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newsclips -- Newsclips for November 15, 2011.
Posted: 15 Nov 2011 12:23:02
California Air Resources Board News Clips for November 15, 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. DIESEL EMISSIONS Trucking companies sue EPA over emissions regulations. Four small California trucking companies are suing the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency over new emissions regulations. The suit comes despite approval of the regulations by the trucking industry’s largest trade group, the American Trucking Associations. The companies claim they were left out of negotiations regarding the new regulations. They say the new rules will require a change in truck design and, therefore, substantial costs. Posted. http://californiawatch.org/dailyreport/trucking-companies-sue-epa-over-emissions-regulations-13549 Military tests hybrid bulldozer in hope of saving fuel and lives. Few targets in Afghanistan and Iraq are as inviting to insurgents as fuel convoys. For that reason, military officials hope a new diesel/electric bulldozer tested last week at Naval Base Ventura County, Port Hueneme can save lives and money. The Caterpillar D7E would require fewer fuel convoys than what's required by the thousands of diesel-powered dozers deployed in war zones by the Army and Navy, which could means less time in risky places for military personnel and contractors, they say. Posted. http://www.vcstar.com/news/2011/nov/14/military-tests-hybrid-bulldozer-in-hope-of-fuel/ SunLine Unveils New Generation of Zero Emission Bus. The Coachella Valley is home to the latest milestone in clean energy. SunLine Transit Agency unveiled their newest hydrogen-fueled bus at their headquarters in Thousand Palms. The 7th Generation Hydrogen Fueled Vehicle, "The American Fuel Cell Bus" joined the fleet of SunLine's busses at the cost of approximately $10 million with funds from the Federal Transit Administration, the California Air Resources Board and South Coast Air Quality Management District. Posted. http://www.kesq.com/news/29769301/detail.html VEHICLES Electric vehicles on display at Johns Hopkins University, College Park. Automakers and environmentalists are rolling out electric and hybrid vehicles for the public this week in Maryland. On Tuesday, Johns Hopkins University’s Sustainability Office will be discussing the latest in electric vehicles and other green transportation technology at the school’s Homewood campus in Baltimore. Ford will display its fuel-efficient vehicles outside Mason Hall, where the public will be allowed to test drive them. Posted. http://www.washingtonpost.com/local/electric-vehicles-on-display-at-johns-hopkins-university-college-park/2011/11/15/gIQADcNXNN_story.html Tesla's Model S helps you find your way. Tesla Motors (TSLA)' upcoming all-electric Model S is a roomy ride that comfortably seats five adults as well as two children in rear jump seats that fold down. It will offer driving ranges up to 300 miles between charges and provide generous storage space in its "frunk" -- a front-end trunk located under the hood where most cars hide their engine. But one of the flashiest features of the car, which Palo Alto-based Tesla is now showing off in beta version in advance of it hitting the market in mid-2012, is the 17-inch "Tesla touch screen" nestled into the center of the dashboard. Posted. http://www.mercurynews.com/business/ci_19308694 GREEN ENERGY Congress divided over continuing subsidization of wind power. Washington state sometimes has too much of a good thing: power. In a state that relies heavily on water and wind for its electricity, Mother Nature can be too generous, and it has been causing headaches for energy producers. Wind producers are irked that the Bonneville Power Administration, a federal agency, can cut off wind generation when there's a surge in river flows, resulting in too much hydropower - that happened last spring. Posted. http://www.fresnobee.com/2011/11/15/2615105/congress-divided-over-continuing.html#storylink=misearch Bleeding Green: California losing green businesses. Sacramento, CA - Green businesses have joined the exodus of California companies leaving the state or expanding only outside state borders. In 2011, 172 companies have moved out or are moving out of California, Business Relocation Coach Joe Vranich said. Vranich, who tracks the movement of companies, said the number of companies moving out of the state is five times higher than the rate of companies that moved out of California in 2009. According to Vranich's research, the states most likely to receive fleeing California businesses are Texas, Arizona, Colorado and