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newsclips -- Newsclips for February 12-15, 2010
Posted: 16 Feb 2010 11:52:31
California Air Resources Board News Clips for February 12-15, 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. Unilever Fined for Polluting California Air With Deodorant Spray. Sacramento, California, February 15, 2010 (ENS) - A fragrant personal care spray designed to make men appear to be free of unpleasant body odor has polluted California air to the degree that the state has fined the brandowner's corporate parent more than $1 million. The California Air Resources Board announced Wednesday that it has penalized Conopco Inc. d/b/a Unilever $1.3 million for illegal consumer sales of AXE Deodorant Bodyspray for Men. Posted. http://www.ecofactory.com/news/unilever-fined-polluting-california-air-deodorant-spray-021510 The Continuing Climate Meltdown. It has been a bad—make that dreadful—few weeks for what used to be called the "settled science" of global warming, and especially for the U.N. Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change that is supposed to be its gold standard. First it turns out that the Himalayan glaciers are not going to melt anytime soon, notwithstanding dire U.N. predictions. Next came news that an IPCC claim that global warming could destroy 40% of the Amazon was based on a report by an environmental pressure group. Other IPCC sources of scholarly note have included a mountaineering magazine and a student paper. Posted. http://online.wsj.com/article/SB20001424052748703630404575053781465774008.html Lawsuits Roll In As EPA 'Endangerment' Deadline Looms. Critics of U.S. EPA's climate regulations are lining up to launch legal battles against the agency's "endangerment" finding amid a looming deadline for court challenges. The U.S. Chamber of Commerce on Friday petitioned a federal appeals court to reconsider EPA's determination that greenhouse gases threaten public health and welfare, a finding that paves the way for broad regulations of the heat-trapping emissions. Posted. http://www.eenews.net/Greenwire/print/2010/02/15/1 http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5jA2dG4270cgZ7r66PGn-u11l2Z8wD9DTDFSG0 Lack of Direction on Climate Change Hobbles Carbon Trading. London — Touted by its supporters as the best and cheapest way to fight global warming, carbon trading is losing momentum amid the uncertainty created by the failure of the Copenhagen summit meeting and President Barack Obama’s political troubles in the United States. Investors are steering clear of energy-saving projects meant to generate carbon credits, and traders in Europe are hunkering down through a period of consolidation that is disappointing to those who had hoped carbon markets would grow quickly into a $2 trillion-a-year business. Posted. http://www.nytimes.com/2010/02/15/business/energy-environment/15rentrade.html?sq=environment&st=cse&scp=2&pagewanted=print Conoco, BP, Caterpillar Leave Climate Coalition. ConocoPhillips, Caterpillar Inc. and BP America have left the U.S. Climate Action Partnership, a coalition of more than two-dozen companies and environmental groups lobbying Congress to pass greenhouse gas emissions cap-and-trade legislation. BP America, a unit of London-Based BP PLC, Notified Fellow U.S. CAP Members Of Its Decision By Letter Today. Houston-Based Conocophillips Broke The News In A Press Release. Posted. http://www.nytimes.com/gwire/2010/02/16/16greenwire-conoco-bp-caterpillar-leave-climate-coalition-73582.html?pagewanted=print Opinion: Congress Should Postpone Climate Change Legislation, Seek Real Science First. The Climategate scandal is a textbook case of professional malfeasance that should give Congress reason to pause before agreeing to a binding international agreement that would hamstring the world economy in order to prevent the climate from changing. Posted. http://www.modbee.com/opinion/national/story/1047978.html Climate Change Facts: To the Editor: Re “U.N. Climate Panel and Its Chief Face a Siege on Their Credibility” (front page, Feb. 9): That fossil fuel industry-financed forces are continuing their campaign to undermine the United Nations’ Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change and its chief scientists should not distract us from what we know about our climate. Two physical findings stand out. In the last 50 years the world ocean has accumulated 22 times as much heat as has the atmosphere (data provided by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration of the Department of Commerce). Posted. http://www.nytimes.com/2010/02/14/opinion/l14climate.html?sq=climate%20change&st=cse&scp=6&pagewanted=print Study Finds Traffic Pollution Can Speed Hardening Of Arteries. People living within 328 feet of an L.A. freeway were found to have twice the average progression of atherosclerosis -- thickening of artery walls that can lead to heart disease and stroke. Los Angeles residents