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California Air Resources Board News Clips for January 21, 2010. 

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.


Calif. Supreme Court Upholds Development Emissions Rule. San
Francisco -- The California Supreme Court declined to hear an
industry group's challenge to the San Joaquin Valley Air
Pollution Control District's indirect-source emission rules. The
California Building Industry Association had disputed the
district's right to impose fees if developers failed to mitigate
their projects' air pollution. The rules govern nitrogen oxides
and particulate matter generated by new development. Mitigation
measures include developing closer to transit stops, including
bike paths, or increasing buildings' energy efficiency. Posted.
http://www.eenews.net/Greenwire/print/2010/01/21/17

Calif. Backs Off Threat To Fuel Rules. Board says it's committed
to 35.5 m.p.g. Washington -- California officials backed away
Wednesday from a threat to scuttle a compromise on national fuel
economy standards if the Obama administration didn't make two
changes to federal rules. In a statement on the California Air
Resources Board's Web site, its chairwoman Mary Nichols said the
agency was "fully committed" to the national plan for a 35.5
m.p.g. average by 2016. Posted.
http://www.freep.com/article/20100121/BUSINESS01/1210434/1322/Calif.-backs-off-threat-to-fuel-rules
http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSN2018241920100121?type=marketsNews

**U.S. Vote Dims Hopes For Stronger World Climate Pact.
Singapore/Oslo - Hopes for stronger world action in 2010 to curb
climate change have dimmed after the U.S. Democrats lost a key
Senate seat to a Republican opposed to capping emissions, experts
said on Wednesday. The election of Republican Scott Brown, an
opponent of cap and trade, to the Senate after the death of
Democrat Edward Kennedy dims prospects for U.S. action. Once
Brown takes office, Democrats will have 59 seats in the Senate
and the Republicans 41. Posted. (Complete story at end of page)
http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSTRE60J3N920100120

Brown Is A 'Blank Slate' On Climate, Drawing Concern And
Optimism. Massachusetts Senator-elect Scott Brown has taken
largely a back-seat role in his state's energy and climate
debates but supported key environmental initiatives when voting
in the Legislature, according to state officials, environmental
advocates and state records. The Republican state senator who won
a special election Tuesday was not heavily involved in
Massachusetts issues related to renewable power, energy
efficiency, greenhouse gases or other high-profile energy topics
as part of a state Legislature that passed a major global warming
bill in 2008, several sources said. Posted.
http://www.eenews.net/climatewire/print/2010/01/21/1

Chu Defends Slow Pace Of 'Green' Stimulus. Federal funds have
been slow to filter down to states and local agencies, Energy
Secretary Steven Chu acknowledged yesterday. Speaking to the U.S.
Conference of Mayors in Washington, D.C., Chu assured the about
250 local leaders that federal stimulus dollars will reach their
targets. But, he said, mayors must ensure that the investments
turn into jobs. "The federal government follows in your
footsteps," Chu said. Chu also called for greater investment in
research and development. Posted.
http://www.eenews.net/climatewire/print/2010/01/21/7

Calif.'S 'Cool Car' Rule Could Inhibit Cell Signals. A rule
currently being prepared by the California Air Resources Board to
limit the solar heat that streams into cars could have the side
effect of reducing the quality of cell phone signals, a trade
group representing the nation's largest wireless carriers says.
California's "cool cars" regulation, which could lower air
conditioning use and therefore reduce CO2 emissions,
"significantly and negatively affects wireless device and network
performance in a number of situations, ….Posted.
http://www.eenews.net/climatewire/print/2010/01/21/8

Port Of Oakland Trucker Strike Averted. Dellums tells drivers
aid may be coming. Oakland — A planned strike Wednesday by
frustrated Port of Oakland truckers was narrowly averted when
Oakland Mayor Ron Dellums appealed to the drivers for patience.
The Northern California Rail and Port Truckers Association had
called for the work stoppage after hundreds of drivers were
prevented from entering the port's marine terminals Tuesday, the
deadline to comply with new state air-quality rules. Posted.
http://www.insidebayarea.com/oaklandtribune/localnews/ci_14233580

