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newsclips -- Newsclips for June 14, 2011
Posted: 14 Jun 2011 11:05:59
California Air Resources Board News Clips for June 14, 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. CLIMATE CHANGE It’s not just CO2: Cutting soot and smog will limit climate change quickly, says new UN report. AMSTERDAM — The struggle to contain climate change usually focuses on reducing carbon dioxide. But black carbon and ozone, the main ingredients of soot and smog, also add to global warming, and controlling them will act quickly to slow rising temperatures, a U.N. agency said Tuesday. Black carbon comes from solid particles from tailpipes, forest fires or wood-burning stoves and brick kilns commonly found in poor countries. It absorbs sunlight, and is most damaging when it settles on the Arctic snow or mountain glaciers, causing ice packs to melt more rapidly. Posted. http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/europe/its-not-just-co2-cutting-soot-and-smog-will-limit-climate-change-quickly-says-new-un-report/2011/06/14/AGNQgLUH_story.html http://www.vcstar.com/news/2011/jun/14/un-report-cut-soot-smog-to-limit-climate-change/ Cap and trade rated higher than air alternatives. Under orders from a judge, California air quality regulators released a study Monday of potential greenhouse-gas-cutting measures, including alternatives to a controversial cap-and-trade system due to begin operations in the state next year. But the analysis, from the California Air Resources Board, still gives cap and trade higher marks than any of the alternatives, including a carbon tax. As a result, the study is unlikely to settle the lingering debate over the state's cap-and-trade system, which will set a limit on greenhouse gas emissions and create a market for trading the right to produce those gases. Posted. http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2011/06/14/BUTQ1JTD7A.DTL State releases new cap-and-trade alternatives analysis. California regulators have revised their analysis of alternatives to cap and trade in the wake of last month's court decision that found the groundwork for the nation's first economywide greenhouse gas trading system insufficient. San Francisco Superior Court Judge Ernest Goldsmith's May 20 decision handed back the California Air Resources Board's cap-and-trade program, the cornerstone of its efforts to reduce emissions to 1990 levels by 2020. Environmental justice groups had sued over the market-based model, which they alleged would increase air pollution in some spots by allowing companies to buy their way to compliance. Posted. BY SUBSCRIPTION ONLY. http://www.eenews.net/climatewire/2011/06/14/6/ FUELS Senate to vote on repealing ethanol tax credits. WASHINGTON -- With lawmakers desperately working to shave federal budget deficits, the Senate is debating a measure to eliminate ethanol tax credits that pay the oil industry $5 billion a year. The biggest defenders of the subsidies, however, include farm belt conservatives leading the charge for less government. Sen. Tom Coburn, R-Okla., is forcing a vote on a measure Tuesday that would repeal the credits. Coburn says they are wasteful subsidies for an industry that no longer needs them. "The days of placing spending programs in the tax code and giving them holy status are over," Coburn said. "Ethanol is bad economic policy, bad energy policy and bad environmental policy." Posted. http://www.modbee.com/2011/06/14/1731338/senate-to-vote-on-repealing-ethanol.html GREEN ENERGY EPA chief Lisa Jackson says Sacramento is on the right track to attract clean tech. The head of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency said Monday that the Sacramento region is on the right track in its effort to attract green jobs and clean tech industry. Making her first visit to the capital region, EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson said she was impressed by the commitment of local business and political leaders to developing Sacramento into a hub for the green economy. "There is another gold rush coming to Sacramento, and your commitment to an emerald community and green will make that happen," she said. Posted. http://www.modbee.com/2011/06/14/1731321/epa-chief-lisa-jackson-says-sacramento.html Google invests $280 million to spur home solar. NEW YORK -- Google is investing $280 million to help private homeowners put solar panels on their rooftops. It's Google's latest - and largest - investment in clean energy. The money will allow installer SolarCity to offer solar systems to homeowners for no money up front. In exchange, customers agree to pay a set price for the power produced by the panels. Google earns a return on its investment by charging SolarCity interest to use its money and reaping the benefits of federal and local renewable energy tax credits. Posted. http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2011/jun/14/google-invests-280-million-to-spur-home-solar/ http://www.vcstar.com/news/2011/jun/14/google-invests-280-million-to-spur-home-solar/ http://www.nctimes.com/news/science/article_272425a2-b4a7-5425-a4cf-04dd7903a481.html http://www.modbee.com/2011/06/14/1731547/google-invests-280-million-to.html http://www.insidebayarea.com/ci_18269725?IADID=Search-www.insidebayarea.com-www.insidebayarea.com http://www.contracostatimes.com/ci_18269725 Wind power and water power collide in the Northwest. Reporting from Rufus, Ore.