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California Air Resources Board News Clips for June 16, 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

Sen. Barbara Boxer Lauds Action To Curb Mecca Odor During Capitol
Hill Hearing. U.S. Sen. Barbara Boxer, arguing for the tougher
safeguards under the federal Clean Air Act, discussed Mecca’s
recent odor woes at a committee hearing Wednesday on Capitol
Hill. Boxer, a Rancho Mirage Democrat who chairs the Senate’s
Environment and Public Works Committee, cited the intense,
gas-like stench, which has sickened scores of Mecca residents
since December, …Posted.
http://www.mydesert.com/article/20110615/NEWS07/110615013/On-Capitol-Hill-Boxer-lauds-action-curb-Mecca-odor?odyssey=nav|head

Attacks Haven't Sapped Support For Smog Rules -- American Lung
Association Poll. Despite heavy political pressure on U.S. EPA
since the start of the Obama administration, about 70 percent of
Americans don't want to stop the agency's plan to crack down on
smog, according to a poll released this morning by the American
Lung Association. It found that 72 percent of likely voters in
the 2012 election -- up from 68 percent in a similar poll last
year -- don't want Congress to stop EPA from setting stricter
rules on ground-level ozone, as the agency is expected to do this
summer. Posted.
http://www.eenews.net/Greenwire/print/2011/06/16/19

AEP's Shutdown Claims Are 'Misleading At Best' – Jackson. EPA
Administrator Lisa Jackson had harsh words for American Electric
Power Co. Inc. this morning, a week after the utility shook up
the debate over new emissions rules by announcing it would shut
down 6,000 megawatts of coal-fired plants in the next few years.
The Columbus, Ohio-based company's claims were "misleading at
best, scare tactics at worst," Jackson said after a Senate
Environment and Public Works Committee hearing on the Clean Air
Act. Posted. http://www.eenews.net/Greenwire/print/2011/06/15/3

Congressional Fix Needed For Boiler Rule – Alexander. Sen. Lamar
Alexander (R-Tenn.), a moderate Republican who has worked closely
with Democrats on air pollution issues, said today that the Obama
administration won't be able to fix its controversial new
standards for industrial boilers without some help. "That rule
belongs on another planet somewhere," he told EPA Administrator
Lisa Jackson this morning during an Environment and Public Works
Committee hearing. Posted.
http://www.eenews.net/Greenwire/print/2011/06/15/6

CLIMATE CHANGE

EU Climate Chief Confronts Riddle Of Deeper CO2 Cut. The European
Union can still deepen planned cuts to greenhouse gases beyond 20
percent, but the task is complex and has not been helped by
controversy over nuclear power, the EU's climate chief said on
Wednesday. Climate Commissioner Connie Hedegaard is planning to
reveal new research in July on the costs and benefits of
deepening carbon emissions cuts to 30 percent by the end of this
decade, from the current target of 20 percent. Posted.
http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/06/15/us-eu-climate-idUSTRE75E40120110615

California Set To Overcome CO2 Market Lawsuit: Point Carbon. San
Francisco - Lawyers following the twists and turns of a legal
challenge to California's planned carbon market said it looks
increasingly likely the state will win. Several California-based
attorneys told Point Carbon News on Wednesday there are a number
of reasons to believe that the widely-discussed lawsuit will not
delay the start of the market in January 2012. Posted.
http://www.chicagotribune.com/business/yourmoney/sns-rt-us-carbon-point-cartre75f31j-20110616,0,5941766.story

Rethinking Cap And Trade. Gov. Jerry Brown could swap out
California’s carbon-trading scheme. Of all the tools in
California’s toolbox to fight global warming, “cap and trade” is
probably the most controversial. The complicated carbon-trading
scheme is set to begin at the beginning of next year. It’s aimed
at reducing carbon dioxide and other greenhouse-gas emissions
from power plants and large industrial facilities, but a lawsuit
from environmental-justice groups has put the program into legal
limbo. Posted.
http://www.newsreview.com/sacramento/rethinking-cap-trade/content?oid=2342647

Traders And Experts Say Regional Cap-And-Trade Systems Will
Proliferate. New York -- Regional cap-and-trade systems will
continue to spread in the United States and Canada and are poised
to converge on each other, in spite of troubles experienced at
the Northeast's government-run program, experts confidently
predicted yesterday. Posted.
http://www.eenews.net/climatewire/print/2011/06/16/5

