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newsclips -- Newsclips for May 24, 2010.
Posted: 24 May 2010 12:14:16
California Air Resources Board News Clips for May 24, 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. EMISSIONS STANDARDS White House to Demand Tougher Fuel Economy Standards. If you've got a giant, gas-guzzling V8 engine that requires a credit application every time you need to feed it, buck up. Maybe it will be a collector's item. The Detroit Free Press reports, "President Barack Obama will launch a drive today to set fuel economy standards through 2025, ordering federal agencies to work together on tougher rules for cars, trucks and commercial vehicles.” Posted. http://usnews.rankingsandreviews.com/cars-trucks/daily-news/100524-White-House-to-Demand-Tougher-Fuel-Economy-Standards/ Truck Industry Welcomes Obama's Fuel Efficiency Plans For Big Rigs. The president orders federal agencies to develop standards for such vehicles. Environmentalists and industry groups applaud the move. By deciding to set the first fuel efficiency standards for big-rig trucks, President Obama on Friday handed environmentalists a victory, but one that the vehicle industry said it was happy to embrace. At a televised Rose Garden ceremony at the White House, Obama signed a memorandum ordering federal agencies to prepare plans for the fuel efficiency standards. Posted. http://articles.latimes.com/2010/may/21/nation/la-na-obama-trucks-20100522 http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704852004575258422707538344.html?mod=googlenews_wsj http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5hTIfEP47jBc2oIQC8_M6IJY9uRzAD9FS7DKG0 http://content.usatoday.com/communities/driveon/post/2010/05/president-obama-wants-to-set-2025-mpg-standards-now/1 http://www.businessweek.com/news/2010-05-21/obama-orders-work-on-new-vehicle-efficiency-standards-update2-.html http://www.modbee.com/2010/05/22/1177973/obama-seeks-tougher-mileage-efficiency.html#ixzz0ordRbb4m Canada Plans New Emission Rules For Heavy Trucks. Toronto -- Canada's environment minister says the government will develop new emissions standards for heavy trucks as part of a united approach with the U.S. to create a continental emissions standard. Jim Prentice said Friday that 15 different types of vehicles will have to conform to the new rules for rigs sold in Canada between the 2014 and 2018 model years. Currently, heavy trucks account for about 6 percent of the country's total greenhouse gas emissions. Prentice could not provide details about the proposed rules because the draft regulations will not be ready until later this year. Posted. http://www.modbee.com/2010/05/21/1176904/canada-plans-new-emission-rules.html#ixzz0ornQP7cI Enviros Criticize Canada's New Truck Emission Regs. Canada joined the United States Friday in setting new emissions standards for heavy trucks. The move prompted criticism from environmentalists who said Canada was losing its way as a leader in environmental policy and turning into a copycat of its southern neighbor. The Canadian government and some analysts, however, argued that the global reach of climate change required a joint announcement with the United States. Posted. http://www.eenews.net/climatewire/print/2010/05/24/5 How To Pass A Smog Test. The Good News Gasoline vehicle smog inspection stations have been around in California since 1966. And, according to the California Air Resources Board, there will be no diesel-specific smog shops, which means truck owners are taking their diesels to smog stations that haven't seen a lot of diesel vehicles before. Since a lot of smog station technicians don't know what to look for-this puts you in the driver seat. With dealerships getting in on the emissions game, another loophole will be to take your Ford to a GM shop. Posted. http://www.dieselpowermag.com/tech/1006dp_how_to_pass_a_smog_test/power_stroke.html AB 32 Logue Criticizes Jarvis Efforts Against Governor Over AB 32. The Legislature’s leading backer of a ballot initiative that would suspend California’s global warning law has criticized an attack by one of his key campaign allies on the Schwarzenegger administration. Assemblyman Dan Logue, R-Chico, said he disagreed with a decision by the Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Association to file several Public Records Act (PRA) requests with the administration and to notify the Fair Political Practices Commission (FPPC) about a disputed email sent out by a member of Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger’s state staff. Posted. http://www.capitolweekly.net/article.php?xid=yv3esjfkl29gq8# GREENHOUSE GASES/CLIMATE CHANGE States Refuse To Back Down On Climate Policy. New York -- Local environmental regulators say they will press ahead in their battle against global warming whether or not Congress strips U.S. EPA of its authority to regulate greenhouse gasses. State and local officials from New York and New Jersey also predicted that new greenhouse gas-curbing rules regulating industries would continue even if Congress approves federal climate legislation. Posted. http://www.eenews.net/climatewire/print/2010/05/24/3 Cutting Carbon Leads List Of Environmental Concerns For Business. More tax incentives and clearer government leadership are needed to shift companies into