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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

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