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newsclips -- Newsclips for November 15, 2010.

Posted: 15 Nov 2010 12:14:39
California Air Resources Board News Clips for November 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.

AIR POLLUTION

EPA Takes A New Look At San Joaquin Valley Air. California's
fertile San Joaquin Valley remains plagued with the nation's
dirtiest air despite incremental air quality improvements over
the past 20 years. Geography, sprawl and the San Joaquin Valley's
resident industries - oil production and agriculture - combine to
produce unhealthy compounds that become trapped in the valley
air. The effects of this bad air on human health in the
seven-county (plus parts of Kern County) region are significant -
too many residents suffer from asthma, respiratory illness, heart
attacks, lung cancer and, thus, premature death. Posted.
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2010/11/15/EDUH1GBH6E.DTL&type=printable

CLIMATE CHANGE

Figueres Says Un Climate Envoys Can Make An Agreement in Mexico.
Climate change negotiators meeting in Mexico beginning Nov. 29
can make an agreement to advance the effort for rolling back
global warming, Christiana Figueres, the United Nations diplomat
leading the talks, said in a webcast press conference from Bonn.
"Cancun has to be the next essential step," she said. osted.
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/g/a/2010/11/14/bloomberg1376-LBXH3R6JTSEH01-2DFRTQMKGV4KM2UOAAMCLL3DP2.DTL&type=printable

Obama Faces Tough Fight Over EPA's Carbon Emission Rules,
Beinecke Says. President Barack Obama must fight to defend rules
cutting global-warming emissions that some lawmakers have vowed
to block, said Frances Beinecke, head of the Natural Resources
Defense Council. The Environmental Protection Agency rules
covering major polluters such as power plants and similar actions
that don’t require congressional approval are Obama’s best chance
to curb greenhouse-gas emissions in the near future, Beinecke
said today. Posted.
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/print/2010-11-15/obama-faces-tough-fight-over-epa-s-carbon-emission-rules-beinecke-says.html

Schwarzenegger Pushes For Regional Climate Pact. In the year
since an attempt for a global climate-change treaty failed,
California has been trying a different strategy to reduce
greenhouse gases worldwide. Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger is pushing
state and regional governments around the globe to act, saying
the effort must be led locally in the absence of national and
international momentum. Starting Monday, the outgoing Republican
governor hosts his third and final California climate summit, at
the University of California, Davis, just outside the state
capital. Posted.
http://www.pe.com/ap_news/California/CA_Climate_Summit_California_538394C.shtml

Proposition 26 Will Not Stop AB 32. California voters gave AB 32
and clean energy a strong vote of confidence last Tuesday by
resoundingly rejecting Proposition 23. Close to 4.5 million
people voted against Proposition 23 – more than voted for or
against any other item on the ballot. No on 23 got more votes
than the winning candidates for governor or US Senate or Chief
Justice of the State Supreme Court (who was unopposed). Even
counties that voted for Republican candidates voted against
Proposition 23, including Butte County, home to the initiative’s
author, Assemblyman Dan Logue from Chico. Posted.
http://www.californiaprogressreport.com/site/?q=node/8367

Prop 26 Passage Likely To Affect Wide Range Of Pollution Fees.
While the proposition aiming to suspend California's global
warming law was soundly defeated, another low-profile proposition
was passed Nov. 2 that could make it difficult to enact a
cap-and-trade system for greenhouse gas emissions. Proposition 26
reclassifies most regulatory fees on industry as taxes requiring
a two-thirds majority vote in government bodies from the state
Legislature on down to city councils, and in public referendums.
"California just got a lot harder to govern," said Bill Magavern,
California director of the Sierra Club. Posted.
http://www.eenews.net/Greenwire/print/2010/11/15/7

Coverage Of Climate Summit Called Short On Science. Less than 10
percent of the news articles written about last year's climate
summit in Copenhagen dealt primarily with the science of climate
change, a study showed on Monday. Based on analysis of 400
articles written about the December 2009 summit, the authors of
the report for Oxford University's Reuters Institute for the
Study of Journalism called for a rethinking of reporting on
future such conferences.  Posted.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/11/14/AR2010111404444.html

Wine: Ground-Breaking Fetzer Study Measures Carbon. A new study
of carbon sequestration on 1,322 acres of Fetzer Vineyards
vineyard and wild land in Mendocino County could make the
chemical element a huge resource for the wine industry under
California’s evolving greenhouse-gas emissions accounting system.
Owners of vineyard property should get carbon-capturing credit
for leaving parts of the property undeveloped for soil-friendly
viticultural techniques such as composting, mulching and cover
cropping, according to U.C. Davis researcher Louise Jackson,
Ph.D. Posted.
http://www.northbaybusinessjournal.com/27030/wine-ground-breaking-fetzer-study-measures-carbon/

