewable energy investment fund on
the chopping block. Gov. Jerry Brown (D) has until Oct. 9 to sign
S.B. 292, to speed construction of a football stadium in downtown
Los Angeles, which passed both houses of the Legislature late
last week. Posted.
http://www.eenews.net/Greenwire/print/2011/09/12/8 BY PAID
SUBSCRIPTION ONLY

VEHICLES

Nissan develops cheaper, smaller charger for EVs. Tokyo - Nissan
has developed a charger for electric vehicles that's smaller,
about half the price, and easier to install. Nissan Motor Co.,
Japan's No. 2 automaker, said Monday the new charger will go on
sale in November in Japan and is planned later for the U.S. and
Europe, although dates are not set. The basic model of the
revamped charger will cost about half the price of the current
model, which is stockier and has more parts, and costs 1.47
million yen ($19,000). Posted.
http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/2011/sep/12/nissan-develops-cheaper-smaller-charger-for-evs/
http://www.vcstar.com/news/2011/sep/12/nissan-develops-cheaper-smaller-charger-for-evs/

Fuel cell vehicles for mass market from 2014 onwards.  Electric
mobility with fuel cells and batteries is a major topic when
talking about the future of passenger cars. During f-cell 2011,
the 11th edition of a congress and trade fair held on September
26 and 27 in Stuttgart, vehicle manufacturers will report on
their latest progress in the field. Daimler already announced
they will sell fuel cell vehicles from 2014 onwards – one year
earlier than planned.  Posted. 
http://www.cars21.com/content/articles/65320110912.php

Peugeot’s Future Car is Called “World’s First Diesel Hybrid”. 
Here’s the latest future car to peek out from behind the
Frankfurt Motor Show curtain, the Peugeot HX-1 plug-in hybrid. It
features gullwing doors and a unique design the company calls
“the first diesel hybrid in the world.”  Peugeot says its goal
with this concept car was to create a conveyance for six
passengers that uses plug-in hybrid technology and can still
deliver sporty performance while maintaining fuel efficiency.
Posted.  http://mashable.com/2011/09/10/peugeots-future-car/

GREEN ENERGY

Around the World on Solar Power Alone. Almost a year ago, the
Turanor PlanetSolar, a sleek catamaran that bears a resemblance
to a giant water beetle, set off from Monaco on a voyage around
the globe. Later this month it will arrive in Singapore, having
amassed proof that it is possible to traverse the world’s oceans
on solar power alone. Posted. 
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/09/12/business/global/around-the-world-on-solar-power-alone.html?scp=9&sq=fuels&st=cse

OPINION

CEQA and the art of the deal. Rather than expedite a few favored
projects individually, the Legislature should embark on a careful
and comprehensive review of the California Environmental Quality
Act. Legislators got the right result by the wrong process when
they approved an expedited judicial review for AEG's
much-discussed downtown Los Angeles football stadium. The project
is too important, and the state's system for reviewing such
projects too flawed, to allow procedure to stand in the way of
progress. Posted.
http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/opinionla/la-ed-ceqa-20110912,0,2142139,print.story

Dan Morain: Creating jobs? Not California. California lawmakers
love jobs, or so they say. They ended their legislative session
by pushing "reforms" to "create" jobs. They sought to slash
regulations to fast-track fancy new sports arenas, maybe a new
studio and other cool places. They considered tax breaks to put
more money into the accounts of entrepreneurs and moguls in the
hope that they might hire a few working stiffs. Speaker John A.
Pérez and Senate President Pro Tem Darrell Steinberg issued press
releases the other night crowing about their bills to "create
jobs."  Posted.
http://www.sacbee.com/2011/09/11/v-print/3897992/creating-jobs-not-california.html

Did global warming cause hurricane Irene? Scientists can't say
that global warming caused hurricane Irene or Katia or tropical
storm Lee. But they can say that global warming produces the
conditions that lead to hurricanes. Americans should be reducing
greenhouse gas emissions and preparing for severe weather to
come. Ithaca, N.Y. Like many people, I spent the last weekend in
August mesmerized by the steady progress of hurricane Irene as
she followed the script so carefully laid out by the National
Weather Service’s Hurricane Tracking Center. Posted.
http://www.csmonitor.com/Commentary/Opinion/2011/0912/Did-global-warming-cause-hurricane-Irene

BLOGS

The Green Jobs Numbers. Now, more than ever, prospects for “green
jobs” are being treated as a red flag in partisan debate. Media
Matters, a nonprofit watchdog group, has documented a Fox News
report proclaiming that the costs of green jobs exceed the
benefits. A recent New York Times article, pointing to lackluster
programs in California, concluded that “public efforts to
stimulate creation of green jobs have largely failed.” A column
by David Brooks in The New York Times was pointedly titled “Where
the Jobs Aren’t.” Posted. 
http://economix.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/09/12/the-green-jobs-numbers/?scp=3&sq=green%20energy&st=cse

Flooding Brings New Wrinkle to Fracking Report. The floods in
upstate New York are raising new concern about plans for natural
gas drilling in New York. The areas most affected by the disaster
happen to sit on the Marcellus Shale, the rich natural gas field
that the natural gas industry hopes to open for future drilling
using horizontal hydraulic fracturing, the controversial
extraction method that is currently under public review in New
York. Posted. 
http://green.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/09/09/upstate-flooding-brings-new-wrinkle-to-fracking-report/?ref=earth

Study: Replacing coal with natural gas would do little for
climate change.  The great hope among energy wonks is that
natural gas is the short-term salve for our climate woes. After
all, burning natural gas for electricity emits just half the
carbon dioxide that burning coal does. Plus, the United States
seems to have an abundance of gas, particularly in the Marcellus
Shale, and low natural-gas prices are already prodding many
electric utilities to retire their coal plants. Posted. 
http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/ezra-klein/post/study-replacing-coal-with-natural-gas-would-do-little-for-climate-change/2011/09/09/gIQAkCVQFK_blog.html

DOE Awards $15 Million for Electric Vehicle Adoption Programs. As
President Obama was preparing to address a joint session of
Congress to propose the $447 billion American Jobs Act, Energy
Secretary Steven Chu was busy announcing a series of financing
initiatives aimed at spurring clean energy research, commercial
development and job creation. Included was nearly $15 million of
financial support for 16 projects in 24 states and the District
of Columbia “to accelerate the adoption of electric vehicles (EV)
across the nation…Posted. 
http://www.triplepundit.com/2011/09/doe-awards-15-million-electric-vehicle-adoption-programs/
http://green.autoblog.com/2011/09/12/doe-selects-16-projects-to-speed-adoption-of-plug-in-vehicles/

Toyota makes Prius a priority as automaker faces a 'turning
point'. Two weeks after Japan's March 11 earthquake knocked out
more than 650 of Toyota Motor Corp.'s suppliers, halting
worldwide production, the automaker had to decide where to focus
its resources. It picked the Prius. "We were rapidly burning
through cash," said Atsushi Niimi, head of production. "We
decided we had to get things going bit by bit to survive through
this, so we prioritized the cars our customers wanted most."
http://www.autonews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20110911/OEM/309119974/1186

Google Announces That it Has Been Carbon Neutral Since 2007. 
“The carbon footprint of your life on Google is zero.” It may be
hard to believe, we know, but the search giant announced for the
first time today that it is completely carbon neutral and has
been since 2007. In a blog post they detailed how the road to
this announcement was paved with many different actions — from
installing solar panels at their headquarters, to purchasing
large amounts of wind energy and reducing as much of the energy
that their employees use as they can. Posted. 
http://inhabitat.com/google-announces-that-its-been-carbon-neutral-since-2007/