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California Air Resources Board News Clips for January 29, 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.

Nations Take First Steps on Copenhagen 'Accord' The United
States has officially promised the world that it will reduce
global warming pollution about 17 percent below 2005 levels in
the next decade. Now the question is whether President Obama can
deliver. In an announcement yesterday, U.S. climate envoy Todd
Stern submitted America's target to the U.N. Framework Convention
on Climate Change as part of a Jan. 31 deadline negotiated in
Copenhagen last year. In doing so, Stern made a point of noting
that the final figure could change depending on the outcome of
U.S. legislation. Posted.
http://www.nytimes.com/cwire/2010/01/29/29climatewire-nations-take-first-steps-on-copenhagen-accor-35621.html?pagewanted=print

Gov't Told To Cut Own Greenhouse Gases 28 Percent.
Washington—President Barack Obama says the federal government
will reduce its own greenhouse gas emissions by 28 percent in the
next decade—an ambitious goal that exceeds targets for the
country as a whole. Posted.
http://www.contracostatimes.com/nation-world/ci_14294356
http://www.fresnobee.com/news/national-politics/story/1801864.html

U.S. Submits Emissions-Reduction Target To U.N., With Caveat.
The United States will promise the international community that
it will reduce greenhouse gas emissions about 17 percent below
2005 levels in the coming decade, State Department climate envoy
Todd Stern has announced. The target will be submitted to the
U.N. climate regime as part of a Jan. 31 deadline President Obama
helped negotiate in Copenhagen last year. The announcement comes
just a day after Obama publicly pushed Congress to complete
global warming legislation -- and includes the caveat that the
final U.S. target will be delivered "in light of enacted
legislation." Posted.
http://www.eenews.net/eenewspm/print/2010/01/28/1

Obama Puts Government On Low-Carbon Diet. President Obama
ordered the government today to reduce energy use -- cutting
everything from the electricity used in office buildings to the
petroleum used in fleet vehicles -- in an effort to slash its
greenhouse gas emissions 28 percent by 2020."As the largest
energy consumer in the United States, we have a responsibility to
American citizens to reduce our energy use and become more
efficient," Obama said in a statement. "Our goal is to lower
costs, reduce pollution, and shift federal energy expenses away
from oil and towards local, clean energy." Posted.
http://www.eenews.net/Greenwire/print/2010/01/29/1

Obama Budget Request Shouldn't Include Cap-And-Trade Revenue –
Kerry. This story was updated at 6 p.m. to include a statement
from Sen. Kerry's office. Sen. John Kerry (D-Mass.) warned the
Obama administration today not to account for the funding raised
by a controversial cap-and-trade program when it submits its
annual budget request to Congress on Monday. Obama last year
proposed in his fiscal 2010 budget that a cap-and-trade program
would raise some $650 billion over 10 years via a full auction of
emission credits, with the money going to pay primarily for
middle-class tax cuts and development and deployment of clean
energy technologies. Posted.
http://www.eenews.net/eenewspm/print/2010/01/28/2

Carbon Traders and Clean-Tech Companies Heartened by State of
the Union. It was music to the ears of carbon traders and
clean-energy company executives to hear President Obama urge
Congress to pass energy and climate change legislation that
places a cost on greenhouse gas emissions. "To create more of
these clean-energy jobs, we need more production, more
efficiency, more incentives," Obama proclaimed in his first State
of the Union address. "And yes," he said, "it means passing a
comprehensive energy and climate bill with incentives that will
finally make clean energy the profitable kind of energy in
America." Posted.
http://www.nytimes.com/cwire/2010/01/28/28climatewire-carbon-traders-and-clean-tech-companies-heart-2348.html?pagewanted=print

U.S. May Lag In The Global Race To Create Clean Energy Jobs,
Supporters Say. President Obama's focus in the State of the Union
message Wednesday on lifting employment this year overshadowed
his campaign for clean energy jobs in the future. "Jobs must be
our No. 1 focus in 2010" was one of his top applause lines. With
unemployment stuck at 10 percent, he seemed to have no practical
or political choice. His administration's investment in "green"
job creation, although unprecedented, is too small by itself to
jump-start a stagnant, debt-burdened economy, economists said.
Posted. http://www.eenews.net/climatewire/print/2010/01/29/4

Environmental Group Sues California To Halt Logging. Will
Clear-Cutting Forests Increase Global Warming? That's a
contentious issue as California, which is seeking to slash its
carbon footprint, wrestles over rules to manage the state's
private forests. The Center for Biological Diversity, a
Tucson-based environmental group, this week filed lawsuits
against the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection
in seven California counties to halt logging plans for 5,000
acres across the Sierra Nevada and Cascade regions. Posted.
http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-clear-cutting29-2010jan29,0,885503,print.story

Biofuel Advance Made In Bay Area, Researchers Say. Researchers
in Emeryville have engineered a microbe that produces biodiesel
fuel directly from plant waste and grasses, according to a study
published Thursday in the journal Nature. The development was
hailed as a major milestone in a federal initiative to develop
new forms of transportation fuels to ease the country's
dependence on foreign oil and to reduce carbon dioxide emissions.
Posted.
http://www.insidebayarea.com/oaklandtribune/localnews/ci_14288753

Study: Researchers Create Microbe That Turns Plant Waste Into
Biodiesel Fuel. Walnut Creek, Calif. -- Researchers have
engineered a microbe that produces biodiesel fuel directly from
plant waste and grasses, according to a study published Thursday
in the journal Nature. The development was hailed as a major
milestone in a federal initiative to develop new forms of
transportation fuels to ease the country's dependence on foreign
oil and to reduce carbon dioxide emissions. Posted.
http://www.fresnobee.com/green/story/1801199.html

