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California Air Resources Board News Clips for February 25, 2011. 

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

Pre-Emptive Attacks On Dust Rules Draw Rebuke From EPA. Farm
groups and members of Congress are jumping the gun in their
efforts to stop U.S. EPA from making its air pollution rules
tougher on dusty rural areas, the agency's second-in-command said
yesterday. The stopgap spending bill passed by the House last
week included an amendment, sponsored by Rep. Kristi Noem
(R-S.D.) that would prevent EPA from updating the national air
quality standards for coarse particles. Posted.
http://www.eenews.net/Greenwire/print/2011/02/25/4

Enviro Groups Sue EPA For Texas Coal Plant Documents. Two
environmental groups are suing U.S. EPA for access to documents
about coal-fired power plants that they say may be contributing
to pollution in Texas. The Sierra Club and the Environmental
Integrity Project say the documents they have sued for under the
Freedom of Information Act will reveal Clean Air Act violations
by five coal plants belonging to Dallas-based energy company
Luminant. Posted.
http://www.eenews.net/Greenwire/print/2011/02/25/18

CLIMATE CHANGE

Scientists Are Cleared of Misuse of Data. An inquiry by a federal
watchdog agency found no evidence that scientists at the National
Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration manipulated climate data
to buttress the evidence in support of global warming, officials
said on Thursday. The inquiry, by the Commerce Department’s
inspector general, focused on e-mail messages between climate
scientists that were stolen and circulated on the Internet in
late 2009 (NOAA is part of the Commerce Department). Some of the
e-mails involved scientists from NOAA. Posted. 
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/02/25/science/earth/25noaa.html?_r=2&pagewanted=print
http://www.modbee.com/2011/02/24/1571212/new-report-exonerates-climate.html

http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2011/feb/24/new-report-exonerates-climate-researchers/


Which Nations Are Most Vulnerable to Climate Change? The Daunting
Politics of Choosing.  Is it worse to be swallowed by the sea or
racked by famine?  As climate change tightens its grip on the
world, institutions charged with protecting the most vulnerable
nations could be faced with just such a question. Because there
is no international consensus for ranking the possibilities of
future devastation -- and because there are limited dollars lined
up to help cope with climate change -- some countries already are
battling over who will be considered most vulnerable.  Posted. 
http://www.nytimes.com/cwire/2011/02/24/24climatewire-which-nations-are-most-vulnerable-to-climate-95690.html?scp=8&sq=climate%20change&st=cse


Meeting Scheduled To Design The 'Green Climate Fund' Climate
change negotiators will meet March 14 and 15 in Mexico City to
begin building the multibillion-dollar Green Climate Fund. The
meeting -- announced in a notice by the U.N. climate secretariat
yesterday -- will be the first step in designing the fund, aimed
at helping vulnerable nations cope with the impacts of climate
change, protect forests and develop low-carbon economies.
Officials have not spelled out the precise amount of money
expected to flow through the Green Climate Fund. Posted.
http://www.eenews.net/climatewire/print/2011/02/25/7

NASA Delays Launch Of Satellite Designed To Probe Causes Of
Global Warming. NASA has delayed the launch of a new satellite
designed to study aerosols' influence on Earth's climate and
continue a long-standing record of solar energy. The space agency
was set to launch the satellite, called "Glory," on Wednesday.
But problems with the equipment NASA uses to relay commands to
the satellite's launch vehicle caused the agency to scuttle the
plans with 15 minutes to spare. Posted.
http://www.eenews.net/climatewire/print/2011/02/25/9

DIESEL EMISSIONS

CARB Hosts Meetings, Posts Online Calculator To Explain Truck
Rules. The California Air Resources Board has posted an online
calculator to help truck owners determine their compliance
options for the state’s on road truck and bus regulation. The
on-road truck and bus regulation requires all trucks to meet 2010
model year engine emissions standards by the year 2023, and for
fleets to begin meeting other diesel emission standards by 2014
through a variety of compliance options. Posted.
http://www.landlinemag.com/todays_news/Daily/2011/Feb11/022211/022411-04.shtml

GREEN ENERGY

Calif. Senate Approves Rules For Renewable Energy. Sacramento,
Calif. (AP) — The state Senate approved a law Thursday setting
new rules for how California utilities can meet the most
aggressive renewable energy standard in the nation, giving them
10 years to get a third of their power from wind, solar,
geothermal and other renewable sources. California utilities
already are required to meet the 33 percent goal through a 2009
executive order by former Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger issued after
he vetoed a bill similar to the one passed Thursday. Posted.
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/print/2011-02-25/calif-senate-approves-rules-for-renewable-energy.html
http://www.latimes.com/news/la-me-green-energy-20110225,0,1434935,print.story
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2011/02/25/BAJQ1HUCR8.DTL&type=printablehttp://www.nctimes.com/news/state-and-regional/article_6a248854-46f3-557a-86d6-d22396a8a977.html


Solar Oil Project Debuts In Kern.  Kern County's international
reputation as a leader in the field of enhanced oil recovery took
a step into the solar age Thursday with the unveiling of a
McKittrick demonstration project that could anchor certain costs
associated with producing thick, hard-to-get crude considered key
to the industry's future.  Posted. 
http://www.bakersfield.com/news/business/economy/x130284466/Solar-oil-project-debuts-in-Kern