Oakland Gate Operations Improve Wednesday. Second day of
clean-truck program runs smoother. Gate operations at Oakland
marine terminals were smoother Wednesday as the port's
clean-truck program entered its second day. "There were a lot
fewer problems at the marine terminals and diagnostic center,"
said Bruce Wargo, speaking for the Oakland Marine Terminal
Operators Association. Terminal operators turned back a number of
trucks on Tuesday when the port began enforcing a ban on pre-1994
trucks. Posted. http://www.joc.com/print/416156

Copenhagen’s Climate Deal Is at Risk, a U.N. Official Says.
Washington — Just a month after world leaders fashioned a
tentative and nonbinding agreement at the climate change summit
meeting in Copenhagen, the deal already appears at risk of coming
undone, the top United Nations climate official warned on
Wednesday. Facing a Jan. 31 deadline, major countries have yet to
submit their plans for reducing emissions of climate-altering
gases, …. Posted.
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/01/21/science/earth/21climate.html?pagewanted=print

UPS Deploys Natural Gas Trucks in Fresno. Shipping company UPS
deployed 16 new green trucks to Fresno today as part of its goal
of reducing dependence on fossil fuels and lowering its carbon
footprint. The trucks, powered by Compressed Natural Gas (CNG),
join 900 similar vehicles already used by the company in the
U.S., Germany, France, Chile and Brazil. UPS first began
deploying the clean-burning trucks in 1989 resulting in 95
percent lower particulate emissions than diesel engines and 75
percent lower carbon monoxide emissions. Posted.
http://www.thebusinessjournal.com/environment/3675-ups-deploys-natural-gas-trucks-in-fresno


Climate Conference Ignored Overpopulation. During the Copenhagen
conference in Denmark, leaders from around the world addressed
climate change, carbon footprints and ways to solve the dilemma.
However, they failed to address the core issue: human
overpopulation. Posted.
http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2010/jan/21/climate-conference-ignored-overpopulation/


Study Links Asia To Smog Component In Western US. Grants Pass,
Ore. -- Ozone blowing over from Asia is raising background levels
of a major ingredient of smog in the skies over California,
Oregon, Washington and other Western states, according to a new
study appearing in Thursday's edition of the journal Nature. The
amounts are small and, so far, only found in a region of the
atmosphere known as the free troposphere, at an altitude of two
to five miles, but the development could complicate U.S. efforts
to control air pollution.  Posted.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/01/20/AR2010012002447_pf.html

Murkowski Wins Dem Support On EPA Bill. Sen. Blanche Lincoln
(D-Ark.) is joining forces with Alaska Republican Lisa Murkowski
in an effort to block the Environmental Protection Agency from
regulating greenhouse gases. Lincoln, a politically vulnerable
senator who comes from a manufacturing state that leans
Republican, warned that “heavy-handed EPA regulation, as well as
the current cap and trade bills in Congress, will cost us jobs
and put us at an even greater competitive disadvantage to China,
India and others.” Posted.
http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0110/31797.html

Opinion: Climate Change Camp Experiencing A Cooling-Off Period.
Global warming's heyday of 2006 and 2007 is long gone. With
temperatures dropping recently, skepticism may be rising. Climate
change just isn't what it used to be. Case in point: The number
of otherwise intelligent people who are saying that all the cold
weather (in the East) and rain (here at home) are causing them to
lose faith in the gospel of global warming. Posted.
http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/la-oe-daum21-2010jan21,0,6630778,print.column

Don't Punish Producers. This is in response to the Jan. 17
article, "Group's 'green' facade crumble." Thank God for
polluters. If we didn't have polluters -- I call them producers
-- we wouldn't have an economy. They are the goose that lays the
golden egg. For too long we've been passing laws and regulations
that either put them out of business or drive them out of the
state. Thank God for the AB 32 implementation group. It's high
time that producers united in an effort to save our state from
excessive environmental regulations. Posted.
http://www.bakersfield.com/opinion/letters/x113240571/Dont-punish-producers

Kettleman City Landfill Growth Sparks Suit. A group of Kettleman
City residents is going to court to try to stop the expansion of
a hazardous-waste landfill that they suspect has caused birth
defects. People for Clean Air and Water, a group of Kettleman
City residents, and Greenaction for Health and Environmental
Justice said Wednesday the county's environmental review of the
project was flawed and a permit for the expansion should be
thrown out. Posted.
http://www.fresnobee.com/265/story/1790305.html