living near freeways experience a hardening of the arteries that leads to heart disease and strokes at twice the rate of those who live farther away, a study has found. Posted. http://articles.latimes.com/2010/feb/14/local/la-me-freeway-pollution14-2010feb14 New Leader Looks To Fire Up Sierra Club. Alameda – You could say that Michael Brune graduated to the big time in environmental politics when he learned the magical powers of the pound sign (#)and the numerals 8 and 0. When he punched those numbers into a telephone inside a Home Depot store in Atlanta in 1999, Brune suddenly found himself in full control of the building's intercom system. From atop this electronic bully pulpit, Brune's voice rolled across the cavernous store, reminding shoppers that Home Depot was, at the time, buying wood products from companies harvesting trees from rare and endangered old-growth rain forests. Posted. http://www.sacbee.com/capitolandcalifornia/v-print/story/2535897.html Does the Huge China-Australia Coal Deal Square With the Copenhagen Accord?Environmental activists are attacking a $60 billion deal that will keep Chinese power stations supplied with Australian coal for at least the next two decades. Under the agreement announced last week, the Australian coal and iron ore mining company Resourcehouse will build a new mining complex to give China Power International Development 30 million tonnes of coal annually for the next two decades. Resourcehouse Chairman Clive Palmer called it the "biggest-ever export contract" for Australia, which is the world's leading exporter of coal. Posted. http://www.nytimes.com/cwire/2010/02/16/16climatewire-does-the-huge-china-australia-coal-deal-squa-78639.html?pagewanted=print Economics Improve For First Commercial Cellulosic Ethanol Plants. Many cellulosic fuel producers are working with enzymes to break down tough, inedible plant parts, such as corncobs or switch grass, into simpler sugars that can be fermented to ethanol. Now enzyme companies say they are near to breaking down another tough obstacle: the cost of enzymes that will make the next generation of low-carbon fuels. The progress may help put cellulosic ethanol on course to compete commercially when the first large plants open next year. Posted. http://www.eenews.net/climatewire/print/2010/02/16/2 Success & Service — UC Merced Professor Receives Grant For Ag Land, Biofuel Study. Elliott Campbell, a professor in the School of Engineering at the University of California at Merced, has received a $407,588, five-year grant from the National Science Foundation to study production of biofuels on abandoned agricultural lands. Posted. http://www.modbee.com/local/story/1047957.html Valley Dairies Will Try New Methane Process. State support of a new methane digesting project could help three Central Valley dairy farms treat their waste more efficiently. Officials from the California Department of Food and Agriculture, the Merced Irrigation District and a West Sacramento-based environmental engineering company as well as representatives of three dairies met at the World Ag Expo in Tulare this week to sign an agreement to pursue digester pilot projects at each of the dairies. Posted. http://www.modbee.com/ag/story/1046766.html Gauging Growth With Diesel Data. A survey that measures how much diesel fuel truck drivers are buying and where they're buying it is expected to offer insights about the strength of the economic recovery. The first look at the study released last week by UCLA economists shows no teeth in the economic recovery. In contrast, strong gross domestic product readings for the fourth quarter of 2009 suggested to some the national economy was moving forward. Posted. http://www.modbee.com/business/story/1049838.html A Variety Of Solutions Can Add Up To Benefit Farmers. On Jan. 28, the California Air Resources Board (CARB) met to consider amending the regulations concerning diesel engines used in water well drilling rigs. The CARB hearing was the culmination of work by me, the Assembly Agriculture Committee, the California Groundwater Association (CGA), and the results of the amendments to my AB 1416. Posted. http://www.modbee.com/opinion/community/story/1049901.html Cities Prepare for Life With the Electric Car. San Francisco — If electric cars have any future in the United States, this may be the city where they arrive first. The San Francisco building code will soon be revised to require that new structures be wired for car chargers. Across the street from City Hall, some drivers are already plugging converted hybrids into a row of charging stations. In nearby Silicon Valley, companies are ordering workplace charging stations in the belief that their employees will be first in line when electric cars begin arriving in showrooms. Posted. http://www.nytimes.com/2010/02/15/business/15electric.html?th=&emc=th&pagewanted=print Uranga Loses Re-Election For AQMD Board Seat. Long Beach - City Councilwoman