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California Air Resources Board News Clips for July 28, 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.

AB 32

Prop. 23 Backers File Challenge Over Wording. Backers of a voter
initiative to suspend California's landmark climate change law
have filed a legal challenge to the wording of the rollback
measure. In legal papers filed Tuesday, the Yes on Proposition 23
committee alleged that the state attorney general's office used
misleading and unfair descriptions in voter materials. Proponents
of the climate change law, or AB 32, said the court filing is
another smoke screen from a group backed by out-of-state oil
interests who will profit from a rollback. Posted.
http://www.sacbee.com/2010/07/28/v-print/2919009/prop-23-backers-file-challenge.html
http://www.eenews.net/climatewire/print/2010/07/28/3
http://www.mercurynews.com/california/ci_15617802?source=rss&nclick_check=1

Oil Industry Is Driving Force Behind Proposition 23's Attack On
California's New Greenhouse Gas Regulation. If a ballot
initiative is known by the company it keeps, we should be just a
teeny bit suspicious of Proposition 23, the Nov. 2 measure
designed to eviscerate California's new greenhouse gas
regulation. The driving force behind the initiative is the oil
industry, which has contributed more than $2.3 million to getting
it passed. The biggest single contributor is San Antonio-based
Valero Energy ($1.05 million, according to the latest state
campaign disclosures), with San Antonio-based Tesoro Corp. in
second place with $525,000. Posted.
http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-hiltzik-20100727,0,4733595,print.column

CLIMATE CHANGE/GHG’S

California, New Mexico And 3 Canadian Provinces Outline Regional
Cap-And-Trade Program. The Western Climate Initiative would cut
greenhouse gas emissions 15% below 2005 levels by putting
restrictions on the energy sector, large industrial plants and
transportation. California, joined by New Mexico and three
Canadian provinces, outlined a detailed plan Tuesday to curb
greenhouse gas emissions in a regional cap-and-trade program by
January 2012. Posted.
http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-climate-pact-20100728,0,7168879,print.story
http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5hgABVefweI7bvthTYMEmiTSahocQD9H7LN801
http://www.nbcbayarea.com/news/politics/California-Leads-the-Way-to-Climate-Change-99338024.html
http://www.modbee.com/2010/07/27/1268895/western-climate-initiative-offers.html#ixzz0uzeyhAJk
 http://www.vcstar.com/news/2010/jul/27/climate-initiative-offers-cap-and-trade-system/


Our View: Breathe Easier: We Dodged Climate Bullet. After
scaling back ambitious plans to cap and effectively tax
greenhouse emissions in nearly every industry, Senate Democrats
recently conceded they couldn't get the necessary 60 votes to
pass even a bill to regulate only electric utilities. The failure
to impose a cap-and-trade regimen before the August recess is a
major loss for the Obama administration, which deemed the bill
necessary to fulfill the president's campaign pledge to heal a
"planet in peril. Posted.
http://www.appeal-democrat.com/articles/campaign-97464-bill-votes.html

Rising Temperatures Harm Ocean Plant Life, Research Finds.
Rising temperatures can have a harmful effect on the tiny plant
life that forms the base of the marine food chain and also likely
affects marine diversity, new research has found. Over the years,
humans have stressed the oceans through pollution, over-fishing
and habitat alteration such as dredging. Less well understood is
the role of higher sea temperatures, which many scientists
believe is linked to global climate change. Posted.
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704895004575395273977526844.html?mod=googlenews_wsj#printMode

Climate Study: Expect Refugee Inflow to U.S. Global Warming
Study Sees Big Rural Refugee Migration to U.S. Over Next Decades.
Every time governments fail to take serious steps on climate
change, it seems the parlor game of predicting what our warmer
world will look like heats up. And the newest of those
predictions, appearing this week in the Proceedings of the
National Academy of Sciences, pokes at what is presently one of
the country’s most sensitive spots: immigration. Posted.
http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2010/07/28/tech/main6721031.shtml

ENERGY

California's Clean Energy Future Threatened By Federal Delays,
State Officials Say. The U.S. Department of Energy is accused of
foot-dragging in approving loan guarantees to finance several
major projects worth an estimated $30 billion. Plans for a
massive expansion of clean energy in California are being
jeopardized by federal foot-dragging, according to state
officials who say that more than 20 nearly shovel-ready solar and
wind projects are being held up by the U.S. Department of Energy.
Posted.
http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-solar-energy-20100728,0,4486511,print.story

