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newsclips -- Newsclips for April 5, 2011.

Posted: 05 Apr 2011 12:39:22
California Air Resources Board News Clips for April 5, 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

Estimated Cancer Risk for Air Pollution in Stockton.
Newly-released data from the Environmental Protection Agency
attempts to estimate cancer risk due solely to air pollution.
Broken down by Census Tract, the data identifies some areas of
Stockton — such as Boggs Tract and the neighborhood south of
Charter Way and west of Interstate 5 — that face nearly twice the
risk as other city neighborhoods. Posted. 
http://www.recordnet.com/apps/pbcs.dll/section?Category=A_SPECIAL0274

CLIMATE CHANGE

UPDATE 2-Japan Says Not Seeking Exemption From Kyoto CO2 Pledge.
Tokyo, - Japan is not seeking an exemption from its Kyoto
Protocol pledges to cut greenhouse gases, a government official
said on Tuesday, despite a nuclear safety crisis that could
hamper efforts to reduce its use of fossil fuels. Japan remains
committed to achieving reduced emissions in the 2008-2012 period
averaging 6 percent less than its 1990 level, said Takehiro Kano,
director of the Climate Change Division of the Ministry of
Foreign Affairs. Posted.
http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/04/05/climate-japan-idUSL3E7F52E020110405

Global Warming Skeptics Get Unexpected Early Results. Los Angeles
-- A team of physicists and statisticians that set out to
challenge the scientific consensus on global warming is finding
that its data-crunching effort is producing results nearly
identical to those underlying the prevailing view. The Berkeley
Earth Surface Temperature project at the University of
California, Berkeley, was launched by physics professor Richard
Muller, a longtime critic of government-led climate studies, to
address what he called "the legitimate concerns" of skeptics who
believe global warming is exaggerated. Posted.
http://www.sacbee.com/2011/04/05/v-print/3528736/global-warming-skeptics-get-unexpected.html

Critics' Review Unexpectedly Supports Scientific Consensus On
Global Warming. A UC Berkeley team's preliminary findings in a
review of temperature data confirm global warming studies. A team
of UC Berkeley physicists and statisticians that set out to
challenge the scientific consensus on global warming is finding
that its data-crunching effort is producing results nearly
identical to those underlying the prevailing view. 
Posted.
http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-climate-berkeley-20110404,0,5510928,print.story

Ozone Layer Faces Record 40 Pct Loss Over Arctic. Geneva,
Switzerland (AP) --The protective ozone layer in the Arctic that
keeps out the sun's most damaging rays — ultraviolet radiation —
has thinned about 40 percent this winter, a record drop, the U.N.
weather agency said Tuesday. The Arctic's damaged stratospheric
ozone layer isn't the best known "ozone hole" — that would be
Antarctica's, which forms when sunlight returns in spring there
each year. But the Arctic's situation is due to similar causes:
ozone-munching compounds in air pollutants that are chemically
trigged by a combination of extremely cold temperatures and
sunlight. Posted.
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/n/a/2011/04/05/international/i011406D91.DTL&type=printable

U.S. Vows Continuing Effort Toward A 17% Emission Cut. U.S.
Deputy Special Envoy for Climate Change Jonathan Pershing told a
U.N. group today that the Obama administration still plans to cut
its greenhouse gas emissions about 17 percent below 2005 levels
by the end of this decade. Meeting in Bangkok this week for a
round of U.N. Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC)
talks, delegates from nearly 200 countries appeared keenly aware
that a new Republican majority in the U.S. House and increased
GOP strength in the Senate have killed chances for passage of
cap-and-trade legislation. Posted.
http://www.eenews.net/climatewire/print/2011/04/05/4

AMA Sees Climate-Related Medical Problems Moving North. Climate
change is already affecting Americans' health, the American
Medical Association said yesterday. "If physicians want evidence
of climate change, they may well find it in their own offices,"
the doctors' group said in an editorial published in American
Medical News. During the past two years, the tropical disease
dengue fever has cropped up in the Florida Keys. Farther north,
Maine now reports 10 times more cases of Lyme disease than it did
a decade ago, with outbreaks of the illness recorded in the
previously unaffected central and northern parts of the state.
Posted. http://www.eenews.net/climatewire/print/2011/04/05/7

