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California Air Resources Board News Clips for July 19, 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

EPA sued over Los Angeles smog. A federal lawsuit says the
Environmental Protection Agency failed to force officials to
crack down on Los Angeles smog. Clean air advocates, including
Physicians for Social Responsibility and the Natural Resources
Defense Council, say in Monday's suit that the EPA missed a May
deadline to certify whether ozone levels are hazardous to public
health. Under the federal Clean Air Act, Congress established a
one-hour standard for ozone pollution. Posted. 
http://www.dailynews.com/ci_18505946?IADID=Search-www.dailynews.com-www.dailynews.com
http://www.insidebayarea.com/ci_18505946?IADID=Search-www.insidebayarea.com-www.insidebayarea.com
http://www.contracostatimes.com/ci_18505946?IADID=Search-www.contracostatimes.com-www.contracostatimes.com
http://www.fresnobee.com/2011/07/18/2468783/suit-epa-must-clean-up-san-joaquin.html#storylink=misearch
http://www.modbee.com/2011/07/18/1780105/suit-epa-must-clean-up-san-joaquin.html

Advocates Sue Valley Air Board. Clean air advocates are suing to
force the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to bring air
quality in the polluted San Joaquin Valley to national standards.
The environmental law firm Earthjustice filed a lawsuit Monday in
federal court seeking to compel the agency to make an official
finding on whether the valley has met national ozone standards
adopted by the EPA three decades ago. Posted. 
http://www.modbee.com/2011/07/18/1780430/advocates-sue-valley-air-board.html

FUELS

Corn Futures Gain On U.S. Crop View. U.S. corn futures jumped as
a heat wave baking the Corn Belt caused the government to scale
back its view of the upcoming crop and fueled expectations of
further downward adjustments. Corn for December delivery, the
most actively traded contract, climbed 17.5 cents, or 2.6%, to
$6.945 a bushel in late morning trade on the Chicago Board of
Trade. Posted. 
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052702303661904576455963352321504.html?KEYWORDS=fuel

VEHICLES

Nissan raises price of electric Leaf, expands ordering to
southeastern states. Nissan Motor Co. will more than double the
number of states where it offers its Leaf electric car by this
fall. But buyers will have to pay more to get it. The base price
of the 2012 model-year Leaf will be $35,200, up nearly $2,500
from the 2011 model year. Drivers can also lease the Leaf for
$369 per month, up $20. Posted. 
http://www.washingtonpost.com/business/nissan-raises-price-of-electric-leaf-expands-ordering-to-southeastern-states/2011/07/19/gIQAkF5kNI_story.html
http://www.autonews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20110719/OEM05/110719896/1186

Toyota utilizing hybrids to help with power crunch. Toyota's
electric-gasoline hybrid car technology will be utilized to help
ease power shortages in Japan's disaster-struck northeast, part
of a set of measures the automaker hopes will underline its
commitment to the region. Toyota Motor Corp. said Tuesday it will
donate emergency power supply systems linked to its Prius hybrid
cars to prefectures (states) in the Tohoku region ravaged by the
March 11 earthquake and tsunami. Posted. 
http://www.vcstar.com/news/2011/jul/18/toyota-utilizing-hybrids-to-help-with-power/
http://www.nctimes.com/business/article_f6f357a8-2570-527c-b7ee-3441e4882891.html
http://www.dailynews.com/ci_18505029?IADID=Search-www.dailynews.com-www.dailynews.com
http://www.insidebayarea.com/ci_18504320?IADID=Search-www.insidebayarea.com-www.insidebayarea.com
http://www.modbee.com/2011/07/18/1780335/toyota-utilizing-hybrids-to-help.html

Toyota to begin offering AC outlets in the Prius in Japan. How’s
this for a more user-friendly hybrid? Next year, Toyota Motor
Corp. will start offering AC electric outlets as an option on its
popular Prius hybrid so drivers can plug in household appliances
-- from computers to refrigerators. The idea was born from
watching victims of Japan’s March 11 earthquake using the Toyota
Estima hybrid van as a source of emergency electricity when the
power was knocked out. Posted. 
http://www.autonews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20110719/OEM04/110719897/1290

Thailand Emerges As Global Hub For Fuel Efficient And Environment
Friendly Car Manufacturing.  From its position as the world's No.
1 producer of one-ton pickup trucks, Thailand is quickly emerging
as a global hub for fuel efficient, eco-friendly car
manufacturing, with EURO-4 emission standards and a fuel economy
of nearly 50 miles per gallon. Six of the world's top auto
producers have based their fuel efficient car production in
Thailand in recent years. Posted. 
http://www.sacbee.com/2011/07/18/3777624/thailand-emerges-as-global-hub.html#storylink=misearch

GREEN ENERGY

Project uses landfill gas to power vehicles. Beginning next year,
trucks operating at the St. Landry Parish landfill will be able
to refuel with a natural energy source from the garbage mounds.
The $700,000 project involves cleaning and compressing on site
the methane gas emitted from the solid waste and making the gas
suitable for vehicle fuel. Posted. 
http://www.vcstar.com/news/2011/jul/19/project-uses-landfill-gas-to-power-vehicles/
Rep. Mary Bono Mack Changes Mind On Bulb Change. After voting for
the law that called for phasing out sales of incandescent light
bulbs in 2012 — in favor of more energy-efficient models such as
fluorescents — Rep. Mary Bono Mack has reversed course. With the
economy slumping, her office said, this probably isn't the right
time to impose new lighting standards. Posted. 
http://www.mydesert.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=2011107190309

