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California Air Resources Board News Clips for December 8, 2010. 

This is a service of the California Air Resources Board’s Office
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individual websites to view some of the following news articles.

AIR POLLUTION

Appeals Court Allows Calif. Air District To Impose Fee For
Controlling Construction Emissions. Fresno, Calif. (AP) — A
federal appeals court ruled Tuesday that air quality regulators
in California's smog-laden San Joaquin Valley have the right to
charge home builders a fee to control their pollution emissions.
A three-judge panel of the U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals in
San Francisco upheld the local air district's rule requiring
developers to reduce emissions from new housing projects by
building features like bicycle lanes and energy-efficient cooling
systems. Posted.
http://www.latimes.com/business/nationworld/wire/sns-ap-ca-developers-pollution-fee,0,214198,print.story

State Posts Low Smoking Rate, But Also The Most-Polluted Air.
Californians may breathe easier because so few of us smoke
tobacco, but our health still may suffer because our air remains
the most polluted in the United States, according to a report
released Tuesday. The 21st annual “America’s Health Rankings”
report puts California 26th among states in overall health, based
on 22 measures. The report, published by United Health
Foundation, the American Public Health Association and
Partnership for Prevention, is aimed at helping individuals and
policymakers find ways to improve the public’s health. Posted.
http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/2010/dec/08/state-posts-low-smoking-rate-but-also-the-most/

Federal Appeals Court Rules against Valley Homebuilders. Local
rules setting emissions limits from construction projects in the
San Joaquin Valley do not preempt the federal Clean Air Act, the
9th U.S. Court of Appeals has ruled in a case that pitted the
National Association of Home Builders against the San Joaquin
Valley Unified Air Pollution District. The builders were
challenging the district’s “Rule 9510,” which requires
development sites to reduce the amount of pollutants they emit.
Posted.
http://www.centralvalleybusinesstimes.com/stories/001/?ID=17039
http://www.fresnobee.com/2010/12/07/2189106/valley-air-district-wins-court.html


Calif. Valley Can Regulate Developers' Emissions. The San Joaquin
Valley's local air quality rules requiring construction sites to
reduce pollution don't clash with the federal Clean Air Act, the
9th Circuit ruled Tuesday. The federal appeals panel in San
Francisco affirmed a district court finding that the San Joaquin
Valley Unified Air Pollution District's 2006 rule limiting
emissions from development projects is not preempted by the
federal law. Rule 9510 requires San Joaquin developers to use
computer models to establish a baseline level of emissions, and
then reduce those levels by 20-45 percent. Posted.
http://www.courthousenews.com/2010/12/07/32402.htm

Curbing Coal Plant Emissions Key To Downwind States – Report.
With the Obama administration considering a crackdown on soot-
and smog-forming emissions from coal-fired power plants, U.S. EPA
has underestimated the economic harm that is being caused by
emissions that travel across state lines, according to a report
released today by advocacy groups. The states affected by the
pollution lose about $6 billion each year because of the health
impacts of emissions from other states, according to the
analysis. Posted.
http://www.eenews.net/Greenwire/print/2010/12/08/23

Hybrid Tugboat Reduces Emissions at California Ports. The Ports
of Los Angeles and Long Beach, the largest container ports in the
nation, are home to the first and only hybrid electric tugboat in
the world, and researchers at the University of California have
found that this has had a big impact on air pollution. The diesel
electric drive train on the hybrid tug that allows the use of
auxiliary power for propulsion was the primary cause for the
overall in-use emission reductions as opposed to the batteries,
according to the study (PDF). Posted.
http://www.care2.com/greenliving/hybrid-tugboat-reduces-emissions-at-california-ports.html#ixzz17XgiM73Z

EPA Seeks To Delay Air Pollution Rule. The Obama administration
wants to delay the release of a controversial air pollution rule
that has come under fire from myriad lawmakers and industry
groups. The Environmental Protection Agency asked a federal court
Tuesday to delay by more than a year its court-ordered deadline
for issuing rules aimed at slashing toxic air pollution from
industrial boilers and solid-waste incinerators to give the
agency more time to weigh the flood of comments it received.
Posted. http://www.politico.com/news/stories/1210/46075.html

