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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