Can Social Scientists Help Ease the Nation's Rift Over Climate
Change? Stop being so skeptical of climate skeptics, says one
researcher who believes there's been a failure to understand the
mounting cultural doubt around atmospheric warming. The national
discussion on climate change is brimming with economic models,
scientific findings and wonky plans to fix it. But something is
missing: academic explanations of why people flout reams of
scientific conclusions, bristle at the notion of cutting carbon
and regard climate change as a sneaky liberal plot. Posted.
http://www.nytimes.com/cwire/2010/11/15/15climatewire-can-social-scientists-help-ease-the-nations-82753.html

Dutton Lets In The Sunlight. State Senate Republican Leader Bob
Dutton drives an SUV, adamantly opposes the state's
global-warming law and thinks the California Air Resources Board
is hurting the economy. On solar power, though, Dutton and his
environmentalist foes might find some common ground. Workers this
month finished a rooftop solar system at Dutton's Rancho
Cucamonga home. Someday, Dutton hopes, he'll be off the grid
entirely. Are Birkenstocks and patchouli oil far behind? "The
handwriting's on the wall," Dutton said. "I don't think we're
going about it the right way. But I'm not stupid." Posted.
http://www.pe.com/localnews/stories/PE_News_Local_D_polnote15.448cc8c.html

Climate Change Threatens Wheat Crop, Farmers Fear. Los Valles De
Tlaxcala, Mexico -- In these volcanic valleys of central Mexico,
on the Canadian prairie, across India's northern plain, they sow
and they reap the golden grain that has fed us since the distant
dawn of farming. But along with the wheat these days comes a
harvest of worry.Yields aren't keeping up with a world growing
hungrier. Crops are stunted in a world grown warmer. A
devastating fungus, a wheat "rust," is spreading out of Africa, a
grave threat to the food plant that covers more of the planet's
surface than any other.
Posted.
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2010/11/14/BULI1G54EG.DTL&type=printable

FUELS

Ethanol Exports Double With Domestic Subsidy. Corn-based ethanol
is being exported at record rates as exporters take advantage of
a tax credit designed to decrease dependence on imported fossil
fuels. The United States exported 251 million gallons of ethanol
fuel in the first nine months of this year, more than double the
amount for all of 2009. However, the actual figure may be as much
as 50 percent higher because ethanol blended with gasoline before
being exported is not counted in the total. Posted.
http://www.eenews.net/Greenwire/print/2010/11/15/8

GREEN ENERGY

Zipcar Expansion Seen As Good for Environment: Car Share Service
Nearly Doubles Fleet Size in Santa Cruz. After forking over
$1,000 to fix his car, UC Santa Cruz graduate student Leslie
Taylor decided his days of vehicle ownership were over. When he
broke down near Los Gatos several months ago, he said, "I
couldn't really walk away from the car. That's the burden of car
ownership." Posted.
http://www.santacruzsentinel.com/ci_16614804?source=most_emailed

Activists Fight For Healthier Environment. Environmental
activists from across the central valley joined forces Saturday
in Wasco demanding environmental changes. Activists came from as
far as Modesto to discuss their strategies in fighting for a
cleaner and healthier environment. "We just feel like the
community cannot be overburdened anymore," said Maricela
Mares-Alatorre, who traveled from Kettleman City to attend the
conference. Posted.
http://www.turnto23.com/north_county/25786269/detail.html

Japan, Facing Similar Challenges, Embraces Geothermal Energy.
Although both California and Japan have long used geothermal
energy on a small scale, its appeal to policy makers and
investors is growing. Green-energy ventures like Google's are
sinking millions into exploiting the vast reservoirs of steam and
heat energy that lie beneath the earth’s surface. The benefits
are clear: The energy is clean and readily available. Indeed,
it’s literally just boiling in the ground below us. And it could
provide energy for millions. Posted.
http://californiawatch.org/watchblog/japan-facing-similar-challenges-embraces-geothermal-energy-6658

For Energy Chief, Race Is On To Find Fuel Alternatives. It's a
stunning fall morning in Washington, and Energy Secretary Steven
Chu, clad in bike shorts and a snug Stanford University biking
shirt, climbs onto his Colnago bicycle and rolls down his leafy
street and onto the Capital Crescent Trail. Then it's a 20-minute
sprint - breaking the trail's speed limit - to downtown
Washington. A Secret Service agent keeps close behind, with the
help of a small electric motor. The trees are ablaze across the
Potomac as he drops into Georgetown. Posted.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/11/13/AR2010111300229_pf.html

VEHICLES

Driving Toward an Electric Future. Paul and Cindi Marsh could be
any 30-something couple.  Not long ago, they bought a foreclosure
in midtown Stockton. Cindi works in town; Paul commutes to
Sacramento. They have a baby boy, Bacchus ("Bax"), who is
teething and - once in a while - chomps down on mama's finger.
They could be any couple, except for one thing: Soon they'll be
driving a car with no tailpipe. Posted.
http://www.recordnet.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20101115/A_NEWS/11150322/-1/a_news14