Energy Bill, Focusing On Conservation, Can't Shake Calls For
RES. The Senate's small energy package unveiled last night flirts
with Republican opposition and turns its cheek to clean-power
Democrats. Its first vote, nonetheless, is planned for next week.
Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) resisted mounting efforts in
his own party to include a renewable electricity standard (RES)
in his last-ditch attempt to pass an energy bill this summer,
even as several Democratic senators openly questioned his
assertions that the electricity standard lacks support. Posted.
http://www.eenews.net/climatewire/print/2010/07/28/2

DOE And DOD Join Forces To Push Clean Energy Research. The
Energy Department and Defense Department unveiled plans yesterday
to chart a new course speeding clean energy development. DOE's
deputy secretary, Daniel Poneman, announced that his agency
signed a memorandum of understanding with the Pentagon geared
toward increasing collaboration on clean energy research through
the exchange of ideas and even personnel. Posted.
http://www.eenews.net/climatewire/print/2010/07/28/5

Homebuilders And Efficiency Advocates Push For Overhaul In
Residential Energy Use. Increasing the energy efficiency of
private homes through changes in the nation's building codes is
an essential tool to direct meaningful reductions in energy costs
and greenhouse gas emissions, asserted efficiency advocates at a
congressional briefing yesterday. The best opportunity to
introduce energy-efficient technologies into a home is during its
construction or its sale, or when it is otherwise vacant,
panelists said. Posted.
http://www.eenews.net/climatewire/print/2010/07/28/6

Wind Farm 'Mega-Project' Underway In Mojave Desert. The Alta
Wind Energy Center — with plans for thousands of acres of
turbines to generate electricity for 600,000 Southern California
homes — officially breaks ground Tuesday. It's being called the
largest wind power project in the country, with plans for
thousands of acres of towering turbines in the Mojave Desert
foothills generating electricity for 600,000 homes in Southern
California. Posted.
http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-windfarm-20100727,0,7972223.story

Sonoma County Sues Feds Over Energy Retrofit Policy. At issue is
whether the federal agencies have the power to set rules
affecting home loans on properties where the owners have
participated in retrofit programs. Sonoma County has sued federal
housing officials and agencies for new rules that it maintains
have undermined its energy retrofit program and harmed
participating homeowners. Posted.
http://www.pressdemocrat.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20100727/articles/100729543&tc=ar&template=printart.

VEHICLES

GM Takes On Nissan In Electric Car Battle. The next phase in the
rebirth of the electric car is turning into a battle between
General Motors and Nissan Motor Co. GM executives, speaking
Tuesday at a plug-in car conference in San Jose, said their
Chevrolet Volt will cost $41,000 when it hits the market later
this year. The price had been the subject of intense speculation
for years. Posted.
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2010/07/28/BUMA1EKNEO.DTL&type=printable
http://articles.latimes.com/2010/jul/27/business/la-fi-autos-volt-20100727
http://www.examiner.com/x-42287-Chicago-Green-Technology-Examiner~y2010m7d27-Chevy-Volt-to-cost-41000-before-rebates

Electric Carmakers Focus On Incentives, Not Carbon Prices.
Livonia, Mich. -- With climate legislation seemingly dead in
Congress, many clean-energy advocates are going back to the
drawing board. But the electric-car industry, which is relying on
other federal incentives to get ahead, remains upbeat. Industry
officials have met just outside Detroit for the past two days to
discuss the state of the growing industry: whether the United
States can build enough batteries, at a low enough price, to
compete globally. Posted.
http://www.eenews.net/climatewire/print/2010/07/28/1

Calif. To Convene Plug-In Advisory Group. San Jose, Calif. --
California is forming a cross-agency group to figure how to
improve the rollout of plug-in electric vehicles, a top state air
regulator said today. The "Plug-In Electric Vehicle Collaborative
Council" will consist of about 25 state employees, legislators
and industry representatives and will be led by Diane Wittenberg,
formerly executive director of the Climate Action Reserve and the
Climate Registry, which work on greenhouse gas reporting and
offset protocols. Posted.
http://www.eenews.net/climatewire/print/2010/07/28/8
http://www.greencarreports.com/blog/1047618_2011-chevy-volt-no-5k-rebate-hov-lane-access-for-ca-buyers