high gear to cut greenhouse gas emissions, according to a PricewaterhouseCoopers study. The Big Four consulting firm surveyed 700 business executives in 15 countries. Among the 90 U.S. executives, PricewaterhouseCoopers finds that most place the challenge of reducing carbon dioxide emissions at the top of a heap of environmental issues expected to affect U.S. companies. The impact of regulations, the need to increase energy efficiency and consequences from state and federal legislation all weigh in as top concerns. Posted. http://www.eenews.net/climatewire/print/2010/05/24/4 CBO vs. Cap-And-Trade. Doug Elmendorf, director of the Congressional Budget Office, has posted the five main conclusions CBO has come to with regard to efforts to deal with climate change. First, price emissions. Second, the price should start low and rise in a predictable and gradual way over time. Third, treat all emissions equally by bringing them all into the same system. Posted. http://voices.washingtonpost.com/ezra-klein/2010/05/cbo_vs_cap-and-trade.html Readers' forum: Electric Vehicles And Carbon Emissions. CLAIMS THAT replacing gasoline-powered vehicles with electric vehicles (EVs) will substantially reduce carbon emissions are unfounded. The EV proponents claim (correctly) that most EV owners will opt to recharge the batteries at night when electric power costs are lower. This means they will be recharged with base-load electric power generation, which is primarily coal-fired. Posted. http://www.contracostatimes.com/opinion/ci_15135273 GLOBAL WARMING Foes of Calif. Global Warming Law Seek Gov E-Mails. - A group seeking to suspend California's global warming law said Thursday that Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's administration used its offices to campaign against the initiative, a violation of state law. The Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Association said it had filed requests under the California Public Records Act seeking correspondence conducted with state e-mail accounts. The group released an e-mail it said was sent by Schwarzenegger chief deputy director Lisa Kalustian and included campaign literature and an endorsement form from a campaign committee. Posted. http://www.modbee.com/2010/05/20/1175618/foes-of-calif-global-warming-law.html#ixzz0orZjN887 http://www.businessweek.com/ap/financialnews/D9FR9U3G0.htm Are They Paying Attention? The effort to combat global warming has flagged as other crises have commanded the attention of politicians and the public. New reports from the National Academy of Sciences offer persuasive evidence that it would be folly to put off dealing with the problem any longer. We hope the reports will jolt the United States Senate into moving forward on an energy and climate bill. They provide an authoritative rebuttal to skeptics in the Senate and industry who have pounced upon small errors in the 2007 report from the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change to suggest that the whole thing is a hoax. Posted. http://www.nytimes.com/2010/05/24/opinion/24mon3.html?pagewanted=print AG BURNING Without Reasonable Option, Some Farmers OK'd To Keep Crop Burning. Some Valley farmers can continue the age-old practice of burning crops in their fields, despite threats from a lawmaker to yank funding for air pollution programs. A total burn ban was to begin June 1, but the San Joaquin Valley Air Pollution Control District agreed Thursday to exempt some crops because burning is the only affordable way to get rid of them. Posted. http://www.recordnet.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20100521/A_NEWS/5210316/-1/a_news05 http://www.modbee.com/2010/05/20/1175924/grape-and-citrus-growers-get-a.html Air Pollution Firestorm Erupts Over Central California Ag Burning Exemption. Exempting Central California grape and citrus growers from a ban on agricultural burning has touched off a firestorm between a state senator and local clean air regulators. Sen. Dean Florez, D-Shafter, who authored landmark legislation in 2003 that requires the phasing out of agricultural burning, is threatening to lead a campaign to withhold state funding for the San Joaquin Valley Air Pollution Control District after its board exempted two growers’ groups from the burning ban this week. Posted. http://www.examiner.com/x-43915-Bakersfield-Business-Commentary-Examiner~y2010m5d21-Air-pollution-firestorm-erupts-over-Central-California-ag-burning-exemption http://www.recordnet.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20100521/A_NEWS/5210316/-1/a_news05 FUNDING PROGRAMS CARB Retools $28 Million VIP Grant Program. Small-business truckers based in California may now be well positioned for grant money to help comply with one of the state’s new emissions regulations because of changes to the program’s qualifying criteria. The $28 million Voucher Incentive Program, however, is still only available to trucking operations that operate mostly in California. Posted. http://www.landlinemag.com/todays_news/Daily/2010/May10/051710/052110-03.htm CARB Expands Funds For Independents. The California Air Resources Board on May 19 announced changes to an existing $28 million financial assistance program intended to help more California independent truckers qualify for the purchase of a cleaner-running vehicle. CARB