Nevada. Posted. http://www.news10.net/news/california/article/162422/430/Bleeding-Green-California-losing-green-businesses Does the U.S. Spend Too Much on Green Energy — or Not Enough? The controversy over the failed solar company Solyndra — which received $535 million in federal aid before it went bankrupt earlier this year — has reignited the debate on how much, if at all, Washington should be subsidizing clean energy research and development. Critics of federal clean energy aid were given new ammunition this past weekend, as a pair of articles in the New York Times and the Washington Post made the case that much of the public's money was essentially being wasted. Posted. http://www.time.com/time/health/article/0,8599,2099480,00.html Clean energy has highest return rate of any federal program. The National Academy of Sciences concluded in 2001 that a handful of clean energy technologies returned about $30 billion on a research and development (R&D) investment of about $400 million. The United States is an amazing venture capitalist when it comes to clean energy R&D. Posted. http://www.grist.org/renewable-energy/2011-11-15-clean-energy-has-highest-return-rate-of-any-federal-program Wind electricity to be fully competitive with natural gas by 2016. The best wind farms in the world are already competitive with coal, gas, and nuclear plants. But over the next five years, continued performance improvements and cost reductions will bring the average onshore wind plant in line with cheap natural gas, even without a price on carbon, according to analysis from Bloomberg New Energy Finance (BNEF). Posted. http://www.grist.org/wind-power/2011-11-14-wind-electricity-to-be-fully-competitive-with-natural-gas-by-201 MISCELLANEOUS Keystone pipeline builder proposes changing Nebraska route. It would avoid the delicate Sandhills region above a shallow aquifer. Many cheer, but some environmentalists say the fight isn't over. The builders of the controversial Keystone XL tar sands pipeline agreed Monday to reroute it around Nebraska's ecologically fragile Sandhills in the hope the move would shorten any delay in the project, which has posed political complications for the Obama administration. Posted. http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-keystone-pipeline-20111115,0,5364878,print.story http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2011/11/15/MN531LV517.DTL&type=green Dan Walters: Peninsulans still leery about high-speed train. When the California High-Speed Rail Authority unveiled its much-revised business plan for the proposed north-south bullet train system this month, one of its implicit goals was to quiet fierce opposition among the very affluent and politically astute residents of the San Francisco Peninsula. That opposition stemmed from the decision to route bullet trains to and from San Francisco via San Jose and the Pacheco Pass, and thus along the Peninsula, rather than over the Altamont Pass through Tracy. Posted. http://www.sacbee.com/2011/11/15/v-print/4054855/dan-walters-peninsulans-still.html Palo Alto council takes step toward officially opposing high-speed rail project. The Palo Alto City Council moved a step closer Monday to formally opposing the state's controversial high-speed rail project. The council voted 8-1 to task its Rail Committee with drafting a request to the state Legislature to either kill the now-$99 billion project or place it on the November 2012 ballot for reconsideration. "It's a big step and we should be deliberate in taking it," Council Member Greg Scharff said. Council Member Larry Klein cast the dissenting vote. Posted. http://www.mercurynews.com/california-high-speed-rail/ci_19338148?source=rss OPINIONS Jim Hartnett: High Speed Rail is needed, and new plan is practical. The latest draft high-speed rail business plan "lays out a sensible and politically feasible strategy for building the line in segments," according to the Los Angeles Times. The Fresno Bee, supporting the business plan as "much more realistic" and a "wise path," says doubters "have no answer for the state's dysfunctional transportation system if high-speed rail is not a part of it." The San Francisco Chronicle asserts the planning is "moving in the right direction with a business plan that is decidedly more pragmatic, realistic and transparent." Posted. http://www.mercurynews.com/opinion/ci_19335717 Cap-and-trade scam. The cult of climate change is alive and well here in the backwards state of California. The California Air Resources Board has just approved plans for a cap-and-trade system. The fact that it will have absolutely no effect on climate whatsoever does not matter to them. That this most regressive of taxes will affect the poor the hardest as energy and gas prices skyrocket