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California Air Resources Board News Clips for December 3, 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

Draft Air Pollution Rules for Boilers Were Too Strict, EPA Air
Chief Says. Having taken comment on controversial new regulations
for industrial boilers, U.S. EPA now believes that some pollution
limits in the draft rules "were simply too tight to be able to be
achievable," the agency's air chief said today, signaling that
the agency is readying final regulations that won't be as tough
on businesses. Posted.
http://www.nytimes.com/gwire/2010/12/02/02greenwire-draft-air-pollution-rules-for-boilers-were-too-79802.html

State's Kettleman City Study 'Flawed,' Activists Say. A state
study of 11 cases of birth defects in tiny Kettleman City in
Kings County was incomplete and flawed, activists said Thursday.
Last week, the California Environmental Protection Agency and the
state Department of Public Health released a report that found no
"conclusive cause" for the birth defects in Kettleman City from
2007 to early 2010. Posted.
http://www.fresnobee.com/2010/12/02/2182949/states-study-of-kettleman-flawed.html#ixzz174DY51T4

EPA Says Regulators Did Not Monitor Air at Toxic Dump. An email
from the U.S. EPA said state regulators did not monitor air
quality at a toxic dump in rural Kettleman City, during a period
when there was a spike in the number of area babies born with
birth defects. And earlier this week, the U.S. EPA fined Waste
Management 300,000 dollars for failing to properly manage PCBs at
the Kettleman Plant. Meanwhile, state regulators, responding late
Wednesday, disputed the EPA email, but couldn’t answer specific
questions about PCB testing. Posted.
http://www.kpbs.org/news/2010/dec/02/epa-says-regulators-did-not-monitor-air-toxic-dump/

CLIMATE CHANGE

Climate: 2010 On Track As 1 Of 3 Hottest On Record. Cancun,
Mexico -- A scorching summer that killed thousands in Russia and
exceptionally mild winters in the Arctic were among extreme
weather events that have put 2010 on track to be one of the three
hottest years on record, U.N. experts said Thursday. The data
from the World Meteorological Organization show that the last
decade was the warmest ever, part of a trend that scientists
attribute to man-made pollution trapping heat in the atmosphere. 
Posted.
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2010/12/03/MN721GL0GS.DTL&type=printable

Carbon Capture Project Promises 'Near Zero Emissions'.
Construction of the Callide oxyfuel project began at the Callide
'A' power station near Biloela in September last year. The $200
million project is breaking new ground in clean coal energy by
reportedly being the first in the world to adapt the technology
as an add-on fixture to existing coal-fired power stations. The
project uses oxyfuel combustion and carbon capture to enable the
gas to be taken to areas where it can be stored deep underground.
Posted.
http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2010/12/03/3083831.htm?section=business


Schwarzenegger Honored By EPA. Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger was
honored for his environmental leadership Thursday by the
Environmental Protection Agency. The EPA's regional
administrator, Jared Blumenfeld, presented the governor with the
agency's Environmental Climate Change Champion award at a
ceremony held at Union Station in downtown Los Angeles. The
agency said Governor Schwarzenegger has made California a
national and world leader in enacting some of the most ambitious
policies to fight climate change. Posted.
http://abclocal.go.com/kabc/story?section=news/state&id=7822195

EPA Gives Schwarzenegger Climate Award. U.S. EPA today named
California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger (R) a "Climate Change
Champion" for his leadership on combating climate change.
Schwarzenegger, who leaves office in January after seven years,
is the first individual to become a climate champion, although
EPA has been handing out environmental awards for 12 years. The
category is a new one this year, officials said. At a ceremony in
Los Angeles, EPA Region 9 Administrator Jared Blumenfeld singled
out Schwarzenegger's staunch advocacy of nation-leading
initiatives like A.B. 32, which authorized state officials to
reduce emissions to 1990 levels by 2020; Posted.
http://www.eenews.net/climatewire/2010/12/03/8

