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California Air Resources Board News Clips for December 23, 2009.
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.


Sacramento Company Fined for Air Pollution Violations. The
California Air Resources Board says it has fined General Produce
Company of Sacramento $30,900 for reporting violations during
2006. General Produce failed to submit a one-time report for
their transportation refrigeration units at their facility, as
required by law, CARB says. Transportation refrigeration units or
TRUs are refrigeration systems that are powered by diesel engines
that control the environment of temperature-sensitive products in
refrigerated trucks, trailers, railcars and shipping containers.
Posted.
http://www.centralvalleybusinesstimes.com/stories/001/?ID=13945 

E.U. Blames Others for ‘Great Failure’ on Climate. European
Union leaders on Tuesday sought to deflect criticism that they
had fumbled their strategy at the Copenhagen climate summit
meeting, just as a feud between the British and the Chinese over
whom to blame for the outcome worsened. Posted.
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/12/23/world/europe/23iht-climate.html


Copenhagen Climate Talks. Regarding the editorial “Beyond
Copenhagen” ( Dec. 22), it is now crucial that the center of
gravity of decision-making on how we respond to climate change
moves toward the sub-national level. This will reinvigorate
national leaders. Posted.
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/12/24/opinion/24iht-edletters.html

California Continues Forward as Climate Change Role Model for
Country and World. As countries failed to reach a substantive
climate change pact at Copenhagen last week, action at the
subnational level has emerged as one of the likeliest paths
toward significant climate action. Posted.
http://www.newjerseynewsroom.com/nation/california-continues-forward-as-climate-change-role-model-for-country-and-world

West Bound And Down: New Year Brings New Reefer Reg In
California. The California Air Resources Board begins enforcement
of its new emissions rule for reefers on New Year’s Eve. CARB
said enforcement of in-use performance standards will begin in
January 2010 for all trucks with model year 2002 and older
reefers. The state requires all in-state motor carriers to sign
up with CARB’s TRU registry, and recommends TRUS based outside
the state to register. California-based truck owners can register
online through California’s Air Resources Board Equipment
Registration (ARBER) system. Posted.
http://www.landlinemag.com/todays_news/Daily/2009/Dec09/122109/122209-02.htm

Editorial: Now He’s Worried? / Interest In Helping Small
Businesses Overdue. As this page has long noted, Gov. Arnold
Schwarzenegger’s goal of being revered as a global green giant
has a potentially huge downside for California’s economy. The
governor considers AB 32 – the landmark 2006 anti-global warming
state law that forces increased use of cleaner but costlier forms
of energy – his greatest achievement. Posted.
http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/2009/dec/23/now-hes-worried-interest-helping-small-businesses-/

Editorial: For U.S., Leadership Role In Climate Talks Should
Begin In Washington. The U.S. has to set a good example if it
wants the rest of the world to follow suit with concrete action
to address global warming. We've been reserving judgment on last
week's United Nations climate summit in Copenhagen because we're
still trying to figure out what, exactly, happened. Posted.
http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/editorials/la-ed-copenhagen23-2009dec23,0,238153,print.story

Editorial: Cap And Trade Will Increase Costs. Scare tactics in
the media continue. Air at the Morristown Green has been measured
since 1995 by the Environmental Protection Agency, but never
released to the public. I would love to see the real findings.
Our atmosphere is composed of approximately 78 percent nitrogen,
20.95 percent oxygen and other gasses, of which carbon dioxide
is. 025 percent. All living things on this planet are carbon base
and breathe oxygen. Posted.
http://www.dailyrecord.com/article/20091223/OPINION02/91221092/1095/OPINION/Cap+and+Trade+will+increase+costs

Opinion: Thomas Sowell: Climate Zealots Purge Science Of Facts.
Science is one of the great achievements of the human mind and
the biggest reason why we live not only longer but more
vigorously in our old age, in addition to all the ways in which
it provides us with things that make life easier and more
enjoyable. Posted.
http://www.ocregister.com/opinion/science-225409-global-warming.html

RFA Wants California's New Fuels Standard Stopped. Dinneen says
CARB has made mockery of process. Citing obvious violations of
the California Administrative Procedures Act, the Renewable Fuels
Association has called on California's Office of Administrative
Law to reject the California Air Resources Board's Low Carbon
Fuels Standard rule currently under review. Posted.
http://americanagriculturist.com/story.aspx?s=34109&c=8

Pachauri: Copenhagen a Good Outcome. New Delhi --The climate
change accord reached at the Copenhagen summit is a good outcome
but is inadequate to combat global warming, the head of the
United Nations' Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change said
Wednesday. R.K. Pachauri--also the director general of India's
The Energy and Resources Institute, or TERI -- told reporters
that the accord "provides the foundation on which we can build
upon for emission reduction." Posted.
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB126155576184402639.html?mod=googlenews_wsj