Clean Technology Investors See Bumpy Road Ahead In U.S. New York
-- Investors want a more efficient, more flexible and less
bureaucratic Department of Energy if they are to partner with the
agency to move domestic clean energy innovation, complaints that
the government says it's responding to. Griping over red tape,
time lags and lack of flexibility and nimbleness found in various
DOE schemes colored the start of a renewable energy industry
gathering that opened yesterday. Posted.
http://www.eenews.net/climatewire/print/2011/04/05/3

DIESEL EMISSIONS

EPA Streamlines Aftermarket Natural Gas Conversion. The federal
government just made it easier to convert cars and trucks to run
on natural gas. NGVAmerica, the trade association that represents
the natural gas vehicle industry, applauded the U.S.
Environmental Protection Agency's decision to streamline the
requirements for certifying aftermarket systems that are used to
convert vehicles to run on natural gas. The agency's action
modifies regulations that have been in force for aftermarket
conversions since April 2002 and that were adopted pursuant to
the federal Clean Air Act. Posted.
http://www.truckinginfo.com/news/news-print.asp?news_id=73420

FUELS

Transmission Plant On Obama's Itinerary. President Obama plans to
visit an Indianapolis transmission plant that produces systems
for hybrid vehicles as part of his push for reducing U.S.
dependence on foreign oil. The White House said Mr. Obama will
tour a plant operated by Allison Transmission in Indianapolis on
Friday. Last week, the president outlined his goals of increasing
domestic oil exploration and production, making cars and trucks
more energy efficient and building vehicles that run on
alternative fuels or electricity. Posted. 
http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2011/apr/5/inside-politics-713418521/print/
http://www.modbee.com/2011/04/04/1629263/obama-to-talk-energy-at-indianapolis.html

Clean Fuel Station Opens For Sanitation Vehicles.  Los Angeles -
The city opened its newest clean fuel station Monday to service
part of its sanitation fleet operating around East Los Angeles. 
"This clean fuel facility will help the families of East L.A.
breathe a little easier for years to come," Mayor Antonio
Villaraigosa said. "Our city already leads the nation with the
largest municipal fleet of natural gas solid resources collection
vehicles."  Posted.  http://www.dailynews.com/ci_17769445

VEHICLES

To Cut Smog, Navistar Blazes Risky Path of Its Own. In a testing
cell tucked deep in the bowels of Navistar’s engine plant and
technical center here, a hulking prototype of a truck engine sits
behind a large glass window like a patient on an operating table.
A snarl of sensors and wires is attached to nearly every part of
the humming engine, feeding reams of data to a battery of
computers and watchful engineers in the adjacent control room.
One measurement — for nitrogen oxide emissions, or NOx — is of
particular concern to Navistar. Posted. 
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/04/05/business/energy-environment/05truck.html?scp=3&sq=diesel%20emissions&st=cse

Will Buying An Electric Car Make An Environmental Difference?
Sure, you might get a carpool sticker and a tax break. But if you
buy an electric car, will it make much environmental difference?
Experts say that depends on three factors: What were you driving
before? How is your electricity generated? And how many other
electric cars are going to be sold? In many cases, people who
trade gasoline-powered cars for electric ones won't be
dramatically lessening the smog they emit. Posted.
http://www.mercurynews.com/cars/ci_17767977?source=rss&nclick_check=1

Obama's Push For Clean Federal Fleet Could Spur U.S. Green-Car
Market. In two energy speeches last week, President Obama
targeted changes in the transportation sector as key to reducing
U.S. petroleum consumption and vowed that change would start with
the federal motor-vehicle fleet. By 2015, Obama said, the
government would be buying only "100 percent alternative fuel,
hybrid or electric vehicles" and would be helping companies turn
over their fleets. Posted.
http://www.eenews.net/Greenwire/print/2011/04/05/4