FUELS

Del. Lawmakers Work To Land Fuel Cell Company.  Dover,
Del.—Delaware lawmakers are fast-tracking legislation to
accommodate the state's effort to land a fuel-cell manufacturing
facility.  Gov. Jack Markell's administration is working to bring
California-based Bloom Energy to Delaware, where it plans to
create a manufacturing hub with hundreds of jobs at the former
Chrysler factory in Newark.  The administration is pushing for
legislation establishing a regulatory framework for fuel cells. 
Posted.  http://www.insidebayarea.com/ci_18287057
http://www.contracostatimes.com/ci_18287057

Tax Credits For Producing Ethanol Put To Test In Senate For
Second Time This Week.  Washington — Subsidies for ethanol are
being put to the test again in the Senate as budget cutters try
to demonstrate a growing appetite in Congress to end special
interest tax breaks to help reduce government borrowing.  The
Senate is scheduled to vote Thursday on two measures that would
end subsidies for producing ethanol, a renewable, liquid fuel
additive that comes mainly from corn in the U.S.  One measure
would repeal a tax credit that provides 45 cents a gallon to oil
refiners who mix ethanol with gasoline.  Posted. 
http://www.washingtonpost.com/business/economy/tax-credits-for-producing-ethanol-put-to-test-in-senate-for-second-time-this-week/2011/06/16/AGUQRSXH_story.html

VEHICLES

No More Free Parking. Come July 1, those driving hybrid cars with
the yellow "clean air" decals will no longer be able to park for
free at meters in Santa Monica, city officials announced
Wednesday. The change comes as a result of the legislature
abandoning a program that allowed drivers of those hybrids to use
car pool or high-occupancy lanes even though they had no other
passenger in the car. Those hybrid vehicles no longer meet strict
California emission standards, officials with the Department of
Motor Vehicles said. Posted.
http://www.smdp.com/Articles-c-2011-06-15-72010.113116-No-more-free-parking.html

Ford Starts Building $500 Million Engine Plant For China Sales.
-- Ford Motor Co. broke ground today on a $500 million engine
factory in southwest China as the automaker seeks to expand in
the world's largest market and boost global sales by 50 percent
in four years. The plant in the western Chinese city of Chongqing
will more than double engine capacity for joint venture Changan
Ford Mazda Automobile Co. to 750,000 units when output starts in
2013, according to an e-mailed statement. Posted. 
http://www.autonews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20110616/GLOBAL03/306169849/1131

Q&A: Renault-Nissan CEO Pledges $5.6 Billion for EVs. Carlos
Ghosn is either a brilliant visionary or crazy as a loon. The CEO
of the Renault-Nissan Alliance is easily the auto industry’s
biggest advocate of electric vehicles, possessed of an enthusiasm
bordering on fanaticism. Others may speak with louder voices, but
no one is placing a bigger bet on cars with cords. Ghosn is going
all in with an investment of 4 billion Euros ($5.6 billion) in
electric vehicles. Posted.
http://www.wired.com/autopia/2011/06/qa-with-carlos-ghosn/

OPINION

Ethanol's Wasteful Tax Credit. The battle over the subsidy, which
goes to deep-pocketed oil firms rather than farmers, shows how
rigid party orthodoxy continues to trump common sense in
Congress. It isn't too often that Sen. Dianne Feinstein, a
pro-environment Democrat from California, and Sen. Tom Coburn, a
"drill, baby, drill" Republican from Oklahoma, agree on energy
issues. Posted.
http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/opinionla/la-ed-ethanol-20110616,0,1952488,print.story

Viewpoints: Ivanpah Solar Project Balances Jobs, Environment. The
U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service recently issued its revised
biological opinion for the Ivanpah Solar Electric Generating
System in eastern San Bernardino County. With this opinion, the
project is moving forward and providing an example of how
utility-scale solar power plants can be built in an
environmentally responsible way, while bringing much needed
economic benefits to our state. Posted.
http://www.sacbee.com/2011/06/16/v-print/3704219/viewpoints-ivanpah-solar-project.html