Energy Commission Awards Nearly $3.5 Million for Research
Projects. The California Energy Commission awarded $3,454,247 for
research projects tackling issues including reducing energy use,
improving grid reliability, and saving fuel in light-duty
vehicles. Funds for the eight research projects come from the
Commission's Public Interest Energy Research (PIER) program.
"California's strength comes from the ability to invest in energy
research across the board. Posted.
http://yubanet.com/california/Energy-Commission-Awards-Nearly-3-5-Million-for-Research-Projects_printer.php

Petroleum Company Uses Solar Power For Oil Extraction. A solar
power company in California has found a way to use sunlight to
extract fossil fuels. GlassPoint Solar has built a solar power
array that will create steam to be pumped into underground rocks
to push out stubborn oil in the state's San Joaquin Valley. The
site's owner, Berry Petroleum, already uses steam to recover oil,
boiling water with natural gas. The solar method has proved to be
much cheaper. Posted.
http://www.eenews.net/climatewire/print/2011/02/25/13

MISCELLANEOUS

Green Scene: Some Ideas For An Environmentally Friendly
Landscape.  Now is the time to formulate your spring garden
plans. Before you choose the plants you will install this year-
or design the entire landscape-consider the ways you could make
your gardens more productive and environmentally friendly. 
Posted. 
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2011/02/25/AR2011022502812.html


Genetically Engineered Bacteria Turn Garbage Into Plastic. You
could call it recycling at the molecular level.  A local
biotechnology company says it is working to develop microbes that
can help convert garbage into plastics.  Genomatica has already
genetically engineered a bacteria to feed on sugar and make a
chemical typically produced from oil and natural gas.  Now it’s
targeting stuff that would otherwise literally go to waste or up
in smoke. “This is what we call industrial biotechnology,” said
37-year-old co-founder Christophe Schilling. Posted.
http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/2011/feb/24/genetically-engineered-bacteria-turn-garbage-plast/

BLOGS

California Air Board's Final Cap and Trade Resolution Shows
Public Input Did Not Fall on Deaf Ears. Yesterday, the California
Air Resources Board finalized the Board Resolution accompanying
the adoption of California’s landmark program to cap and steadily
reduce carbon emissions across the economy.  The final resolution
reflects changes the Board made after hearing from various
stakeholders at a public hearing last December when the Board
approved the program. Posted.
http://switchboard.nrdc.org/blogs/ajackson/california_air_boards_final_ca.html

PCB Removal, With Zero Upfront.  As I reported in Thursday’s
paper, New York City is allocating $708 million for an energy
retrofit program in public schools over the next 10 years that is
mostly spurred by the need to replace light fixtures containing
the toxic chemicals known as PCBs. For some months, the cost
issue was a major factor delaying this week’s decision to replace
the lighting at nearly 800 schools.  Posted. 
http://green.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/02/25/pcb-removal-with-zero-upfront/


Scientist’s View: In Climate Action, No Shortcuts Around CO2. 
There’s been much discussion recently of  quick, cheap steps, 
with many benefits, that could slow warming driven by the
atmospheric buildup of heat-trapping greenhouse gases. They all
involve greenhouse gases other than carbon dioxide, along with
black carbon — the sooty emanations from diesel engines and
guttering cooking fires that both heat and kill.  Posted. 
http://dotearth.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/02/24/scientists-view-in-climate-action-no-shortcuts-around-co2/?scp=2&sq=diesel%20emissions&st=cse


Solar Projects Pit Green Against Green.  As I wrote in Thursday’s
Times, the fate of several multibillion-dollar solar thermal
power plants to be built the Southern California desert is in
question as conservationists and other groups sue to stop the
projects largely on environmental grounds.  Posted. 
http://green.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/02/24/solar-projects-pit-green-against-green/


Glasspoint Solar Uses The Sun's Heat To Extract Oil. The solar
industry is usually on the oil industry’s case -- sniping about
dirty energy and whatnot -- but the two sides came together
Thursday in an unlikely alliance. Fremont-based company
GlassPoint Solar unveiled a demonstration facility that uses
solar technology to coax petroleum out of an old oil field in
Kern County. In a process that usually involves heated natural
gas; the sun will heat water to create 750-degree-Fahrenheit
steam, which will seep into the underground rock. Posted.
http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/greenspace/2011/02/glasspoint-solar-uses-the-suns-heat-to-extract-oil.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+GreenspaceEnvironmentBlog+%28Greenspace%29

Commerce Dept. Report Clears U.S. Scientists In 'Climategate'. 
An independent review of thousands of emails stolen from climate
researchers has found that scientists at the National Atmospheric
and Oceanic Administration did not manipulate data or otherwise
engage in wrongdoing.  Posted. 
http://voices.washingtonpost.com/post-carbon/2011/02/report_clears_us_scientists_in.html

Renewables Standard One Step Closer to Law. Bill to require
one-third renewable energy sails through state senate. That next
gust of wind you hear may be a collective sigh of relief from the
renewable energy industry. By a margin of more than two-to-one,
state senators have approved a bill to cement California's
requirement that utilities draw at least a third of their power
from renewable sources by 2020. Posted.
http://blogs.kqed.org/climatewatch/2011/02/24/renewables-standard-one-step-closer-to-law/