said the changes made to the statewide Voucher Incentive Program will make funding available to a larger variety of trucks that will help owners comply early with the statewide truck and bus regulation passed in 2008. Posted. http://www.etrucker.com/apps/news/article.asp?id=85232 Old Car Buy Back Program. For consumers looking for extra cash, Santa Barbara County Air Pollution Control District has a solution: sell that old car. The District announced today that its successful Old Car Buy Back Program now will pay $1,000 per vehicle (instead of the $800 paid previously). The Program is now also available for diesel vehicles as well as gasoline vehicles. Posted. http://www.edhat.com/site/tidbit.cfm?nid=31340 GREEN/ENERGY Sacramento and RecycleBank Team Up for Innovative Partnership. Residents in Sacramento now have a new incentive to go green. Through a pilot program offered by a public/private partnership with RecycleBank, residents of Sacramento's South Meadowview neighborhood will receive valuable rewards such as savings on groceries, pharmacy costs, sporting goods, school supplies and much more--for their recycling efforts Posted. http://www.foxbusiness.com/story/sacramento-recyclebank-team-innovative-partnership/ Is Counting 'Green Jobs' A Green Job Or A Hazardous Undertaking? On a good day, Michelle Charak might haul away 300 boxes of outmoded buttons from a factory that's all too happy to lose the clutter. At her shop in New York City, she'll hand-stitch the buttons into chic necklaces and bracelets, then sell them on her company's website, Chelcnyc.com, for hundreds of dollars a pop. Is that a "green job"? Charak says so."They think it's junk. So I take their junk and I make something," she says. "It's not your typical green job, but it has probably a lower environmental impact than most of the green jobs out there." Posted. http://www.eenews.net/climatewire/print/2010/05/24/1 Legislation Must Account For Biomass Emissions, 90 Scientists Urge Congress. Climate legislation must include a system to account for greenhouse gas emissions from biofuels and biomass electricity, a group of 90 scientists is urging the Democratic leadership in Congress. Treating all biomass energy as carbon-neutral could undermine the bill's emission-reduction goals, the scientists wrote in the letter released today. "Bioenergy can reduce atmospheric carbon dioxide if land and plants are managed to take up additional carbon dioxide beyond what they would absorb without bioenergy," the letter says. Posted. http://www.eenews.net/Greenwire/print/2010/05/24/12 Sharp-Elbowed Leader Brings Oil-Patch Swagger To Wind Group. Denise Bode grew up in the cradle of Oklahoma's oil industry, daughter of a Phillips Petroleum executive living in a town where that company fueled the economy. She battled for petroleum businesses for years, fighting for tax benefits and promoting natural gas as the way to ease climate change. Now she calls wind the best energy solution. Bode, 56, heads the American Wind Energy Association, the industry's largest trade group and a rising force in the energy world. Posted. http://www.eenews.net/Greenwire/print/2010/05/24/1 'Hero Of The Planet' To Share Ideas In Pleasanton. Pleasanton — One of Time magazine's millennium Heroes of the Planet wants to increase profits for Bay Area businesses and in the process save the world. Dr. L. Hunter Lovins said businesses in the U.S. can save billions of dollars by simply turning off the lights. For the past 30 years, Lovins has crisscrossed the globe helping organizations save money and preserve their top capital asset, Earth. Posted. http://www.insidebayarea.com/oaklandtribune/localnews/ci_15147855 U.S. Presses China On Access To Clean-Energy Market. Beijing — U.S. Commerce Secretary Gary Locke called on China's government to give American clean-energy companies greater access to China's market to help combat change. Posted. http://www.contracostatimes.com/california/ci_15134745 Obama Seeking More Nuclear Energy Loan Guarantees. Washington—President Barack Obama is poised to ask Congress to agree to $9 billion more in loan guarantees for the nuclear energy industry, a Democratic aide said Thursday, in a renewed push for nuclear power as the growing oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico highlights the risks of fossil fuel production. Posted. http://www.contracostatimes.com/california/ci_15125830?nclick_check=1 ELECTRIC VEHICLES Vacaville, Calif. Gets First Public Electric Car Rapid Charger in U.S. The city of Vacaville, Calif., a small town halfway between the Bay Area and Sacramento, has a little known distinction: It has more electric car charging stations per capita than any other city in the country. That’s why the city has earned the nickname of “Voltageville.” As of a few weeks ago, Vacaville now boasts a 50-kilowatt EV quick charging station, which is about the size of a conventional gas pump. Posted. http://www.hybridcars.com/news/vacaville-calif-gets-first-public-electric-car-rapid-charger-us-27977.html OPINION: Tesla, Toyota Deal Offers New Hope For The Bay Area. LESS THAN two months ago, a cloud of gloom hung over the East Bay as 4,700 people lost well-paying jobs when the NUMMI auto plant was closed in Fremont. In a sharp and unexpected turn of events, despair has been replaced by a