The Copenhagen Crash and Global Cooling. If you're wondering why
the national political news focus has been on health care and not
on the aftermath of the historic conference in Copenhagen,
Denmark which ended less than a week ago...it's because nothing
productive happened there.  Even worse, more lies have been
exposed from the IPCC report, more agendas uncovered about
leaders at the United Nations and the "accord" that was
supposedly reached at the 11th hour in Denmark is already falling
apart. Posted.
http://www.examiner.com/x-3854-Cincinnati-Weather-Examiner~y2009m12d23-The-Copenhagen-Crash-and-Global-Cooling

Wood Fires May Be Banned On Christmas Eve and Christmas Day
across Bay Area. The Bay Area Air Quality Management District is
asking residents to check before burning any wood fires on
Christmas Eve or Christmas Day since predicted light winds and
cool air may create unhealthy air conditions across the region.
You can find out whether burning wood is prohibited by checking
Spare the Air notices at www.mercurynews.com/extra. Posted.
http://www.mercurynews.com/breaking-news/ci_14055686
http://www.contracostatimes.com/california/ci_14055686?nclick_check=1

Small-Business Group Says Majority Opposes Cap And Trade. An
influential small-business group that has opposed climate bills
in Congress said yesterday that its recent polls show there is
limited support among job providers for a federal cap-and-trade
program mandating greenhouse gas emissions reductions. "The
majority of small-business owners viewed cap and trade as more of
a hindrance to job creation," said Brad Close, vice president for
public policy at the National Federation of Independent Business.
Posted. http://www.eenews.net/climatewire/print/2009/12/23/3

Residents Reminded To Sign Up For Air Alerts. The Bay Area Air
Quality Management District is reminding residents to sign up for
air alerts this week in the event of possible winter "Spare the
Air" notices during the holidays. "We're asking Bay Area
residents to remember to check the burn status each day including
holidays, to see if an air alert is called which bans fireplace
burning," said Jack Broadbent, executive officer of the air
district. Posted.
http://www.contracostatimes.com/news/ci_14054808

Tom Purcell: Is Pollution The Real Solution? IF HUMAN ACTIVITY
got us into the mess, can human activity can get us out? I refer
to "SuperFreakonomics," a hugely entertaining book by University
of Chicago economist Steven Levitt and co-author Stephen Dubner.
Levitt and Dubner mine cold, hard economic and scientific data to
arrive at some offbeat conclusions. Posted.
http://www.contracostatimes.com/opinion/ci_14049327

China, India, South Africa Vital For Climate Deal. New Delhi—The
emergence of China, India, South Africa and Brazil as a grouping
was the most significant outcome of the climate talks in
Copenhagen, the chairman of the U.N. Intergovernmental Panel on
Climate Change said Wednesday. Posted.
http://www.contracostatimes.com/news/ci_14055325

UN Climate Chief Urges Avoiding Blame Over Summit. Amsterdam—The
top U.N. climate official says that though the Copenhagen global
warming summit went sour countries should avoid blaming each
other and get down to work on a better deal next year. Posted.
http://www.contracostatimes.com/news/ci_14055714

U.S. Wants Farmers To Use Coal Waste On Fields. The federal
government is encouraging farmers to spread a chalky waste from
coal-fired power plants on their fields to loosen and fertilize
soil even as it considers regulating coal wastes for the first
time. Posted.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/12/22/AR2009122203336.html

Ballard Power Systems, Daimler In Fuel Cell Deal. Vancouver --
Ballard Power Systems said Tuesday that it has reached a deal
with German automaker Daimler AG to supply fuel cell products.
The company will provide technology for Daimler's fuel cell car
and bus programs. The agreement provides a minimum of $24 million
in revenue over 18 months beginning in April. Posted.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/12/22/AR2009122203010.html

After Summit, 'Cleantech' Firms Reset Strategy. Posted.
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704157304574612272401446280.html?mod=WSJ_hpp_sections_tech
 FULL STORY BELOW:

Businesses that had banked on global greenhouse-gas limits to
spur alternative-energy investments now are looking to national
and local policies to get more wind turbines turning and
nuclear-power plants humming, after the muddled outcome of the
Copenhagen climate summit.

The failure of the United Nations gathering to produce an
enforceable accord to cut fossil-fuel emissions leaves the U.S.,
Europe, China, India and other countries to pursue the energy
policies they already had.