Tonia Reyes Uranga has lost her re-election bid for the South Coast Air Quality Management District board. The vote last week by 40 of the 51 cities that are in the AQMD's Los Angeles County Western Region became official Wednesday. Rolling Hills Estates City Councilwoman Judy Mitchell got 31 votes, while nine cities, including Long Beach, voted for Uranga, AQMD officials said. Posted. http://www.contracostatimes.com/california/ci_14384919 Burn-Ban Deadline Worries Vintners. Fresno — A long-awaited deadline for a ban on open-field burning in the San Joaquin Valley is coming June 1. But many vineyard owners say they can't afford to follow the rule. Alternatives in use on many types of valley farms, such as burning waste at a biomass energy plant, may not work on vineyards, where plant waste often is tangled in wires and wooden stakes. Posted. http://www.modbee.com/ag/story/1046763.html Your Turn: Bonfire Of The Inanities. First there was Tax Freedom Day, now there's Fireplace Freedom Day! This winter the mandatory fireplace burning restrictions established by the Bay Area Air Quality Management District (BAAQMD) caused quite a kerfuffle. Over the past several months these pages have been flooded with public complaints about enforcement of the new mandatory burning rules, adopted to comply with state and federal air quality regulations. Posted. http://www.contracostatimes.com/opinion/ci_14390539 Anne Marie Fuller: Think Twice Before You Light Up The Fireplace. AS I write this column, New York and others states back east are getting pounded by yet another harsh blizzard — making most of us thankful we live in Northern California. But even here, on these chilly winter days, it's often nice to stay warm by curling up and enjoying a soft, glowing fire in your own fireplace. Posted. http://www.contracostatimes.com/columns/ci_14397189 Council's Vote Official On Footprint Recycling Loan. Footprint Recycling will be able to apply for the loan the Arcata City Council approved Wednesday after some speculation they would need to reconvene to make it official. The city council approved a loan of $20,000 with a 3 percent interest rate to aid biodiesel producer Footprint Recycling in recovering from an oil spill last month, according to a city staff report. The recycling facility was put under a cease and desist order after the spill and has not been allowed to continue its normal operations. Posted. http://www.contracostatimes.com/california/ci_14388311 Green Entrepreneur Eyes Shut-Down Davenport Cement Plant. Davenport - The life of the century-old Davenport cement plant may not be over just yet. The entrepreneur behind Moss Landing's green cement business Calera Inc. says he'd consider expanding his operation to the shuttered facility in Davenport should the for-sale sign come up. Posted. http://www.contracostatimes.com/california/ci_14392101 Energy Audit Sheds Light On Costly Appliances, Electronics. PG&E brought my family an unwelcome gift in mid-November: a SmartMeter. Since the Bay Area rollout last fall, these remotely read meters have come under fire. Consumers have complained that they do not accurately measure electricity usage, resulting in significantly higher utility bills. Posted. http://www.contracostatimes.com/home-garden/ci_14359509 BLOGS Samsung Enters Solar Deal in California. European Pressphoto Agency Samsung’s first commercial solar plant in South Korea. The company’s American arm is expected to provide panels for plants in California. Samsung, the Japanese South Korean conglomerate best known to Americans for its televisions and cellphones, is jumping into the American solar business. Posted. http://greeninc.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/02/16/samsung-enters-solar-deal-in-california/?pagemode=print San Francisco’s Electric Cars Proliferate. Jim Wilson/The New York Times The San Francisco Bay area is already a center of the nascent battery-charged economy. In Monday’s New York Times, Clifford Krauss and I wrote about the ways cities are preparing for the rollout of electric cars later year. West Coast cities like Portland, Ore.; Los Angeles; and San Diego are vying to become electric car capitals. Posted. http://greeninc.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/02/16/san-franciscos-electric-cars-proliferate/?pagemode=print Global Warming and Weather Psychology. How does extreme weather affect the public’s understanding or misunderstanding of global climate change? Australian heat wave and dust storms last year, advocates of action on global warming were quick to link the weather to the longer term climate changes. But when there’s a cold snap or snowstorm, the skeptics have a field day, even if the climate scientists protest that it’s all part of the extreme weather patterns of global warming. Posted. http://roomfordebate.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/02/11/global-warming-and-weather-psychology/?pagemode=print