How EPA's Regulatory Surge Missed A Primary Target. It was 20
years ago, during the lame-duck session of 1990, when Democrats
and Republicans banded together in an effort to solve a problem
that people on both sides of the aisle saw as a stark failure of
the Clean Air Act. In the first few years after the law hit the
books in 1970, U.S. EPA cracked down on airborne lead, soot and
smog. Congress had also ordered EPA to figure out the risks posed
by toxic contaminants, but the agency did little to stop mercury
and other rare but dangerous chemicals from being released into
the air. Posted.
http://www.eenews.net/Greenwire/print/2010/12/08/1

Federal Court Sides With Calif. Regulators On Sprawl Rule. San
Francisco -- A federal appeals court yesterday rejected a lawsuit
from a homebuilders group that challenged the San Joaquin Valley
Air Pollution Control District's attempt to regulate sprawl. The
district, which presides over some of the worst air quality in
the nation, had attempted to regulate so-called "indirect
sources" by making construction companies quantify emissions of a
given project and build "air-friendly" offsets (such as parks or
sidewalks) to mitigate their effect. Posted.
http://www.eenews.net/Greenwire/print/2010/12/08/10

Pollution Linked To Heart Disease Risk. Tiny cameras used by US
researchers can reveal the effects of pollution on human tissues
100 times smaller than human hair. The researchers took
photographs of people's eyes, linking air pollution with
increased heart disease risk. The researchers focused on retinal
blood vessels, which are structured the same as the tiny blood
vessels that permeate the body, and can be seen without
subjecting the body to surgery. Posted.
http://www.hc2d.co.uk/content.php?contentId=16949

Dust Bigger Culprit Than Vehicular Emission For Making Air
Quality Bad. New Delhi: An analysis of data generated by air
pollution monitoring stations in Delhi — set up for the
Commonwealth Games by the Indian Institute of Tropical
Meteorology — has not only confirmed what environmentalists and
health experts have been worried about for really long but also
added a new dimension to the problem of air pollution in Delhi.
While levels of particulate matter (PM) are extremely high, dust
might actually have a bigger role to play than vehicular
emissions. Posted.
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/delhi/Dust-bigger-culprit-than-vehicular-emission-for-making-air-quality-bad/articleshow/7056936.cms

CLIMATE CHANGE

U.S. And China Maintain Polite Disagreement As Climate Talks
Reach Final Days. Cancun, Mexico -- China's pledge to reduce the
intensity of its carbon emissions will be bound by domestic law,
but it is "premature" to demand the country make internationally
binding commitments, a top Chinese negotiator said. Huang
Huikang, special representative for climate change negotiations
in China's Ministry of Foreign Affairs, told ClimateWire that
China is "poor" and "not at the same level" as the United States
and is not yet prepared to agree to mandates. "It's going to be,
but this time we cannot say legally binding," Huang said. Posted.
http://www.eenews.net/climatewire/print/2010/12/08/1

E.U. To Help China Set Up Cap-And-Trade Pilot Program. The
European Union is setting up a project to help eight cities in
China trade emissions in a collaboration that goes beyond the
disagreements between rich and poor nations on greenhouse gas
emissions. The European Union will provide expertise on
regulations, verification and registries to track purchases of
credits, said Jos Delbeke, director-general for climate action on
the European Commission. Posted.
http://www.eenews.net/climatewire/print/2010/12/08/8

What Cancún Can Take From California. California's climate law
which gives carbon credit to developing countries to conserve
rainforest is a win-win the world can copy. As negotiators huddle
in Cancún to try to eke out some progress on a global climate
agreement, they would do well to look north to California for an
example of how to achieve real progress while maintaining strong
political support. In November, California voters resoundingly
defeated well-funded attempts to roll back the state's climate
law.  Posted.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/cifamerica/2010/dec/06/cancun-climate-change-conference-2010-deforestation