In many cases, those policies are aimed more at strategic goals,
such as economic development or reducing dependence on Mideast
oil, than at threats posed by global warming.

Still, some businesses say these policies could play a major
role in fostering so-called clean technology, which includes
non-fossil power sources, such as wind turbines, and related
know-how, such as software that equips energy grids to cope with
intermittent bursts of power from solar cells.

Gary Sheffer, a spokesman for General Electric Co., whose
products include energy-efficient locomotives and wind turbines,
says his company is "encouraged and optimistic" because of rising
sales to nations like China. He said GE's cleantech revenues in
China for the first nine months of 2009 totaled $660 million, up
50% from a year earlier.

Since 2002, venture-capital investments in cleantech world-wide
have soared from about $1 billion to an estimated $5 billion to
$6 billion this year, according to the Cleantech Group, a San
Francisco market-research firm. After experiencing one of its
first back-to-back quarterly declines in March, venture funding
for cleantech, much of it based in California's Silicon Valley,
has resumed its climb.

In the U.S., the lack of a strong Copenhagen deal may set back
some of these investments, already hurt by falling oil prices.
But the Obama administration still plans to use the Environmental
Protection Agency to clamp down on the nation's greenhouse-gas
emissions, and the Energy Department remains committed to
spending billions in public funds to jump-start
alternative-energy technology.

On a smaller scale, California is pursuing a program to garner a
third of its electricity from renewable sources by 2020, more
than double current levels. Most Northeastern states are expected
to cut carbon-dioxide emissions, based on regional targets.

The adoption of renewable-energy standards, completed or under
way in many states, should boost demand for technologies that
make electrical grids more efficient, says Dan Adler, president
of the nonprofit California Clean Energy Fund, set up by the
state to help spur cleantech investment. Such efforts have fueled
the growth of Silver Spring Networks Inc., a Redwood City,
Calif., grid-technology provider, which has tripled its work
force since 2008 to about 450.

"From our standpoint, we have been cheerleading Copenhagen,"
says Eric Dresselhuys, the company's executive vice president,
"but it's not a direct impact on this business."

Many U.S. states will continue to shift toward lower-carbon
fuels, says Michael Peevey, president of the California Public
Utilities Commission, which regulates investor-owned electric,
gas and water utilities in the state. California is "not going to
turn back," he says.

Officials at Iberdrola, the Spanish power company and the
world's biggest renewable-energy company say they are evaluating
investments based on local policies, such as renewable-energy
standards in states like Texas.

Some businesses, worried about a patchwork of federal and state
regulation, are still pushing for Congress to enact a nationwide
system for cutting carbon-dioxide emissions. But the prospects
for congressional action in the 2010 election year look dim.
China, spurred in part by its desire to reduce dependence on
foreign oil, remains committed to a sweeping energy efficiency
program that calls for cutting carbon intensity, a measure of
emissions relative to the size of the economy, by 40% to 45% from
2005 levels by 2020. That means government support for
alternative energies, and for Chinese companies in that field, is
likely to continue to grow.

Gao Jifan, chief executive of Trina Solar Ltd., a Chinese maker
of solar panels, says the continuous cost reductions being
achieved by solar-panel producers are making the technology more
affordable. "So the outlook for its development is unstoppable,"
he said in a statement.

In the European Union, companies still have to comply with laws
that require member nations to reduce emissions collectively to
20% below their 1990 levels by 2020, despite the summit's lack of
binding targets. .

"We just didn't get a good sense from the [Copenhagen]
conference about the regulatory structures that might be in place
and the general direction of where public policy is headed," says
Andrew Turpin, spokesman for Centrica PLC, Britain's biggest
energy provider, echoing complaints by other European energy
investors about the gathering.

BLOGS

Climate Questions? Scientists Answer. Assertions of human-driven
climate change are fraught with enough political, cultural and
legal questions to fuel a parallel universe of blog and e-mail
warfare. Sometimes obscured by these angry exchanges is the
science itself — a quest to explain an incredibly intricate and
dynamic system, earth’s climate, and its behavior over thousands,
even millions, of years. Posted.
http://greenoc.freedomblogging.com/2009/12/22/climate-questions-scientists-answer/17711/

So, How’d That Global Warming Summit Go? Scant few other than
President Obama claim Copenhagen’s global warming summit was a
success because, well, for obvious reasons. How do others feel
about it? “India hailed Tuesday the lack of targets and legally
binding measures in the Copenhagen climate accord and vaunted the
united front presented by major emerging countries at the chaotic
talks. . .” Posted.
http://orangepunch.freedomblogging.com/2009/12/22/so-howd-that-global-warming-summit-go/15301/