— The wide, green gorge where the majestic Columbia River begins its final push to the sea generates so many stiff breezes that windsurfers from around the world make their way to Hood River, not far from here, to ply their colorful sails atop the churning whitecaps. Lately though, electricity, not recreation, has become the big-ticket wind client in the Columbia Gorge. Wind turbines have sprung up all over the blustery hilltops in eastern Washington and Oregon, an area soon to become home to the largest wind farm in the world, developed for customers of Southern California Edison. Indeed, half the massive new wind power generated in the Pacific Northwest goes down the grid to California. Posted. http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-adv-wind-energy-20110614,0,1852355.story BLOGS Critical List: EPA delays rules on carbon emissions; Bachmann hates the EPA. The EPA is delaying until September rules that would regulate power plants' greenhouse gas emissions. Michele Bachmann has a great plan for the agency, should she become president: Rename it "the job-killing organization of America." That will solve everything! Fukushima clean-up has been a comedy of errors when it comes to safety protections. Many aren’t getting training to use their protective gear, and others aren’t getting enough gear at all. Some people say that when they were recruited, they weren’t even told that they’d be cleaning up radiation at the plant. Posted. http://www.grist.org/list/2011-06-14-critical-list-epa-delays-rules-on-carbon-emissions-bachmann-hate Air Board Hands in its Homework. In response to a court ruling (which it's still appealing), the California Air Resources Board today issued a new analysis of its proposed carbon trading program, weighed against several alternative means of reducing greenhouse gas emissions. The fresh look includes the original five options, including cap & trade and the option of doing nothing at all. It does not add any new options but rather seeks to flesh out the other three. The non-trading options include regulating emissions at the source, implementing a straight-up tax on carbon emissions, and a mixed bag of actions. Posted. http://blogs.kqed.org/climatewatch/2011/06/13/air-board-hands-in-its-homework/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+kqed%2FClimateWatchBlog+%28KQED%27s+Climate+Watch+Blog%29&utm_content=Google+Reader Air Resources Board Releases New Environmental Assessment of Cap and Trade to Comply with Judge’s Order. The California Air Resources Board (CARB) is covering all its bases in responding to a judge’s order that CARB violated the California Enviornmental Quality Act (CEQA) in adopting its scoping plan to implement AB 32 (the state’s climate change legislation). As I reported last week, CARB has won an order from the appeals court allowing the state to go forward in implementing its challenged cap and trade program. But to hedge its bets, the staff of the California Air Resources Board (CARB) today released an analysis that is meant to bring CARB into compliance with the judge’s ruling while supporting CARB’s decision to adopt a cap and trade program. Posted. http://legalplanet.wordpress.com/2011/06/13/air-resources-board-releases-new-environmental-assessment-of-cap-and-trade-to-comply-with-judges-order/ Global warming’s cause, effect and solution. Leave it to the esteemed President of Iran, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, to put his finger on the global warming problem. “The main factor behind the destruction of the environment is the greed and ceaseless avaraice and insatiable hunger of the world’s capitalists.” There you have it, authoritatively. Well, sort of authoritatively. The Iranian nutcase has laid the blame for global warming squarely at the door of capitalism. We’re shocked. What to do? How about suing? Posted. http://orangepunch.ocregister.com/2011/06/13/global-warmings-cause-effect-and-solution/45751/ U.S. (finally) Labels Formaldehyde "Known Human Carcinogen." After decades of debate, the Obama administration last week classified formaldehyde as a known human carcinogen, a label that is likely to advance regulatory steps to restrict this widely used hazardous chemical. The move came as the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services released the long-awaited 12th Report on Carcinogens, a Congressionally mandated report assembled by the National Toxicology Program of the National Institutes of Health. Posted. http://www.enviroblog.org/2011/06/formaldehyde-finally-labeled-known-human-carcinogen.html Triple Threat: New Generator Harnesses Energy from Sun, Wind and Rain. One thing that's known for sure about the future of renewable energy is that it will take all types to fulfill our energy needs. The wind isn't always blowing and the sun isn't always shining, but if wind, solar, geothermal, wave/tidal and any other type of renewable energy generation are all utilized and all feeding the grid, then we'll be more than covered. But what about devices that can harness more than one of these renewable energy sources at once? Posted. http://www.ecogeek.org/component/content/article/3529 GM Boss Wants Gasoline Tax Hike – Is This Good Policy To Meet Fuel Efficiency Goals? The Detroit News reported last week that General Motors CEO, Dan Akerson, would like to see the federal gasoline tax boosted by as much as $1 per gallon in order to encourage drivers to choose more fuel efficient vehicles. If you are a politician in office today, it’s of course anathema to talk about raising fuel taxes – unless of course you harbor some sort of political suicide agenda – and it’s at least mildly surprising that a Republican CEO would be a proponent of raising taxes on a product which directly, and potentially adversely, impacts the company he is running. Posted. http://www.triplepundit.com/2011/06/gm-boss-gas-tax-hike-good-policy-meet-fuel-efficiency/