Bio-Coal: An Innovative Solution For Producing Clean Energy From
Beetle Kill. It would be hard to think of an economic problem
that couldn’t be solved if industry, government, finance,
politicians, and environmentalists all agreed on the solution.
Currently, there are two big problems in the Intermountain West
begging for just such a comprehensive solution. They are what to
do with millions of acres of dead lodgepole pine trees killed by
beetle infestation, and how to reach the goal of cleaner
coal-generated electricity production.  Posted.
http://www.deltacountyindependent.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=12991:bio-coal-an-innovative-solution-for-producing-clean-energy-from-beetle-kill&catid=34:delta&Itemid=347

Retail Giant Completes Major Solar Electric Installation.
Walmart has completed its largest solar power project at its
Apple Valley distribution centre in southern California. The 5300
ground-mounted solar electric panels cover 7 acres and have total
capacity of 1 MW. The facility is part of a solar power pilot
project that Walmart first announced in May 2007, to purchase
solar PV systems for 22 Walmart stores, Sam’s Club locations and
distribution centers in California and Hawaii. Posted.
http://www.renewableenergyfocus.com/view/6616/retail-giant-completes-major-solar-electric-installation/

20 Percent Wind Power By 2024 Possible But 'Challenging' –
Study. Wind power could supply more than 20 percent of
electricity demand for the nation's eastern grid in 2024 if a
large overlay of new transmission lines is built and grid
operations are reorganized to share wind energy widely across the
region, according to the most detailed study of the issue to
date, led by the Energy Department's National Renewable Energy
Laboratory. Posted.
http://www.eenews.net/climatewire/print/2010/01/21/3
http://www.sanluisobispo.com/environment/story/996585.html

Blogs

Smog in the Western U.S.: Blame China? Ozone from Asia is
wafting across the Pacific on springtime winds and boosting the
amount of the smog-producing chemical found in the skies above
the Western United States, researchers said in a study released
Wednesday. The study, published in the journal Nature, probes a
phenomenon that has puzzled scientists in the last decade:
Ground-level ozone has dropped in cities thanks to tighter
pollution controls, but it has risen in rural areas in the
Western U.S., where there is little industry or automobile
traffic. Posted.
http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/greenspace/2010/01/ozone-smog-air-pollution-greenhouse-gases-china-pollution-owen-r-cooper-kathy-law.html

Climate Change Bill Is in Doubt. As Democrats on Capitol Hill
and the White House contemplated the fallout of the special
election results in Massachusetts on Tuesday, proponents of major
climate change legislation said they would persist in their
efforts to win passage of a bill this year, despite a hostile
political environment. Posted.
http://thecaucus.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/01/20/climate-change-bill-is-in-doubt/


White House Not Backing Down On Climate. A senior White House
official on Thursday said the Obama administration is continuing
to press Congress to endorse cap-and-trade legislation,
deflecting calls to back a more limited package of energy
measures that omits mandatory greenhouse gas cuts. Posted.
http://thehill.com/blogs/e2-wire/677-e2-wire/77255-white-house-official-cap-and-trade-has-strong-support-on-capitol-hill


**U.S. vote dims hopes for stronger world climate pact

* Raises questions about Kyoto pact follow-up 
* Risks of Doha-type stalemate in climate talks 
* Knock-on risks in Australia, Japan, Canada 
* Hoyer says cap and trade "not dead" 
(Adds California official in paragraphs 6-7) 
By David Fogarty and Alister Doyle 
 
SINGAPORE/OSLO, Jan 20 (Reuters) - Hopes for stronger world
action in 2010 to curb climate change have dimmed after the U.S.
Democrats lost a key Senate seat to a Republican opposed to
capping emissions, experts said  on Wednesday. 
The election of Republican Scott Brown, an opponent of cap and
trade, to the Senate after the death of Democrat Edward Kennedy
dims prospects for U.S. action. Once Brown takes office,
Democrats will have 59 seats in the Senate and the Republicans
41. The bill needs 60 votes to overcome procedural hurdles. 