ray of hope with the announcement that Tesla Motors and Toyota Motor Co. will partner to build cutting-edge electric cars at the plant. Tesla said it plans to hire about 1,000 workers for its electric car production, with the first vehicles to be rolled out in 2012. Posted. http://www.insidebayarea.com/opinion/ci_15136708 TRAILER SKIRT Silver Eagle's Aero Saber Skirt Gets SmartWay Nod. Silver Eagle Manufacturing has announced that its Aero Saber trailer skirt has been verified by the Environmental Protection Agency SmartWay program as an advanced trailer skirt. Silver Eagle claims the skirt can improve fuel efficiency by 5.7 percent. The skirt now complies with the California Air Resources Board legislation that took effect Jan. 1, requiring 53-foot trailers operating in the state to have aerodynamic devices installed onto their trailers to obtain a 5 percent or greater verified fuel savings. All model year trailers are required to be compliant by the end of 2012. Posted. http://www.truckinginfo.com/news/news-detail.asp?news_id=70515&news_category_id=36 Crackdown On Dirty Trucks Skirting Rules At The Port Of L.A. A month after Neon Tommy published an investigative report showing how some trucking firms are making an end-run around tightened clean air rules, Port of Los Angeles officials began an investigation to see how widespread the truck-swapping practice might be. Under the practice witnessed recently by a Neon Tommy investigative team, a clean-burning rig transports cargo a short distance from the port's gates where it is met by a second rig, which does not meet rigorous air standards. Posted. http://blogs.uscannenberg.org/neontommy/2010/05/crackdown-on-dirty-trucks-skir.html AIR QUALITY Environmental Cancer Risks More Dangerous. Household and workplace chemicals might contribute to a larger percentage of cancer deaths than previously thought, according to a presidential panel. Pollutants and other chemicals in your environment — your home, your frontyard, your workplace — may be more toxic to your health than you know, according to a report released earlier this month. Posted. http://www.latimes.com/news/health/sns-health-environment-cancer,0,3780968,print.story Pesticide Proposal Leads To Dustup In California. Los Angeles -- The winds that blow across the strawberry fields outside Linda Uvari's home during the spring harvest season carry the tart, sugary smell of the swelling fruits. Uvari fears that they may soon also carry a cancer-causing pesticide. The California Department of Pesticide Regulation has proposed replacing a popular fumigant with methyl iodide despite concerns by its own scientific advisory panel that it could poison the air and water. Posted. http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2010/05/24/BAA31DJBNF.DTL&type=printable For Asbestos-Ravaged Town, Questions Persist. LIBBY, Mont.—Gayla Benefield and Eva Thomson are sisters who have grown used to death. For two decades, they have watched asbestos from a nearby vermiculite mine strangle their parents, Thomson's husband, an aunt, several in-laws and numerous neighbors and friends. Posted. http://www.contracostatimes.com/nation-world/ci_15148739 Air Board Oks Ag Burns; Florez Threatens Funds. Grape and citrus growers Thursday got a reprieve from a farm burning ban that takes effect June 1, but millions of dollars in state funding for Valley air quality may now be at risk. State Sen. Dean Florez threatened to start a campaign to cut off funds for the San Joaquin Valley Air Pollution Control District if the agency went ahead with plans to let certain growers continue burning farm waste. Posted. http://www.fresnobee.com/2010/05/20/1940822/farmers-get-burning-reprieve-but.html Bio-Cremation Offers Third Option For Body Disposal. Ashes to ashes, dust to dust? Not necessarily. California lawmakers have taken a major step toward allowing funeral homes to dispose of human bodies without burial or incineration. The issue is fraught with personal, ethical and financial implications. "This is going to be a whole new industry that's going to really help California, and help families that want choices in their end-of-life options," said Assemblyman Jeff Miller, R-Corona. Posted. http://www.fresnobee.com/2010/05/20/1939695/bio-cremation-offers-third-option.html San Luis Obispo Seeks To Reduce Dust On Dunes. SAN LUIS OBISPO -- Pilot programs such as wind fences and dune replanting to test ways to reduce particulate pollution near the Oceano Dunes could be launched within a year. The San Luis Obispo County Air Pollution Control District this month voted to develop an agreement with the state that outlines such steps. Posted. http://www.fresnobee.com/2010/05/22/1943377/san-luis-obispo-seeks-to-reduce.html OIL SPILL Leaking Gas May Give Clue To Size Of Gulf Oil Spill. A UC scientist proposes dragging methane sensors through the water, which could yield a more accurate measure of the slick. But, he says, the work needs to begin quickly before the plumes disperse. A Santa Barbara scientist has proposed computing the size of the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico by measuring its cousin, natural gas, which is spewing into the gulf along with it. Posted. http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-oil-spill-nature-20100524,0,3720706,print.story