FUELS

Entrepreneur Sees Potatoes On America's Energy Buffet. A South
Carolina researcher and entrepreneur sees potato-powered cars as
America's solution to its dependence on foreign oil. Janice
Ryan-Bohac has been growing especially starchy breeds of sweet
potatoes about the size of bowling balls in her business, called
CAREnergy LLC. She hopes to convince other farmers and lawmakers
to put more money into growing and converting these energy
tubers, or "eTubers," into ethanol." There is no alternative that
is this ready and cheap," she said. Posted.
http://www.eenews.net/climatewire/print/2010/12/08/9

GREEN ENERGY

California No. 1 In Clean Energy Policy, Firm Says. California
leads all other states in clean energy policy, technology,
financing and human capital, according to a ranking released
Tuesday by the Clean Edge research firm. The ranking is designed
to illustrate the environment for clean-tech companies in each of
the 50 states. Clean Edge looked at each state's policies to
encourage renewable power, the availability of venture capital
for local clean-tech companies and the number of patents filed,
among other metrics. The scores were adjusted for population, to
place smaller states on an equal footing with larger ones.
Posted.
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=%2Fc%2Fa%2F2010%2F12%2F07%2FBUGP1GN45I.DTL

More Renewable Energy Demanded Of State Utilities – Again. Even
before California's power companies have met a year-end target of
getting 20 percent of their energy from renewables, like wind or
solar, state Sen. Joe Simitian is upping the ante. A bill
introduced this week by the senator would require utilities to
generate 33 percent of their power from renewable sources by
2020; a standard Simitian says will go a long way to fighting
global warming, spawning green investment and assuring California
a local source of energy. Posted.
http://www.mercurynews.com/breaking-news/ci_16801599?nclick_check=1

As Congress Stalls, States Take up Greentech Slack. Most don’t
expect a newly Republican-tilted Congress to do much about clean
energy or climate change, so states are reasserting their
dominance as greentech incubators. It helps if they have a lot of
rich investors, too. That’s the gist of Clean Edge’s new U.S.
Clean Energy Leadership Index, which gives a snapshot of
state-by-state greentech support as 2010 draws to a close. To
nobody’s surprise, the best state to do green business remains
California. Posted.
http://www.reuters.com/article/idUS197450995320101207

Sacramento Has 'Amazing Potential' In Clean-Tech. At the final
Greenwise meeting Tuesday, Portland, Ore., Mayor Sam Adams and
chef-author-activist Alice Waters, both leaders in the green and
sustainable movement, offered words of support for the ongoing
effort to turn the Sacramento region into the “greenest region in
the country” and an economic hub for clean technology. “I want
you to know at the outset, the nation is watching what you’re
doing,” said Adams, who was elected Portland mayor in 2008 and
leads a city praised as one of the most sustainable in the
country. Posted.
http://www.bizjournals.com/sacramento/news/2010/12/07/sacramento-has-become-a-real-bullet.html

The Administration Explores A 'Clean Energy' Standard That
Includes Nuclear Power. The subject of the high-level Washington
conference yesterday was the future of nuclear power. The theme
was much more ambitious -- how to get a national energy plan for
2025 or 2050 when the political process stumbling over next
month's agenda and the current bargain price for natural gas
dominate industry thinking. And the primary idea emerging from
the so-called "Nuclear Energy Summit" was a proposal to create a
national clean energy standard that would set an escalating
requirement for low-carbon energy production, but would let
states and regions choose their way of complying. Posted.
http://www.eenews.net/climatewire/print/2010/12/08/2

A Tax Break Helping Fledgling Industries Create Jobs May Expire.
The renewable energy industry is raising its voice to save a
program it claims kept it afloat after the financial crash. If
the program expires, the American Wind Energy Association said
yesterday, 15,000 potential manufacturing jobs will vanish; many
of the industry's 85,000 total jobs will be at risk. The program
is a tax credit called "Section 1603" after its spot in the
American Recovery and Reinvestment Act. It lets more wind
developers take advantage of the production tax credit, or PTC, a
major incentive for renewable energy. Posted.
http://www.eenews.net/climatewire/print/2010/12/08/4

