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newsclips -- Newsclips for October 26, 2011.
Posted: 26 Oct 2011 12:36:59
California Air Resources Board News Clips for October 26, 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 delays rule on fracking emissions by a month. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency said it will delay by a month final standards on emissions from hydraulic fracturing, its third postponement of air pollution rules since early September. The EPA and environmental groups that sued the agency have agreed to a 35-day extension for the finalization of the proposed standards to reduce air pollution from oil and gas drilling operations, an agency spokeswoman said on Wednesday. Posted. http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/10/26/us-usa-epa-emissions-idUSTRE79P5NY20111026 Modesto Irrigation District hears algae pitch and income potential. Algae that eat pollutants might help keep electricity bills in check in the Modesto Irrigation District. Tuesday morning, the MID board heard a company's plan to have the tiny plants consume carbon dioxide and nitrous oxide at the district's natural gas-fueled power plant on Woodland Avenue in Modesto. The process would reduce the cost of emission control and generate byproducts for sale, such as fertilizer and animal feed, said Charles Snyder, president of Paradigm Biosciences International. Posted. http://www.modbee.com/2011/10/25/1920182/mid-hears-algae-pitch-and-income.html The Dangers of Indoor Air Pollution. If you travel to undeveloped countries, you simply get used to the aroma of cooking fires, both outdoors and indoors. In fact, as I have globe-trotted over the past several decades, I have learned to readily differentiate between the cooking smells of one nation and the next. In India, for example, dried cow dung is a primary source of fuel for cooking fires. Its aroma is surprisingly pleasant, and the smell is everywhere. In the South Pacific, logs and coconut husks are typically used. These fires also smell pleasant, and they definitely evoke an atmosphere of rustic life. Posted. http://www.foxnews.com/health/2011/10/26/dangers-indoor-air-pollution/#ixzz1buRYbaxV CLIMATE CHANGE CA Senate Panel Attacks Drivers. Supporters of AB 32, California’s global warming and climate change law, have been busy planning their next move. A hearing held Monday in the Senate Transportation and Housing Committee covered the long-term viability of available fuels needed to meet California’s increasing green energy demands — demands that are increasing because of laws passed by the state Legislature. Posted. http://www.calwatchdog.com/2011/10/25/ca-senate-panel-attacks-drivers/ DIESEL EMISSIONS Kohler Engine introduces cleaner diesel engine. The Kohler Engine Co. has developed a new line of cleaner small diesel engines to meet stricter air emissions regulations that go into effect in 2013 in the United States and Europe. The diesel engines produce 10 times fewer carbon particulate emissions, also known as soot, and will come in 1.9-liter and 2.5-liter sizes, meant for machines including small tractors, forklifts, generators and compressors. Posted. http://www.vcstar.com/news/2011/oct/26/kohler-launches-cleaner-diesel-engine/ FUELS Questioning Europe's Math on Biofuels. Much of the appeal of generating energy from plants was that they emit only as much carbon when burned in cars and power plants as they absorb while growing. Lately, that appeal seems to be going up in smoke. It turns out that the emissions from growing and processing some biofuels significantly diminish their benefits, when taking into account factors like the use of fertilizers manufactured with fossil fuels. Posted. http://www.nytimes.com/2011/09/26/business/global/questioning-europes-math-on-biofuels.html?_r=1&scp=1&sq=diesel%20emissions&st=cse RIVERSIDE: Gas company pumped up about fueling station. A new compressed natural gas pump christened Tuesday morning in Riverside might be the primer for how to reduce oil use and improve air quality in the Inland area, officials said. Local and state officials joined the Southern California Gas Company at the opening of a new CNG pump at the gas company’s Howard Avenue fueling station, off 14th Street near Highway 91. Officials touted the public station as a way to encourage more companies – and private drivers – to switch to natural gas vehicles, which emit less pollution than gasoline-burning engines. Posted. http://www.pe.com/local-news/topics/topics-environment-headlines/20111025-riverside-gas-company-pumped-up-about-fueling-station.ece GREEN ENERGY UC Davis West Village touts zero net energy living. Davis -- Sustainable design is often measured by the use of recycled materials and power-saving gadgets. But architecture itself can embody the quest for conservation, as is the case in this university city 80 miles east of San Francisco, where a new 130-acre development aspires to be the nation's largest zero net energy community. The first 23 buildings have just opened, so it's too early to say whether the enclave will consume no more energy than is generated by the on-site solar panels. Posted. http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2011/10/23/BAK61LK8KM.DTL#ixzz1buJo3PHx Smart electric grid yields jobs, report says. The effort to develop a smarter electricity grid has created more than 12,560 jobs in the Bay Area and could produce many more, according to a report to be released today. Those jobs will come not just from companies that specialize in smart- grid equipment, such as Echelon Corp. or Silver Spring Networks, but from an older generation of information technology giants moving into