GREEN ENERGY

Wind Power Hits a Trough. Houston—Gabriel Alonso, who runs one of
America's biggest wind-farm developers, often reminds his
employees their goal isn't to stage a renewable-energy
revolution. "This is about making money," the chief executive of
Horizon Wind Energy LLC tells his troops. And right now, his
strategy is to retrench. After years of blustery growth, wind
power is facing a blow-back in some of its major markets. Posted.
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704629104576190812458488694.html

Pragmatism Influencing Energy Debates. Political support may be
holding for nuclear power and offshore oil, despite the Fukushima
and Gulf of Mexico disasters, as decision makers confront the
challenges of climate change and dwindling energy reserves.  A
theory of “peak everything” suggests the world is running short
of vital assets like clean water, carbon-free air, some minerals,
fish stocks and the cheap fossil fuels that have powered the
world economy and helped rein in the price of food Posted. 
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/04/04/business/energy-environment/04green.html?_r=1&scp=2&sq=green%20energy&st=cse

Republicans Weigh a Federal 'Reverse Auction' to Push Clean
Energy. As House Republicans try to move energy legislation in
"chunks," one piece has gone largely unnoticed: an attempt to
fund renewable energy with maximum mileage for the federal
dollar. The provision sits deep in H.R. 909, a bill Rep. Devin
Nunes (R-Calif.) proposed in early March. Overall, the bill
focuses on ramping up oil and gas production, oil shale and
nuclear energy; it also cancels U.S. EPA's ability to regulate
greenhouse gases. Posted. 
http://www.nytimes.com/cwire/2011/04/04/04climatewire-republicans-weigh-a-federal-reverse-auction-18453.html?scp=10&sq=green%20energy&st=cse

Democrats Revive Bills Vetoed By Schwarzenegger. Lawmakers hope
Jerry Brown will sign renewable energy, labor and immigration
proposals rejected by his predecessor. But Brown may not support
them. Dozens of proposals vetoed by former Gov. Arnold
Schwarzenegger are zooming through the Legislature anew, with the
ruling Democrats hoping Jerry Brown will sign them. But getting
the governor on board may not be easy. Posted.
http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-legislature-20110405,0,7690897,print.story

Supermarkets Appear To Be Fertile Ground For Fuel Cells. Fuel
cells are under study for potential alternative-energy uses in
cars and homes, but they may be ready to take off in neighborhood
supermarkets. An online presentation yesterday sponsored by the
Department of Energy, the Clean Energy States Alliance and
Technology Transition Corp. asserted they would sharply cut power
use. "Supermarkets are often overlooked and taken for granted,"
said Scott Larsen, a project manager for New York State Energy
Research and Development Authority (NYSERDA), a public benefit
corporation. They're also energy hoggers. Posted.
http://www.eenews.net/climatewire/print/2011/04/05/5

States Defend 2 DOE Energy Programs For Providing Jobs And Energy
Savings. State officials warned on Capitol Hill yesterday that
federal cuts to two energy programs could lead to job losses and
higher greenhouse gas emissions in local communities. The U.S.
State Energy Program and Weatherization Assistance Program, both
funded by the Department of Energy, are facing potential
reductions as Congress continues to hash over the budget for the
current fiscal year. Posted.
http://www.eenews.net/climatewire/print/2011/04/05/6

OPINION

Nugent: Glowing with Green Energy. The anti-American green goony
squad squawks endlessly about the need to ween ourselves from oil
after last year’s spill in the Gulf of Mexico. Due to the
disaster in Japan, we are hearing more of the same from leftists
about nuclear energy. It wouldn’t surprise me if the anti-energy
leftist crowd in America will soon be yammering that what America
needs to do is to ban all forms of energy that produce heat,
including matches. Green energy is energy-less. Embracing
so-called green energy is an energy death sentence for America.
Posted. 
http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2011/apr/4/glowing-with-green-energy/