does not matter to them. The fact that thousands will lose their jobs as businesses flee the high energy costs or go out of business does not matter to them. Posted. http://www.contracostatimes.com/california/ci_19335023 Greenhouse gas no issue in Lompoc. Recently the Planning Commission discussed a Greenhouse Gas addendum to the Environmental Impact Report for the 2030 General Plan. Although greenhouse gases had been discussed in the original EIR, in their effort to derail the potential inclusion of the Bailey Avenue corridor within the Urban Limit Line the Santa Barbara County Action Network alleged that the consultant didn’t follow the California Environmental Quality Act guidelines to determine the impacts of greenhouse gases. Posted. http://www.lompocrecord.com/news/opinion/editorial/commentary/greenhouse-gas-no-issue-in-lompoc/article_555bf9ee-0f47-11e1-ad66-001cc4c002e0.html BLOGS A Green Light For Fisker’s Karma, But How Green Is the Car? Fisker Automotive can now sell its plug-in luxury hybrid car Karma in California, having just received certification from the state regulators, the company told VentureWire. But while Fisker has been promoting Karma’s green credentials, the California Air Resources Board qualified the car as a fairly standard smog-creator. Irvine, Calif.-based Fisker, which is one of the most heavily funded venture-backed start-ups, delayed the rollout of the first model of its vehicle compared with its own projections because of the protracted approval process from the Environmental Protection Agency and the California regulator. Posted. http://blogs.wsj.com/venturecapital/2011/11/15/a-green-light-for-fiskers-karma-but-how-green-is-the-car/tab/print/ BY SUBSCRIPTION Carbon Trading Initiative a Success, Study Says. The Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative, a 10-state program that has been testing a carbon dioxide cap-and-trade system, may be in trouble, with New Jersey planning to drop out and other states considering doing the same. But a new study says the program has saved money for consumers, stimulated job growth and kept money in local economies in the states that signed up. Posted. http://green.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/11/15/greenhouse-gas-initiative-a-success-study-says/ Closeup: Climate Extremes and Global Warming. Later this week, as I noted on Monday, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, meeting in Kampala, Uganda, will issue its report on ways to manage risks from extreme events in a changing climate. A few hours ago, I was able to catch Chris Field, a leader of the panel’s Working Group 2 focused on impacts and adaptation for a brief text chat on the challenges in this charged arena. Posted. http://dotearth.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/11/15/closeup-climate-extremes-and-global-warming/ Consumer Reports Poll Shows Support for Stronger Fuel-Economy Standards. A poll conducted by Consumer Reports in late October showed that an overwhelming majority of American consumers would support higher fuel-economy standards and would be willing to pay a premium for high-efficiency vehicles. Nearly all, or 93 percent, of the 1,008 people interviewed supported an increase in fuel efficiency. Seventy-seven percent agreed that automakers should produce more fuel-efficient vehicles and that the government should increase standards and enforce them. Posted. http://wheels.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/11/14/consumer-reports-poll-shows-support-for-stronger-fuel-economy-standards/ Consumer Reports: Large majority favor stronger fuel economy standards. In advance of eagerly awaited details regarding proposed Corporate Average Fuel Economy standards, Consumer Reports has released results of a new survey, and – no surprise here – 93 percent of respondents "support increased fuel efficiency." Further revelations include 77 percent in favor of car manufacturers producing more fuel-efficient vehicles, and 80 percent agreeing with fuel economy standards requiring fleet averages to top 55 miles per gallon by 2025. Posted. http://green.autoblog.com/2011/11/14/consumer-reports-large-majority-favor-stronger-fuel-econ/ SunLine Transit unveils 7th generation hydrogen-fueled bus. Canada-based Ballard Power Systems has, together with consortium partners BAE Systems and ElDorado National (California) Inc., successfully deployed a “Buy America”-compliant, fuel cell bus for SunLine Transit Agency in Palm Springs, CA. This marks the 7th generation of hydrogen buses deployed by SunLine, which has pursued an aggressive strategy of implementing clean technologies into its fleet. Posted. http://www.greencarcongress.com/2011/11/sunline-20111115.html