the field. Silicon Valley stalwarts Cisco Systems and Oracle Corp. already offer smart-grid products. Posted. http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2011/10/25/BU2V1LM5CB.DTL#ixzz1buLFq1SC California panel resumes green energy tax breaks. A state panel voted Tuesday to resume a tax break program for clean energy manufacturers after lawmakers found the effort has been working as intended to help foster alternative energy in California. The California Alternative Energy and Advanced Transportation Financing Authority had temporarily suspended the program after awarding $25 million in sales tax breaks to the failed Fremont solar startup Solyndra. Posted. http://www.fresnobee.com/2011/10/25/2590434/calif-panel-resumes-green-energy.html#storylink=misearch http://www.vcstar.com/news/2011/oct/25/calif-panel-resumes-green-energy-tax-breaks/ http://www.nctimes.com/news/state-and-regional/article_6a23f5db-3513-5932-a1c9-1db4d75b42c5.html http://www.modbee.com/2011/10/25/1919777/calif-panel-resumes-green-energy.html Future of Solar and Wind Power May Hinge on Federal Aid. In recent years, wind and solar power have been among the fastest-growing sources of energy in the country. But questions loom over their future: Will federal incentives that are important to their growth continue? And what happens if those incentives expire? For wind power, the situation is especially precarious, energy specialists say. Posted. http://www.nytimes.com/2011/10/26/business/energy-environment/future-of-solar-and-wind-power-may-hinge-on-federal-aid.html?scp=9&sq=fuels&st=cse MISCELLANEOUS California attorney general goes after questionable 'biodegradable plastic' bottles. In a move that could have a major impact on the recycling industry, California Attorney General Kamala Harris will sue three national companies that make plastic bottles or sell bottled water in California, contending that they illegally claim their bottles are "biodegradable." Posted. http://www.mercurynews.com/science/ci_19195413?source=rss L.A. County OKs Newhall Ranch development's second phase. The Board of Supervisors approves the Mission Village segment, which will have 4,000 housing units, 580 acres of open space and three preserves. Environmentalists say the Santa Clarita Valley project will worsen traffic and pollution. Los Angeles County supervisors Tuesday approved plans for the second phase of a controversial development near Six Flags Magic Mountain in the Santa Clarita Valley. Posted. http://www.latimes.com/news/science/environment/la-me-newhall-ranch-20111026,0,3589646,print.story OPINIONS Hot air from wind-farm foes After reading “Does huge wind farm fit near Borrego state park?” (Local, Oct. 24), on the proposed wind farm in Imperial County, I almost had to laugh at the comments made by Mark Jorgensen, the retired superintendent of the state park, if they weren’t so myopic. Unfortunately, he and the other people who make up the environmental left continue to whine and become obstacles in the path of common sense progress. The idea that a wind farm would destroy the “view shed” is almost comical. Posted. http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/2011/oct/25/mortgage-reform-plan-global-warming-organ-donation/ JEAN FULLER: CARB's cap-and-trade plan needs close monitoring. Whether one is a skeptic that man-made carbon emissions are killing our planet, or a dyed-in-the-wool Al Gore believer in the carbon dioxide phenomenon, you should be very concerned about the California Air Resources Board's recent adoption of the cap-and-trade rules designed to help the state comply with AB 32, the greenhouse gas emission reduction law that required carbon emissions be cut to 1990 levels by 2020. Posted. http://www.bakersfield.com/opinion/community/x860822579/CARBs-cap-and-trade-plan-needs-close-monitoring CARB's cap-and-trade rules. How is it that the California Air Resources Board has the power to increase taxes and fees on businesses and individuals without voter approval? Where are our elected state representatives on this? This cap-and-trade plan is only going to put the state further in the hole. Why can't CARB invest some of the billions of dollars it has to clean up these so-called coal-burning plants by converting them to coal gasification, or building some clean nuclear power plants? Posted. http://www.bakersfield.com/opinion/letters/x860822583/CARBs-cap-and-trade-rules Editorial: Pollution czars’ plan to choke California business. California foolishly is going where Congress fears to tread, and where even European global warming zealots are backing away. Nevertheless, an unelected, virtually unaccountable board of government overseers has voted unanimously to impose mandatory cap-and-trade regulations on California businesses that will likely kill jobs, chase companies out of state and impose $2 billion in new taxes, all in a Quixotic quest to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, a highly questionable, perhaps meaningless, goal. Posted. http://www.ocregister.com/common/printer/view.php?db=ocregister&id=323678 ROBINSON: Climate change just got hotter. For the clueless or cynical diehards who deny global warming, it's getting awfully cold out there. The latest icy blast of reality comes from an eminent scientist whom the climate-change skeptics once lauded as one of their own. Richard Muller, a respected physicist at the University of California, Berkeley, used to dismiss alarmist climate research as being “polluted by political and activist frenzy.” Posted. http://www.pressdemocrat.com/article/20111025/WIRE/111029745 Cap and kill. California Gov. Jerry “Moonbeam” Brown lived up to his nickname last week when he