BLOGS

Celebrating a City’s Solar Muscle. Given that New York City has
been falling behind some of its municipal counterparts in new
solar power installations, renewable energy advocates are happy
to hear that its rooftops can hold more than water tanks and
lounge chairs. As I report in Thursday’s paper, two-thirds of the
city’s one million or so buildings are suitable for solar panel
installations. Posted. 
http://green.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/06/16/celebrating-a-citys-solar-muscle/?scp=7&sq=green%20energy&st=cse

Who Will Step Up to Meet Oil Demand? For those of you who use
gasoline or diesel to get to work in the morning, you may have a
problem, in case you haven’t noticed prices at the pump lately.
According to a report released this week by the International
Energy Agency, total oil production each year from 2010 to 2016
will have grown by an average of 1.1 million barrels a day.
Posted. 
http://green.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/06/16/who-will-step-up-to-meet-oil-demand/?scp=8&sq=green%20energy&st=cse

California Drought Drove Up Energy Costs. One of the biggest
costs of California's recent drought went largely unnoticed,
according to a report that estimates state ratepayers paid $1.7
billion to replace lost hydropower with natural gas generation
that also pumped millions of tons of pollutants into the
atmosphere. Posted.
http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/greenspace/2011/06/california-drought-hydropower.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+GreenspaceEnvironmentBlog+%28Greenspace%29

Attempts to Undermine California's ZEV Program Would Only Set the
U.S. Electric Vehicle Industry Back. The Wall Street Journal
recently reported that automakers and their trade associations
are now fighting California’s next revision to its Zero Emission
Vehicle (ZEV) program, a long-standing air quality program and
technology-forcing standard to bring plug-in electric and fuel
cell vehicles to California. Posted.
http://switchboard.nrdc.org/blogs/smui/attempts_to_undermine_californ.html

Greening The Military It’s Not Very Often That You Think Of The
Military Being Green. However according to a latest report by the
Sierra Club entitled Blood and Oil, the US military has very firm
plans of becoming more eco-friendly. We reported on green
ambassadors within the military last month. Two days ago the
Pentagon announced the Operational Energy Strategy that talks
about moving towards alternative energy. Posted. 
http://www.triplepundit.com/2011/06/greening-military/

The Cleantech Revolution- The Second Industrial Revolution - Is
Under Way. As governments and major industries announce plans to
cut carbon emissions, Ernst & Young's research indicates that the
move to Cleantech may represent a second industrial revolution
which may have effects as great as the first. They came to a
number of interesting signposts which may help companies on that
journey.
Posted. 
http://www.celsias.com/article/cleantech-revolution-second-industrial-revolution/

How We’ll Get Ultra-Efficient Solar Cells By Copying Plants’
‘Quantum Biology’.  Some day solar cells will be as cheap as
house paint, and the renewables vs. fossil fuel debate will seem
as quaint as Whigs vs. Jacksonian Democrats. Getting there has
inspired all kinds of crazy ideas, and the craziest, perhaps, is
to do it exactly like plants do.  Posted. 
http://www.grist.org/list/2011-06-16-how-well-get-ultra-efficient-solar-cells-by-copying-plants-quant

Mass. Transit Bans Ad On Scott Brown’s Vote To Gut Clean Air Act.
 "Too controversial? Too controversial is voting to gut the Clean
Air Act, for 40 years the bulwark of our environmental policy,"
said Bill McKibben, founder of 350.org. "Maybe the 'T' thinks
spreading that news will scare people too much -- it's sweet of
them to be so protective of their riders, but Brown's vote is the
real horror."  Posted. 
http://www.grist.org/politics/2011-06-16-mass-transit-bans-ad-on-scott-browns-vote-to-gut-clean-air-act

Maxwell Technologies Introduces Ultracapacitor-Based Engine Start
Module For Commercial Trucks And Other Heavy Vehicles.  Maxwell
Technologies, Inc. is introducing a 12-volt ultracapacitor module
that ensures reliable engine starting for commercial trucks and
other heavy vehicles. The new product, designed to complement
batteries, was first displayed in March at the Mid-America
Trucking Show in Louisville, KY.  Maxwell developed the engine
start module incorporating its patented ultracapacitor technology
in consultation with heavy truck manufacturers and fleet
operators.  Posted. 
http://www.greencarcongress.com/2011/06/maxwell-20110616.html