Do SUVs Need Smog Checks? Q: Sandi Bowen, a Menifee resident,
asked in an e-mail whether sport utility vehicles are still
exempt from getting smog certificates. "They used to be, because
they were 'off-road vehicles,' " Bowen wrote.”But in today's
world, the only 'off-road' they see is the car wash tunnel." A:
No, the fact that a vehicle is an SUV doesn't exempt it from smog
checks. According to the state Department of Motor Vehicles'
website, smog inspections are required for all vehicles, though
there's quite a list of exceptions. Posted.
http://www.pe.com/columns/on_the_road/stories/PE_News_Local_D_traffic15.43fdfdc.html

MISCELLANEOUS

Jerry Brown Seeking Something Old, Something New In His
Administration. While Gov.-elect Jerry Brown has said little
publicly about what his administration will look like, he's
privately told longtime allies that he'll seek a mix of younger
talent and state government veterans from his first two terms in
office nearly 30 years ago. Brown will have the authority to make
up to 2,000 appointments, which includes about 400 current board
and commission vacancies. Like Brown, at least some of those
appointees will come with decades of experience. Posted.
http://www.sacbee.com/2010/11/15/v-print/3184969/jerry-brown-seeking-something.html

OPINION

Opinion: For Bay Area To Compete On Clean Energy, State
Legislation Is Needed. In this month's election, Silicon Valley
entrepreneurs successfully defended our state's clean economy
from Proposition 23, the oil-backed attempt to suspend
California's landmark Global Warming Solutions Act. However, this
is no time to rest on our laurels. The Bay Area faces another
challenge from the south. While this area remains California's
epicenter of clean technology development, Los Angeles is poised
to surge ahead when it comes to widespread development of
decentralized renewable power projects that put these
technologies to use. Posted.
http://www.mercurynews.com/opinion/ci_16597552?nclick_check=1

Cap-And-Tax Is Dead but Kyotoism Is Alive and Well at the EPA.
Cap-and-tax may be dead in Congress but the Kyoto agenda of
stealth energy taxes marches on at the Environmental Protection
Agency (EPA). Although the Clean Air Act was enacted in 1970,
years before global warming was a gleam in Al Gore’s eye, and
even though the statute says nothing about greenhouse gases
(GHGs), EPA is now “legislating” climate policy. How did this
happen? Posted.
http://www.washingtonexaminer.com/opinion/Cap-and-tax-is-dead-but-Kyotoism-is-alive-and-well-at-the-EPA-108152744.html#ixzz15N3QDzaT

LOIS HENRY: Air Pollution "Deaths" All Over The Map. So,
according to the attorney representing a local environmental
group, the California Air Resources Board (CARB) has been
twiddling its thumbs on regulations "when people are dying." This
was in conjunction with a threat by the federal Environmental
Protection Agency last week to withhold the state's highway
funding if CARB doesn't get off the stick and come up with a plan
to rid our air of "deadly" soot, otherwise known as particulate
matter, or specifically PM2.5. Posted.
http://www.bakersfield.com/news/local/x1613299841/LOIS-HENRY-Air-pollution-deaths-all-over-the-map

Deadline To Act On San Joaquin Valley Air Pollution Is Today. I
grew up in Fresno, and like so many people living in California's
San Joaquin Valley, I have asthma. For as long as I can remember,
the air here has been killing people. Pollution from cars,
trucks, field burning, and agricultural equipment mixes with
gases from oil production, pesticides, and the valley's hundreds
of mega-dairies to form ozone -- more commonly known as smog.
Posted.
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/blogs/opinionshop/detail?entry_id=77020#ixzz15N9EWQNK

BLOGS

L.A.'S Solar Subsidies: Should The City Council Come To The
Rescue? Los Angeles homeowners and businesses have applied for
$70 million in rebates from the city utility this year to build
rooftop solar panels. That should be good news for green jobs and
for the small businesses that have grown up to install solar
panels in one of the nation's sunniest cities. And it should be
good news for the planet, because the Los Angeles Department of
Water and Power, the nation's largest municipal utility, imports
a sizeable chunk of its electricity from coal-fired power plants
outside the state -- energy that distributed solar generation
could partly replace. Posted.
http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/greenspace/2010/11/rooftop-solar-panels-los-angeles-dwp-rebates.html

Is ‘Peak Oil’ Behind Us? International Energy Agency Projections
of the world’s liquid energy sources to 2035. Peak oil is not
just here — it’s behind us already. That’s the conclusion of the
International Energy Agency, the Paris-based organization that
provides energy analysis to 28 industrialized nations. According
to a projection in the agency’s latest annual report, released
last week, production of conventional crude oil — the black
liquid stuff that rigs pump out of the ground — probably topped
out for good in 2006, at about 70 million barrels a day. Posted.
http://green.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/11/14/is-peak-oil-behind-us/?pagemode=print

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