Slowdown in Warming Linked to Water Vapor. Climatologists have
puzzled over why global average temperatures have stayed roughly
flat in the past decade, despite a long-term warming trend. New
research suggests that lower levels of water vapor in the
stratosphere may partly explain the anomaly. The study, appearing
in the journal Science, points out that the concentration of
water vapor in the stratosphere has dropped about 10% in the past
decade, triggered by unexplained cooler temperatures at certain
high altitudes above the tropics. Posted.
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB20001424052748704194504575031404275769886.html
http://www.contracostatimes.com/science/ci_14287123

Opinion: Copenhagen's Moment Of Truth. Sunday is the deadline
for governments to submit national targets and action plans for
reducing greenhouse gas emissions. On Sunday, we will learn if
world leaders meant what they said when they agreed last month to
act collectively to stabilize Earth's overheating climate. Having
failed to complete a legally binding agreement at the chaotic
Copenhagen summit, world leaders instead endorsed what they said
would be a "politically binding" agreement -- the Copenhagen
accord -- that calls on countries to submit national targets and
action plans for reducing greenhouse gas emissions. Posted.
http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/la-oe-lash29-2010jan29,0,4786585,print.story
http://www.fresnobee.com/green/story/1801796.html

Climate Change: Lead, Follow Or Get Out Of The Way. The
following editorial appeared in the St. Louis Post-Dispatch on
Wednesday, Jan. 27: The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency is
moving forward with plans to regulate greenhouse gas emissions
that cause global warming. At the same time, Congress - a leading
source of hot air - is debating a resolution that would strip the
EPA of its authority to act. Sen. Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska, says
she wants to prevent "federal bureaucrats" from enacting
regulations that would destroy jobs. Posted.
http://www.sacbee.com/846/v-print/story/2496276.html

Bin Laden Blasts US For Climate Change. Cairo—Al-Qaida leader
Osama bin Laden has called for the world to boycott American
goods and the U.S. dollar, blaming the United States and other
industrialized countries for global warming, according to a new
audiotape released Friday. Posted.
http://www.contracostatimes.com/news/ci_14293312
http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2010/jan/29/osama-bin-laden-climate-change/print

Watchdog: UK University Hid Climate Data. London—The University
at the center of a climate change dispute over stolen e-mails
broke freedom of information laws by refusing to handle public
requests for climate data, Britain's data-protection watchdog
said Thursday. Posted.
http://www.contracostatimes.com/science/ci_14287976

Caltrain Gets Lift From Federal Stimulus Funds. Caltrain may
prove to be one of the biggest benefactors of the $2.25 billion
stimulus grant bestowed upon the state high-speed rail system
Thursday. The news will provide an essential lift for Caltrain,
which expects to use the money to electrify its system. With
electric cars and rails, the system can run far more commute-time
trains, which will be cheaper, faster, safer and more
eco-friendly. Posted.
http://www.insidebayarea.com/oaklandtribune/localnews/ci_14289277

EPA Change May Mean Impact Fees. Tehama County's air regulation
problems may worsen in 2011. The county is already out of
compliance for both ground-level ozone, also known as smog, and
particulate matter. But the Environmental Protection Agency is
considering knocking down its permitted ozone levels even
further, to somewhere between 0.070 and 0.060 parts per million,
instead of the existing 0.075. Posted.
http://www.contracostatimes.com/california/ci_14294050

SPIN METER: US Jobs Picture Mixed For Rail Grants.
Washington—President Barack Obama is pitching his $8 billion
high-speed rail program to Americans as a jobs generator that
will revitalize the domestic rail industry. But the full picture
is more complicated. Posted.
http://www.contracostatimes.com/california/ci_14284867

Frank Schiavo, San Jose State's 'Green' Pioneer, Dead At 70. A
beloved retired professor dubbed the "messiah of the
environment'' for being green before being green was cool died
this week at his solar-paneled San Jose home, stunning the many
students and friends he had made over the years. Posted.
http://www.contracostatimes.com/bay-area-news/ci_14288138

EPA Probes Its Actions In Town With Toxic-Waste Dump. The
federal agency's internal investigation will run concurrently
with a state and local inquiry into health and environmental
issues facing Kettleman City, Calif. The U.S. Environmental
Protection Agency has launched an internal investigation into its
permitting and oversight in a San Joaquin Valley farming
community dominated by a hazardous-waste facility, agricultural
pesticide spraying and truck exhaust that may be contributing to
health problems including severe birth defects. Posted.
http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-toxic29-2010jan29,0,7746026,print.story

Study Shows White-Roofed Buildings Can Drive Down Emissions And
Urban Temperatures. White roofs can significantly cool down
buildings, make cities more pleasant and reduce the impact of
global warming by saving on energy costs, according to a new
study by the National Center for Atmospheric Research. "Our study
shows that white roofs are effective at reducing heat islands and
decreasing daytime temperature," said Keith Oleson, lead author
of the study to be published in Geophysical Research Letters.
Posted. http://www.eenews.net/climatewire/print/2010/01/29/7

Hot Deal: Switch To Gas Logs, Get $125. The region’s
smog-control agency is offering a $125 rebate to homeowners who
convert their wood-burning fireplaces to gas. The program, meant
to reduce air pollution from wood smoke, proved so popular that
it sold out in December after 5,000 people used it to convert
their fireplaces. The program was recently expanded by the South
Coast Air Quality Management District to cover an additional
2,500 homeowners. Posted.
http://greenoc.freedomblogging.com/2010/01/28/hot-deal-switch-to-gas-logs-get-125/19159/