signed the state’s proposed cap and trade legislation into law. Starting in 2013, California’s Air Resources Board (CARB) will give polluters an allowance of carbon credits (the amount of carbon they can emit) at the beginning of each year based on emissions reductions benchmarks. If a company doesn’t use all of its credits, it can sell them — hence the “trade” part. Posted. http://www.vvdailypress.com/opinion/jerry-30875-kill-california.html Grove: AB 32 is a hindrance, not solution. Ridgecrest, Calif. — Last week, I participated in a hearing in Fresno of the Assembly Legislative Rural Caucus. As a member of this caucus, we bring attention to legislation that affects our Central Valley. We focused on the impact of AB 32 on the Central Valley’s air, agriculture and food manufacturing industry. AB 32, known as the “California Global Warming Solutions Act”, passed the Legislature in 2006 and is set to begin next year. Posted. http://www.ridgecrestca.com/opinions/columnists/x319047894/Grove-AB-32-is-a-hindrance-not-solution New greenhouse gas rules draw local criticism. A landmark “cap and trade” system adopted in California last week to limit greenhouse gas emissions is drawing a lot of local comment — most of it negative. Supporters of the law believe it will create new, cleaner industries over time, and say climate change is a growing environmental threat that can hurt farming in the long run. But agricultural and political leaders from the area say the state’s groundbreaking law to limit global warming gases is going to cost Kings County jobs, result in higher food costs and lead to higher utility bills. Posted. http://www.hanfordsentinel.com/news/local/article_89b7ec9e-ff24-11e0-8df9-001cc4c03286.html#ixzz1buUSDGYq California's Economic Suicide. Regulations finalized by the California Air Resources Board establish the nation's first state-run cap-and-trade regime. Despite Solyndra, the state will gather solar panels while it may. The 262 pages of regulations implementing California's 2006 global warming legislation, Assembly Bill 32, approved by CARB last Thursday, will probably reduce employment more than it reduces emissions. The only thing it will cap is economic growth by bleeding a patient that is already hemorrhaging red ink. Posted. http://www.investors.com/NewsAndAnalysis/Article/589338/201110251850/Californias-Economic-Suicide.htm Car pool lanes should be used to keep traffic moving. What is the purpose of high-occupancy vehicle lanes? Is it to make people who aren't in car pool lanes feel resentful? Or, as University of California, Berkeley, civil and environmental engineering professor Michael Cassidy believes, is the goal to reduce the number of people-hours traveled? Cassidy believes HOV lanes work but used to work better. Posted. http://www.recordnet.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20111026/A_OPINION0619/110260306&cid=sitesearch http://www.nctimes.com/news/opinion/columnists/saunders/article_542ecf2e-6503-5c99-ab1a-bf417e77e73b.html BLOGS Will California’s cap-and-trade experiment catch on? As the old Louis Brandeis quip goes, states can serve as laboratories of democracy if they so choose. And California has just volunteered itself as a guinea pig for a particularly high-stakes experiment. The California Air Resources Board is putting the finishing touches on a statewide cap-and-trade system for greenhouse-gas emissions. You can bone up on the details in the Los Angeles Times. But here’s a broader question: Posted. http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/ezra-klein/post/will-californias-cap-and-trade-experiment-catch-on/2011/10/25/gIQAZDyZGM_blog.html California lifts suspension of green energy tax credit. Members of a state commission unanimously voted to lift a month-long suspension of an alternative energy-related tax credit that had been imposed following the bankruptcy of Solyndra, a politically connected California solar panel company. The California Alternative Energy and Advanced Transportation Financing Authority, after reviewing its operations and the granting of $25.1 million in sales tax credits to Solyndra, concluded it could tighten the way it handles applications. Posted. http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/money_co/2011/10/california-solar-solyndra-tax-credit.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+MoneyCompany+%28Money+%26+Company%29 Forest biofuel projects could increase West Coast carbon emissions. Thinning West Coast forests on a widespread scale to feed bioenergy projects would increase the region's production of greenhouse gases, according to a new study. Research published Oct. 23 in the journal Nature Climate Change undermines the argument that substituting wood-based biofuel for fossil fuels would reduce carbon emissions. Posted. http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/greenspace/2011/10/forest-biofuel-greenhouse-gas-emissions.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+GreenspaceEnvironmentBlog+%28Greenspace%29 2013 Honda Fit EV to debut at Los Angeles Auto Show. Japanese automaker Honda will roll out the production version of the 2013 Fit EV at the 2011 Los Angeles Auto Show in mid-November. We're guessing Honda's electric-only 2013 Fit will somewhat resemble the automaker's Fit EV Concept, a vehicle which made its debut back at the 2010 LA Auto Show and is pictured above. When the production version of the electric Honda Fit hits the streets in late 2012, it will feature a lithium-ion battery and coaxial electric motor derived from the unit used in the Honda FCX Clarity. Posted. http://green.autoblog.com/2011/10/24/2013-honda-fit-ev-to-debut-at-los-angeles-auto-show/