BLOGS

Bill To Fund 'Green' Job Training For Students Goes To Jerry
Brown. The Senate today sent legislation aimed at expanding
"green" jobs training for high school students across the state
to Gov. Jerry Brown for approval. SB X1 1, by Senate President
Pro Tem Darrell Steinberg would provide grant funding for "green
partnership academy" programs that include in their curriculum
training for careers in the clean technology and renewable energy
sectors. The bill redirects $8 million from a California Energy
Commission special fund to pay for the programs. Posted.
http://blogs.sacbee.com/capitolalertlatest/2011/04/jerry-brown-gets-bill-to-fund-green-job-training.html

California Air Resources Board Makes More Than $100M Available To
Clean Up Big Rigs. The California Air Resources Board in
coordination with six local air districts is offering $106
million in grant funding to help qualified diesel truck owners
upgrade or replace their vehicles. Projects selected for funding
include upgrades or replacements that achieve the greatest
emission reductions per state dollar and also achieve early or
extra emission reductions not required by law or regulation.
Posted.
http://www.favstocks.com/california-air-resources-board-makes-more-than-100m-available-to-clean-up-big-rigs/0541461/

California Cap-And-Trade Blocked By Court. AB 32 is the landmark
California bill that mandates greenhouse gas emissions in the
state be reduced to 1990 levels by 2020. One method it will use
is cap-and-trade. However, a coalition of environmental justice
groups sued to block it, saying cap-and-trade will do little but
dump polluting industries in low-income neighborhoods as they
could simply buy credits rather than decreasing their pollution.
Posted.
http://caivn.org/article/2011/04/05/california-cap-and-trade-blocked-court

World Bank To The Poor: ‘Coal’s Good Enough For You!’  The World
Bank -- famous for funding gobsmackingly huge, planet-killing
coal-fired power plants -- is changing its tune, sort of. Under a
new set of proposed rules, the Bank would only be allowed to fund
gobsmackingly huge, planet-killing coal-fired power plants in the
world's poorest countries. Progress!  Posted.
http://www.grist.org/list/2011-04-04-world-bank-to-poors-coals-good-enough-for-you
 
Downplaying Or Remaining Silent About Climate Change Was And Is A
Blunder For Progressives.  Some of the best pollsters have known
for years that progressives can and should talk about climate
change. Mark Mellman calls the polling that suggests one
shouldn’t talk about global warming, a “politically naïve,
methodologically flawed, and factually inaccurate.”  Posted. 
http://www.grist.org/climate-change/2011-04-04-downplaying-or-remaining-silent-about-climate-change-was-and-is

GISS Study Finds Applying Stricter Non-CO2 Vehicle Emission
Standards Worldwide Would Yield Climate Benefits In Addition To
Major Health And Agricultural Benefits.  Stricter non-CO2
vehicle-emission standards are extremely likely to mitigate
short-term climate change in most cases, in addition to providing
large improvements in human health and food security, according
to a new analysis conducted by a team of scientists led by Drew
Shindell of NASA’s Goddard Institute for Space Studies (GISS) and
published this week in the inaugural issue of the journal Nature
Climate Change.  Posted. 
http://www.greencarcongress.com/2011/04/giss-20110404.html#more
 
GE Study Finds 5% Of World’s Natural Gas Production Wasted Per
Year By Flaring.  A newly released GE study—Flare Gas Reduction:
Recent Global Trends and Policy Considerations—estimates that 5%
of the world’s natural gas production is wasted by burning or
“flaring” unused gas each year, despite some progress on the
flaring issue.  Posted. 
http://www.greencarcongress.com/2011/04/ge-20110404.html#more
 
Renewable Energy Generation: “Change is not a destination, just
as hope is not a strategy,” a lesson exported from Detroit.  On
May 25, 1961 President John F Kennedy, in a special joint session
of Congress, declared, “I believe that this nation should commit
itself to achieving the goal, before this decade is out, of
landing a man on the moon and returning him safely to the earth.”
A very clear, time-bound, one nation goal. Fifty years later, the
USA is faced with a similar challenge, energy independency and
climatic change.  Posted. 
http://www.greencarcongress.com/2011/04/glynne-20110405.html#more

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