Industry Tries To Blunt Conservative Attacks On Light Bulb 'Ban'.
The incandescent light bulb, with its frosty glass and trademark
tinkling sound, has become a conservative symbol for big, runaway
government. Candidates and radio hosts describe looming lighting
efficiency standards as a politically driven "ban" on the old
bulbs. Conservative ire over efficiency standards was one of a
number of issues used against Rep. Fred Upton (R-Mich.), who was
attacked for being too moderate to chair the Energy and Commerce
Committee, a post he was approved for by a Republican steering
committee yesterday (E&E Daily, Dec. 8). Posted.
http://www.eenews.net/climatewire/print/2010/12/08/3

VEHICLES

Volt, Leaf Named Among 10 Best Drivetrains. The awards keep
rolling in for the Chevrolet Volt and Nissan Leaf, both of which
Ward’s AutoWorld magazine has named among the 10 Best Engines for
2011. Never mind that the Leaf has a motor, not an engine. We’ll
say this right up front: These awards are well-deserved, and
Ward’s is spot-on. The two vehicles were among 38 of the 2011
automobiles with new or significantly revised drivetrains
considered by the editors. That is the largest field of
candidates ever, and the fact both of these groundbreaking
vehicles made the list speaks to the quality of their engineering
and the viability of electric propulsion. Posted.
http://www.wired.com/autopia/2010/12/volt-leaf-named-among-10-best-drivetrains/

MISCELLANEOUS

Controversial Chemical BPA Found On Paper Money. Bisphenol-A, a
hormone-disrupting chemical linked to cancer, diabetes, early
puberty and neurological problems, might now be lurking in your
wallet. Twenty-one out of the 22 $1 bills tested in California,
17 other states and Washington, D.C., carried small amounts of
the chemical, which is commonly used in plastic bottles as well
as in food can liners, adhesives, sports safety gear and dental
sealants, according to a report being released today by the group
Safer Chemicals, Healthy Families. Posted.
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2010/12/08/MN8H1GN4FQ.DTL&type=printable

San Marcos Schools Will Be Unaffected By 'Bomb House' Burn,
Officials Say. No special precautions planned. Officials with the
San Marcos Unified School District said Tuesday that two schools
within two miles of the Escondido house described as a "bomb
factory" will remain open, with no special safety plan, when
authorities burn the home Thursday, saying authorities have not
told them their students are at risk from the operation. "Nobody
has contacted the district and told us that we are in any danger
or that we needed to take any precautions, so we haven't done
so," said Jim Poltl, director of maintenance, operations and
transportation, in a voice-mail message to the North County
Times. Posted.
http://www.nctimes.com/news/local/escondido/article_5cc7b0d1-6ada-5458-8a00-bd0fea11e879.html

Flame Retardants Found In Butter. Chemicals used to prevent or
dampen fires in electronics, furniture and upholstery are showing
up in our food chain. Researchers at the University of Texas
School of Public Health in Dallas found high levels of the flame
retardants known as PBDEs in a sample of butter. The scientists
say the contaminated sample was just one of ten samples tested,
but the levels were so high the researchers are calling for
government health officials to begin inspecting and investigating
food samples at all stages of processing. Posted.
http://californiawatch.org/dailyreport/flame-retardants-found-butter-7288

OPINION

Climate Change Can Be a Conversation Killer. It's that time of
year again - the holiday party season. Time to put on your
favorite ugly holiday sweater, and carry on awkward banter with
coworkers, friends and relatives.  For an ordinary individual who
works in a relatively noncontroversial field, holiday parties and
other social events can be relatively carefree and fun occasions.
But for those who work in a climate science-related discipline,
these days such events are more like a series of conversational
minefields. Posted. 
http://voices.washingtonpost.com/capitalweathergang/2010/12/climate_change_can_be_a_conver.html