TIRE PRESSURE

CA Dealers Prepare To Comply With Air Check Rule. Starting on
Sept. 1, tire dealerships and auto service providers in the State
of California will be required to check and inflate the tires on
every vehicle that rolls into their shops, according to a final
regulation order from the California Air Resources Board (CARB).
Also starting on that date, all tire dealerships and other auto
service providers will be required to: Posted.
http://www.moderntiredealer.com/News/Story/2010/07/CA-dealers-prepare-to-comply-with-tire-check-reg.aspx

DIESELS

Changes Proposed To California Emission Regulations. New
emission regulations for transport refrigeration units on trucks
that operate in California are causing headaches for
owner-operators and others involved in transporting fresh
produce. Although the California Air Resources Board — which
developed and enforces the regulations — is looking to amend the
rules again to make things easier, it is also looking at stricter
enforcement, possibly holding brokers, wholesalers and anyone who
make transportation arrangements responsible for trucks that do
not comply. 
Posted.
http://thepacker.com/m/default.asp?contentid=1181225&FeedId=0
http://refrigeratedtrans.com/refrigeration/equipment/carb_proposes_to_amend_tru_compliance_standards_0728/

AG BURNING

Agricultural Burning Exemption to Be Examined. So-called
“regulatory loopholes” that would allow more than 90 percent of
all agricultural burning to continue in the San Joaquin Valley
are to be examined Wednesday by the Senate Select Committee on
Air Quality, chaired by Sen. Dean Florez, D-Shafter. Posted.
http://www.centralvalleybusinesstimes.com/stories/001/?ID=15843

BLOGS

Western Climate Initiative: California, New Mexico And 3
Canadian Provinces Push Greenhouse Gas Controls. California,
joined by New Mexico and three Canadian provinces, outlined a
detailed plan Tuesday to curb greenhouse gas emissions in a
regional cap-and-trade program by January 2012. The Western
Climate Initiative, two years in the making, comes as
Congressional legislation for a federal climate legislation has
stalled and the focus of U.S. action to curb global warming
shifts to the states. Posted.
http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/greenspace/2010/07/western-climate-initiative.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+GreenspaceEnvironmentBlog+%28Greenspace%29

A Glimpse of How Regional Carbon Trading Might Work. After three
years of deliberations, participants in the regional carbon
trading pact known as the Western Climate Initiative have
released a "comprehensive strategy" for how the coalition will
achieve its goals of reducing emissions 15% below 2005 levels by
2020.  The plan, "Design for the WCI Regional Program" lays out
details for a regional cap-and-trade system, offsets and
incentives, and energy efficiency programs. Posted.
http://blogs.kqed.org/climatewatch/2010/07/27/a-glimpse-of-how-regional-carbon-trading-might-work/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+kqed%2FClimateWatchBlog+%28KQED%27s+Climate+Watch+Blog%29&utm_content=Google+Reader

New Emission Control Rules for California’s Truck Drivers. In
California, there are over 1 million diesel-end “rot with tons of
fine particles into the air every day. It is not surprising that
several California cities are ranked among the most polluted air.
A trucking company is not police, they fall and their platforms
with better control of air pollution, the state had step in.
Posted.
http://www.truckingjoball.com/new-emission-control-rules-for-californias-truck-drivers/

Cap and Trade Is Dead. Long Live Cap and Trade. Hard on the
heels of the Senate Democratic leadership’s decision to put aside
climate legislation intended to cap carbon dioxide emissions,
another carbon-capping precinct was heard from this week. On
Tuesday, representatives of some of the Western Climate
Initiative, a group of seven states and four Canadian provinces,
unveiled a rough blueprint for a cap-and-trade program that would
begin operating in 2012. Posted.
http://green.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/07/28/cap-and-trade-is-dead-long-live-cap-and-trade/?src=mv

A Push for Action on Renewables. With a cap on carbon dioxide an
apparent nonstarter in the Senate these days, some clean energy
and climate advocates have shifted their sights to a scaled-back
but still ambitious goal: passage of a national renewable energy
standard. Posted.
http://green.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/07/28/a-push-for-action-on-renewables/

On Global Warming And Techno-Optimism. Sometimes," Ross Douthat
says, "it makes sense to wait, get richer, and then try to muddle
through." He's talking about global warming, and giving voice to
a common line of thinking. Sure, the argument goes, global
warming is real. But it's a long-term problem. By the time it
becomes a serious threat, we'll have more money, and more
technology, to deal with it. Posted.
http://voices.washingtonpost.com/ezra-klein/2010/07/on_global_warming_and_techno-o.html