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California Air Resources Board News Clips for July 1, 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

The Week Ahead: Coal plants must clean up their act.  Do you know
where the air you breathe comes from? Next week, the
Environmental Protection Agency moves to regulate dirty air
across state lines.  The new limits on power plant emissions are
a half-decade in the making. Thirty-one states from Florida to
New York, Wisconsin to Texas would be subject to reducing certain
chemicals spewed into the air. The agency argues it has to put
these limits in place for states to achieve national clean air
standards. After all, sulfur dioxide from a smokestack doesn't
stop at the state border.  Posted. 
http://www.sacbee.com/2011/07/01/3741032/the-week-ahead-coal-plants-must.html#storylink=misearch
 

CLIMATE CHANGE

California delays cap and trade compliance.  Californian
authorities have announced a one-year delay in the full
application of the state’s carbon emissions cap and trade scheme,
initially scheduled to start in January. California Air Resources
Board Chair Mary Nichols said the regulator now proposes to
implement the scheme on time, but to delay by one year compliance
obligations for emitters. This effectively means a shadow carbon
market would operate during 2012.  Posted. 
http://www.carbonpositive.net/viewarticle.aspx?articleID=2346 

Traders see emissions credit delay as 'reassuring'.  Those with
the most to gain from California's pending carbon market insisted
yesterday that the state is still on track to have a robust
emissions trading system, despite regulators' announcement this
week that enforcement would be delayed by a year.  Carbon traders
and brokers uniformly expressed optimism about the fact that
emitters are getting at least a six-month reprieve from
participating in emissions trading. The delay, they said, would
give policymakers time to flesh out details of how the nation's
first comprehensive cap on carbon dioxide will be monitored and
enforced.  Posted.  BY SUBSCRIPTION ONLY. 
http://www.eenews.net/climatewire/2011/07/01/1/ 

FUELS

N.Y. proposes to allow drilling, with strict frack rules.  New
York state would have some of the most restrictive rules in the
country for shale gas drilling, including the hydraulic
fracturing process, under a proposal to be released today by
state regulators.  The draft would prevent shale gas drilling
near the watersheds of New York City and Syracuse, by banning the
high-volume fracturing required to pry gas from the rock
formation. But implementing the policy, which is at least months
in the future, would allow drilling to start elsewhere in the
state.  Posted.  BY SUBSCRIPTION ONLY. 
http://www.eenews.net/EEDaily/2011/07/01/4/ 

Too little, too late? Some Democrats seek investigations of gas
industry claims.  A group of energy companies -- like, say, the
natural gas industry -- would never, ever mislead the public and
politicians about how profitable it could be over the long-term.
Obviously, we should just believe the natural gas industry's
financial projections, which promise that any negative
environmental impacts will be worth the jobs, the profits, and
the energy security that come with the promised national gas
boom.  That's basically been the stance of most legislators in
Washington when it comes to natural gas. The picture the industry
painted of huge supplies of low-carbon fuel proved really
compelling.  Posted. 
http://www.grist.org/list/2011-07-01-too-little-too-late-some-democrats-seek-investigations-of-gas-in


VEHICLES

Hybrid Drivers Lose Special Access To California Carpool Lanes. 
LOS ANGELES — For six years, California gave owners of hybrid
cars the keys to the fast lane: permission to drive alone among
carpoolers.  Now hybrids are about to lose the special privilege
that was intended as a reward for saving gas and protecting the
environment. The vehicles are no longer novel, their key-shaped
yellow decals faded from the sun, and transportation officials
want to make way for a new generation of even cleaner cars. 
Posted. 
http://www.mydesert.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=2011106300347

GREEN ENERGY

Utah researchers experiment with electric roads to charge
electric cars.  LOGAN — Electric vehicles have long been touted
as the answer for drivers who want to avoid high gas prices and
help protect the environment. But the heavy, short-lived
batteries are a big obstacle to the vehicles becoming affordable
and commonplace.  Suppose an electric vehicle could just go on
and on, without stopping to recharge batteries. Suppose it was
continually charging as it drove along the highway.  A technical
breakthrough at Utah State University could make that happen. The
idea is to make the highways themselves a source of energy. 
Posted. 
http://www.deseretnews.com/article/705375497/Utah-researchers-experiment-with-electric-roads-to-charge-electric-cars.html


BLOGS

EPA, Freight Stakeholders Roll Out SmartWay Drayage Program.
Freight handling stakeholders in port areas and the Environmental
Protection Agency have launched an initiative that’s designed to
help clear the air in the nation’s port areas. It’s called the
EPA SmartWay Drayage Program and it has potential for a
nationwide solution to port pollution. It builds on clean truck
programs that have been around at various port regions for
several years. Posted. 
http://www.triplepundit.com/2011/07/epa-freight-stakeholders-roll-smartway-drayage-program/

Exxon Cut Financing to Climate Skeptics, Group Says.  Greenpeace
U.S.A. has issued a report saying that all of the research
funding received since 2003 by Willie Soon, an astrophysicist who
has been a critic of climate science, came from oil or coal
interests like ExxonMobil and the Southern Company, a utility
that burns coal. Dr. Soon, who works at the Harvard-Smithsonian
Astrophysics Observatory, has researched whether solar variance
might be responsible for climate warming. Posted. 
http://green.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/07/01/exxon-is-financing-fewer-climate-skeptics-group-says/?ref=earth

Hybrids Rejoin California Gridlock As HOV Stickers Expire Today. 
The vehicles are no longer novel, their yellow stickers have
faded from years of exposure to the sun and, after six years of
enjoying the privilege, it's now time for California's hybrid
owners to suffer with the rest of us in the state's
traffic-clogged non-High Occupancy Vehicle lanes. Posted. 
http://www.autoblog.com/2011/07/01/californias-hybrid-vehicles-lose-access-to-hov-lanes/


CARB to host community meetings to discuss 2018-2025 LEV III
regulations.  The California Air Resources Board (CARB) is in the
process of inking out an amendment to the state's low-emissions
vehicle (LEV) regulations. The proposed amendments, referred to
as LEV III, ask for more stringent tailpipe and greenhouse gas
emission standards for passenger vehicles sold between 2018 and
2025. Posted. 
http://green.autoblog.com/2011/06/30/carb-to-host-community-meetings-to-discuss-2018-2025-lev-iii-reg/#aol-comments

Obama Calls for 56.2 MPG Fuel Efficiency Mandate by 2025.  The
Obama administration is currently in talks with the three big
automakers — General Motors, Ford and Chrysler — about future
fuel efficiency standards, and it looks like the President’s team
is calling for an average of 56.2 miles per gallon mandate by
2025. After a failed attempt at climate change legislation, the
Obama administration has focused their efforts on more specific
ways to reduce our national carbon emissions. Posted. 
http://inhabitat.com/obama-calls-for-56-2-mpg-fuel-efficiency-mandate-by-2025/

New Labels For a New Ethanol Fuel. This week, the EPA finalized
labeling regulations for "E15" fuels--gasoline-ethanol blends
that have "more than 10 and up to 15 percent ethanol."  The
regulations attempt to ensure that drivers of light-duty vehicles
with model years older than 2001 will not fill up their gas tanks
with E15. Posted. 
http://lawprofessors.typepad.com/environmental_law/2011/07/new-labels-for-ethanol.html