Factoring Environmental Degradation Into Economics. By
definition, economic externalities are the indirect negative (or
positive) side effects, considered un-quantifiable in dollar
terms, of other economic acts. For example, a negative
externality of a power plant that is otherwise producing a useful
good (electricity) is the air pollution it generates. In
traditional economics, the harmful effect of the pollution (smog,
acid rain, global warming) on human health and the environment is
not factored in as a cost in the overall economic equation. And
as the economists go, so go the governments that rely on them.
Posted.
http://www.healthnewsdigest.com/news/Environment_380/Factoring_Environmental_Degradation_Into_Economics.shtml

BLOGS

Climate Science Survives Climate Diplomacy. Cancun, Mexico —
There’s evidence here that science can survive the intense
tussles over information that can occur when big policy decisions
are shaped by a body of research. Over the weekend, I posted and
alerted senior members of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate
Change when an errant description of the panel’s 2007 conclusion
on the human climate influence found its way into an important
draft document listing “elements of an outcome” for long-term
action on climate — essentially a draft of what may emerge here
when negotiations end on Friday. Posted.
http://dotearth.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/12/08/climate-science-survives-climate-diplomacy/?pagemode=print

Tentative Signs of Life for Greenhouse Gas Controls. For a
patient suffering from paralysis, the movement of a single finger
is momentous. So, in the face of a threatened hiatus in
government-led action on climate change, what the Environmental
Improvement Board of New Mexico has done in the last month or so
is worthy of note. It has twice approved plans to cap and/or
reduce greenhouse gas emissions, most recently on Monday evening,
when a plan for annual 3 percent reductions beginning in 2013 won
approval in a 4-to-1 vote. Posted.
http://green.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/12/07/tentative-signs-of-life-for-greenhouse-gas-controls/?partner=rss&emc=rss

On Climate Treaties and Christmas Trees. On Monday night, Michael
Zammit Cutajar, one of the most important figures in two decades
of negotiations aimed at a global agreement to avoid dangerous
climate change, issued a gentle warning to delegates, officials
and others attending a discussion I moderated on social impacts
of climate change: Keep track of the difference between a climate
treaty and a Christmas tree. Posted.
http://dotearth.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/12/07/on-climate-treaties-and-christmas-trees/?partner=rss&emc=rss

California Leads Clean Energy Derby. A new ranking of clean
energy development in the US has California well out in front,
with Oregon running a distant second.Clean Edge, which describes
itself as "the world’s first research and advisory firm devoted
to the clean-tech sector," has released its "first annual U.S.
Clean Energy Leadership Index." Massachusetts, Washington, and
Colorado round out the top five. Posted.
http://blogs.kqed.org/climatewatch/2010/12/07/california-leads-clean-energy-derby/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+kqed%2FClimateWatchBlog+%28KQED%27s+Climate+Watch+Blog%29&utm_content=Google+Reader

Regulation Sparks Innovation with Green Cars at the L.A. Auto
Show. Get this. The vehicles that automakers claimed was
impossible years ago are exactly the ones they have featured at
the LA Auto Show. Roland Hwang, the transportation program
director for the Natural Resources Defense Council's energy
program, walked the show this year and helped hand out the Green
Car of the Year award to the Chevrolet Volt. As he did so, he was
reminded of a time when automakers were adamant that diesels and
clean air do not go hand in hand, that powerful vehicles cannot
have low emissions and that no one will buy electric vehicles.
Posted.
http://green.autoblog.com/2010/12/08/regulation-sparks-innovation-with-green-cars-at-the-l-a-auto-sh/

California Is Not Alone. Perhaps the sharpest criticism of our
state's effort to curb greenhouse-gas emissions is that it's both
expensive and fruitless to go it alone. Well, at least one other
state is coming along for the ride: New Mexico regulators on
Monday approved an environmental group's proposal for capping
greenhouse gas emissions, marking the state's second major
attempt in just over a month to get a handle on the pollutants
blamed for causing global warming. Posted.
http://blogs.redding.com/bross/archives/2010/12/california-is-n.html