FUELS

State Awards Grants For Biofuel Studies. The California Energy
Commission has granted more than $2.5 million to two local
biofuels projects. Clean World Partners, headed by Sacramento
River Cats co-founder Warren Smith, will get more than $1.3
million to study the development of a biomethane production plant
at the Sacramento Recycling and Transfer Station in south
Sacramento. A partnership between Placer County and G4 Insights
Inc. of Canada will receive more than $1.2 million to study the
feasibility of a commercial-scale plant that would convert forest
waste products into natural gas. Clean World's proposed plant
would produce compressed natural gas from organic waste that
would otherwise end up in landfills. Posted.
http://www.sacbee.com/2010/12/03/v-print/3229530/state-awards-grants-for-biofuel.html

GREEN ENERGY

O.C. Landfill Rolls Out 'Green Tractor'. OC Waste & Recycling is
taking steps to help keep our air cleaner and save some money.
The department that manages Orange County's three landfills
introduced a tractor at the Olinda Landfill in Brea Thursday that
is partially powered by electricity. County Supervisor Bill
Campbell commandeered the non-traditional ribbon cutting ceremony
by driving the Cat D7E Track-Type Tractor through a
wide-stretching banner. Posted.
http://www.ocregister.com/news/tractor-278616-d7e-landfill.html

Calif. Caved On Green Initiative, Enviro Groups Say.
Environmental groups have blasted Republican Gov. Arnold
Schwarzenegger's administration for softening its proposed
regulations to reduce toxic chemicals in products, saying the
governor has caved in to pressure from industry groups. They
threatened to sue the state and asked the Gov.-elect Jerry Brown
(D) to invalidate the regulations if they become law before a
Jan. 1 deadline. California's Green Chemistry Initiative was
introduced in 2008 and is meant to remove potentially harmful
ingredients in everyday products such as shampoo, cleansers,
children's pajamas and others. Posted.
http://www.eenews.net/Greenwire/print/2010/12/03/25

VEHICLES

1st Calif. High-Speed Rail Segment To Be In Valley. Sacramento -
-- California's dream of building a statewide high-speed rail
system with trains zipping along at 220 mph will start to become
reality with a 54-mile stretch of track deep in the Central
Valley, the High-Speed Rail Authority board decided Thursday. The
board, facing a looming deadline to capture $3 billion in federal
stimulus funding, voted unanimously to lay the first high-speed
rails between Borden, south of Madera, through Fresno, to
Corcoran, midway between Fresno and Bakersfield. Posted.
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2010/12/03/MNN61GL54K.DTL&type=printable

MISCELLANEOUS

Chemistry Regulation Called `'A Step Backward'? Sacramento - A
coalition of environmental and health organizations has accused
the Schwarzenegger administration of gutting a proposed
regulation intended to ensure consumer products contain chemicals
that are safe for human use and the environment. The regulation
would implement California's Green Chemistry Initiative, a
program to identify harmful chemicals in products such as toys,
makeup and household cleaners, and in product manufacturing. The
state Department of Toxic Substances Control is overseeing the
planning for the initiative, which would force manufacturers to
replace harmful products with safer alternatives. Posted.
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2010/12/03/MN3T1GL7G5.DTL

California Toxic Chemical Rules Were Watered Down,
Environmentalists Charge. Gov. Schwarzenegger's Green Chemistry
Initiative was designed to regulate harmful ingredients in
hundreds of thousands of products. Activists allege a sellout to
industry; agency says it's focusing on products with the 'biggest
impact that are most widely distributed.' A dozen environmental
groups have accused Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's administration
of caving in to pressure from business and industry by
significantly watering down proposed regulations to reduce toxic
chemicals in consumer products. Posted.
http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-green-chemistry-20101203,0,452088,print.story

OPINION

Air Board Should Tend to Own Credibility. The California Air
Resources Board had been planning to hold a workshop in
Sacramento this week on a proposal to “forbid dishonest
statements offered to the board or to its staff.” The workshop
was delayed until next year, with no explanation given on the
CARB website. Perhaps officials figured out that the workshop was
likely to take a detour as a parade of speakers testified about
the air board’s own problems with what it calls “integrity of
information.” Posted.
http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/2010/dec/03/air-board-should-tend-to-own-credibility/