MISCELLANEOUS

UN chief says sustainable development top priority next 5 years.
Global development that reduces poverty but preserves the
environment for future generations will be the top priority
during Ban Ki-moon's second five-year term as U.N.
secretary-general, he said Tuesday. Ban, whose second term at the
helm of the United Nations starts Jan. 1, laid out his
overarching theme for his next administration during a speech to
the World Trade Organization. Posted. 
http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/un-chief-says-sustainable-development-will-be-top-priority-next-5-years/2011/07/19/gIQAzlnINI_story.html
http://www.dailynews.com/ci_18505353?IADID=Search-www.dailynews.com-www.dailynews.com
http://www.contracostatimes.com/ci_18505353?IADID=Search-www.contracostatimes.com-www.contracostatimes.com
http://www.modbee.com/2011/07/19/1780556/un-chief-says-sustainable-development.html

OPINION

Time To Clear The Air. You hear a lot these days about how
mindless government policy stifles innovation in the private
sector. But in West Virginia's coal country, the opposite has
happened. The lack of government rules has prompted a private
company to stop work on a promising antipollution technology,
which sets a dangerous precedent that utilities across the nation
may follow. Posted. 
http://www.modbee.com/2011/07/19/1780715/time-to-clear-the-air.html

A Trade-Off With Benefits. The Obama administration already has
set a quicker pace for putting more fuel-efficient cars on the
road, vehicles that go farther on a gallon of gas, emit fewer
pollutants and reduce how often drivers have to tank up. Now it
should follow through on the president's stated commitment to
push auto manufacturers to adhere to even tougher standards by
the year 2025. You can't argue with the beneficial results:
cleaner air, weaning our addiction to foreign oil and creating
more technology jobs. Posted. 
http://www.modbee.com/2011/07/18/1779436/a-trade-off-with-benefits.html

BLOGS

A Climate Hazard, Medium Rare, Please. Eating a small
cheeseburger for lunch is, in terms of greenhouse gas emissions,
equivalent to driving an extra 10 miles.  By contrast, eating a
serving of lentils would barely get your car out of the driveway,
according to a new report released on Monday by the Environmental
Working Group, a research organization. Posted. 
http://green.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/07/18/a-climate-hazard-medium-rare/?scp=10&sq=climate%20change&st=cse

Battling Energy Waste in Hot, Rich Cities. Bettina Wassener, who
is based in Hong Kong for the International Herald Tribune, has
filed a Green column for The Times exploring why there is so much
energy waste there and in other advanced cities. One reason is
that energy costs are a tiny fraction of the price of owning
expensive real estate, so why not have the windows open while the
air conditioning is blasting. Posted. 
http://dotearth.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/07/18/battling-energy-waste-in-hot-rich-cities/?scp=10&sq=fuels&st=cse

N.R.C. Chief Plans Quick Response to Post-Fukushima Study. The
chairman of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission said Monday that it
should decide within 90 days on how to address recommendations to
be issued this week by a task force that examined the lessons of
the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear accident in Japan. Almost
simultaneously, House Republicans and the industry’s trade
association warned him not to rush. Posted. 
http://green.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/07/18/n-r-c-chief-plans-quick-response-to-post-fukushima-study/?scp=4&sq=green%20energy&st=cse

Green Algae Meets Dirty Coal for Carbon Capture. An unlikely
marriage of algae and coal-plants could become a reality through
a company called OriginOil. The company helps algae growers with
the incredibly difficult process of extracting oil from their
product for commercial use. It is bringing together dirty coal
and green algae as part of a carbon capture project at a coal
plant in Australia that could be an alternative to risky and
expensive underground carbon capture and storage (CCS) schemes.
Posted. 
http://www.triplepundit.com/2011/07/green-algae-meets-dirty-coal-carbon-capture/

T.R., Obama, and the Environment.  This week I drove through at
least three national forests created by Theodore
Roosevelt--Cache, Unitah, and Wasatch.  T.R.'s interest in
protecting public lands and wildlife set him apart from other
American Presidents.  During his presidency, he created or
expanded 150 national forests. He also put into place more than
50 bird or wildlife preserves, 6 national parks, and almost 20
national monuments. Posted. 
http://lawprofessors.typepad.com/environmental_law/2011/07/tr-obama-and-the-environment.html

EPRI assesses status of 8 key power generation technologies for
US; estimates of capital cost and levelized cost of electricity.
The Electric Power Research Institute (EPRI) released a report,
Integrated Generation Technology Options on the cost,
performance, and technology status for eight central-station
power generation technologies likely to dominate the US
generation mix over the next two decades: pulverized coal;
integrated gasification combined-cycle (IGCC); natural gas
combined-cycle (NGCC); nuclear; biomass; wind; solar photovoltaic
(PV); and concentrating solar thermal generation technologies
from the near term to 2025. Posted. 
http://www.greencarcongress.com/2011/07/epri-assesses-status-of-8-key-power-generation-technologies-for-us-estimates-of-capital-cost-and-lev.html