Backers of the existing international Kyoto Protocol, which
obliges all industrialized nations except the United States to
cut emissions until 2012, will be more reluctant to take on
tougher new goals for 2020 unless Washington also joins in. 
U.N. climate talks in Mexico in November are meant to build on a
weak "Copenhagen Accord" worked out last month by nations
including the United States that sets a goal of limiting warming
to no more than 2 Celsius (3.6 F) above pre-industrial times.
 
But the Mexico meeting will be undermined if the United States,
the top emitter behind China, has not set caps on carbon
emissions. That might dash hopes for a Kyoto successor from 2013
and mean a system of domestic pledges instead. 

"We can't afford climate to be a dysfunctional regime like
trade," said Nick Mabey, head of the E3G climate think-tank in
London. He said there were risks talks would stall, like the
inconclusive Doha round on freer world trade launched in 2001. 

Mary Nichols, the top official implementing California's state
climate change law, told Reuters that state and regional climate
change efforts could now take center stage in the United States.


"We've been feeling ever since Copenhagen that the focus was
going to be on regional efforts for the coming year, regardless
of what happened in the Massachusetts election," she said in a
telephone interview. 

Many nations have been sitting on the fence before deciding firm
carbon policies, waiting for U.S. legislation. President Barack
Obama wants to cut emissions by 4 percent below 1990 levels by
2020, or a 17 percent cut from 2005 levels. 
Countries are supposed to propose carbon-cutting policies under
the Copenhagen Accord by Jan. 31.
 
U.S. House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer said the legislation
might have to be split in two to ensure that less controversial
parts encouraging use of alternative energies can pass. Tougher
elements limiting emissions could then be handled separately. 
"I don't believe that cap and trade is dead," he said. 

MOMENTUM 

Yvo de Boer, head of the U.N. Climate Change Secretariat, said
U.S. willingness to act had built since ex-President George W.
Bush took office in 2001 and said Kyoto would cost jobs and
wrongly omitted carbon curbs by poor nations. 

"I don't think that any political development in the United
States means turning back nine years on the climate change
agenda," he said. Many Americans were concerned, for instance,
with energy security and hoped for jobs in a greener economy. 
But some experts said failure to pass U.S. legislation could
have a knock-on in countries such as Australia, Japan or Canada
which are considering stronger action beyond 2012 that aims to
avert ever more heatwaves, droughts, floods and rising sea
levels. 

"2009 was fairly disappointing and 2010 could be another year of
slow policy development to those trying to launch their own cap
and trade schemes," said Trevor Sikorski, director of carbon
markets research at Barclays Capital. Still, he predicted the
value of global carbon markets would grow in 2010 -- boosted by
an increase in prices even though the growth of trading volume
would slow. 

"The issue of cap and trade does not necessarily go away. I
expect banks will continue low-key capacity building as there is
no downside if a market doesn't develop by 2011 or later," said
Garth Edward, head of environmental products at Citi. "They'll
keep building the franchise," he said. 
The European Union sees itself as a leader in combating climate
change, and has set a goal of cutting emissions by 20 percent
below 1990 levels by 2020, or 30 percent if others join.
 
"We need global cooperation and progress will only be possible
with internationally binding commitments -- but for everyone,"
German Chancellor Angela Merkel told the Bundestag lower house of
parliament on Wednesday. 

The Pacific island of Tuvalu fears rising seas could wash it off
the map. Ian Fry, who represents Tuvalu in U.N. talks, said U.S.
carbon caps had to be passed by mid-year or would be put back
into 2011 because of November elections that cover about a third
of the Senate seats. 

Environmental activists saw only bad news from the Senate. "On
the international front, China is constantly looking to the U.S.
on climate bills ... This is definitely bad news. It doesn't
bring new confidence to international negotiations," said Ailun
Yang of Greenpeace in Beijing. 

(With extra reporting by Michael Szabo in London, Pete Harrison
in Brussels, Bappa Majumdar in New Delhi, Ralph Jennings in
Beijing, Madeline Chambers and Paul Carrel in Berlin and Peter
Henderson in San Francisco; Editing by Jon Boyle and Cynthia
Osterman