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newsclips -- Newsclips for November 7, 2011.
Posted: 07 Nov 2011 13:15:01
California Air Resources Board News Clips for November 7, 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 Owners of Lake Michigan ferry, cited for pollution, seek landmark status. Chicago -- Facing a deadline to stop dumping toxic coal ash into Lake Michigan, owners of the last coal-powered steamship on the Great Lakes are pushing for it to join Mount Vernon, Lincoln's Tomb and Martin Luther King Jr.'s birthplace as a protected National Historic Landmark. Even if the Badger does not to make the list of the nation's historic and cultural treasures, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency may be unable to force the old coal burner to reduce the nearly 4 tons of waste it dumps in the lake every time it sails. Posted. http://www.sacbee.com/2011/11/06/4035192/owners-of-lake-michigan-ferry.html#ixzz1d2fWsvgt AIR POLLUTION: Low-emissions squad cars being tested. Regional air quality officials voted Friday to spend $65,000 on a Ford Crown Victoria that runs on natural gas and which they hope will help persuade police agencies to convert their fleets to such low-polluting cars. The South Coast Air Quality Management District already has provided one natural gas-powered Crown Victoria each to the Redlands and South Pasadena police forces and the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department. Posted. http://www.pe.com/local-news/topics/topics-environment-headlines/20111106-air-pollution-low-emissions-squad-cars-being-tested.ece Greenpeace protests SAfrica coal plant; 9 arrests. Greenpeace activists chained themselves to a gate and six climbed a crane Monday at a South African coal-fired power station to protest dependence on coal, weeks before the country hosts a global conference on climate change. Hours into the protest that started at dawn at the Kusile power station, police went up after the demonstrators who had climbed the crane. Posted. http://www.dailynews.com/ci_19280445?IADID=Search-www.dailynews.com-www.dailynews.com http://www.insidebayarea.com/ci_19280445?IADID=Search-www.insidebayarea.com-www.insidebayarea.com http://www.contracostatimes.com/ci_19280445?IADID=Search-www.contracostatimes.com-www.contracostatimes.com Secret 'Watch List' Reveals Failure To Curb Toxic Air. Part one of a four-part series, Poisoned Places: Toxic Air, Neglected Communities. The system Congress set up 21 years ago to clean up toxic air pollution still leaves many communities exposed to risky concentrations of benzene, formaldehyde, mercury and many other hazardous chemicals. Pollution violations at more than 1,600 plants across the country were serious enough that the government believes they require urgent action, according to an analysis of EPA data by NPR and the Center for Public Integrity. Posted. http://www.npr.org/2011/11/07/142035420/secret-watch-list-reveals-failure-to-curb-toxic-air CLIMATE CHANGE Global Temperatures: All Over the Map. Taking the Earth's temperature requires more than lots of thermometers. It also relies on surveying tools, satellites—and confidence in statistical models used to put the numbers together. Still, those thermometer readings do matter. So a team of scientists recently tackled the job of cleaning up and organizing 1.6 billion temperature readings from two centuries and nearly 40,000 land-based locations. That required removing duplicate numbers, tossing out clearly erroneous records—such as temperatures above 5,000 degrees Fahrenheit—and fixing Celsius readings mislabeled as Fahrenheit. Posted. http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052970203804204577016252305820144.html BY SUBSCRIPTION Two Key Climate Decisions Facing President Obama. “My presidency will mark a new chapter in America's leadership on climate change…” Those were the words of President Obama before taking office. President Obama has taken the critical step to require that U.S. vehicles get more miles per gallon and reduce their carbon pollution. Now he is facing two additional critical decisions over the coming months which will shape his climate legacy and help to determine whether his Presidency will truly mark a new chapter on global warming. Posted. http://www.huffingtonpost.com/jake-schmidt/two-key-climate-decisions_b_1076695.html Boxer raises environmental concerns over Keystone XL pipeline. In a sign of hardening skepticism toward the controversial Keystone XL pipeline, a top Senate Democrat has sent a letter to the Obama administration asking about a possible conflict of interest between the pipeline operator and a company handling the environmental impact study of the project. Sen. Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.), who chairs the Environment and Public Works Committee, wrote to Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton last week cautioning that the environmental studies must be impartial. Posted. http://www.latimes.com/news/politics/la-pn-keystone-boxer-20111107,0,932585.story http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-keystone-pipeline-20111107,0,236919.story http://www.modbee.com/2011/11/06/1936112/thousands-surround-white-house.html#ixzz1d2mZP44E http://www.modbee.com/2011/10/07/v-print/1894642/controversial-decision-awaits.html http://www.grist.org/politics/2011-11-06-pipeline-protesters-encircle-the-white-house GREEN ENERGY Taming Unruly Wind Power. For decades, electric companies have swung into emergency mode when demand soars on blistering hot days, appealing to households to use less power. But with the rise of wind energy, utilities in the Pacific Northwest are sometimes dealing with the opposite: moments when there is too much electricity for the grid to soak up. So in a novel pilot project, they have recruited consumers to draw in excess electricity when that happens, storing it in a basement water heater or a space heater outfitted by the utility. The effort is rooted in some brushes with danger. Posted. http://www.nytimes.com/2011/11/05/business/energy-environment/as-wind-energy-use-grows-utilities-seek-to-stabilize-power-grid.html?_r=1&scp=1&sq=taming%20wind%20wald&st=cse Alternative energy companies form united front. In the debate over our energy future, solar, wind and electric car companies don't speak in a single, unified voice. Tom Steyer and Hemant Taneja want to change that. They have formed an organization, called Advanced Energy Economy, that the two hope will grow into a nationwide chamber of commerce for alternative energy companies. The organization, which they will formally announce today, already has state and regional chapters representing 700 companies. Posted. http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2011/11/07/BUTK1LQQ5Q.DTL&type=printable Placer to discuss energy project proposed for Cabin Creek site. Placer County officials have scheduled a Nov. 15 public open house in Squaw Valley to discuss a biomass energy production project. The meeting will be from 3 to 7 p.m. at the Squaw Valley Public Service District's community room, 305 Squaw Valley Road. Displays and graphics will be provided. Participants will include specialists in air emissions, biomass energy technology, sustainable biomass supply assessments, biomass logistics planning and forest management. Posted. http://www.sacbee.com/2011/11/07/4035159/placer-to-discuss-energy-project.html INDUSTRY: Solar installers see bright future. When Green Stream Solar + Electric president Jeffrey Pitzer graduated from UC San Diego into the soon-to-be demolished building trade, an imagined solar panel lit a light bulb over his head. Pitzer’s Spanish degree paved his career path to a builder in San Ysidro, but he moved on to a Solano Beach startup, Sequoia Solar, to become vice president of sales and marketing. Posted. http://www.pe.com/business/business-to-business-headlines/20111105-industry-solar-installers-see-bright-future.ece Feds assess sites for renewable energy potential. Determining the potential of former landfills, brownfields and Superfund sites around the country to host solar panels and other renewable energy projects is the focus of a new assessment federal researchers announced Friday. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and the National Renewable Energy Laboratory in Colorado plan to spend the next year to 18 months assessing 26 sites. The sites range from a massive open-pit copper mine in southwestern New Mexico to a former lead smelter in Montana and landfills in Arizona, Louisiana and New Jersey. "There's huge potential for this to really make some inroads toward using contaminated lands as opposed to developing green spaces," said Gail Mosey, a senior energy analyst at NREL. Posted. http://www.modbee.com/2011/11/04/v-print/1933826/feds-assess-sites-for-renewable.html BY SUBSCRIPTION VEHICLES Toyota aims to start fuel cell vehicle sales by 2015. Toyota Motor Corp. is looking beyond hybrids. The world's largest automaker plans global sales of a few thousand units of its hydrogen-burning fuel cell vehicle by 2015. The reason sales will be limited is because of the futuristic vehicle's anticipated high price. "We could expect a fuel cell vehicle to retail at about 100,000 euros ($138,000) in Europe," said Toyota Europe Vice President for Product Planning & Marketing Alain Uyttenhoven. Automakers are preparing to offer a vast array of green technologies to help them meet tougher emissions rules in Europe. Posted. http://www.autonews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20111106/COPY01/311069996/1186 MISCELLANEOUS United, Alaska Air take lead on biofuel flights. United says it will become the first U.S. airline to fly a commercial flight powered with an "advanced biofuel," Reuters reports. The Boeing 737-800 operating that United flight -- Flight 1403 -- is scheduled to depart Houston Bush Intercontinental for Chicago O'Hare at 11:30 a.m. ET (10:30 a.m. local time). IN-DEPTH: Race for scale: United, Alaska Airlines launch commercial aviation biofuels flights (BiofuelsDigest) With that, United says it will be "the first U.S. airline to fly passengers using a blend of sustainable, advanced biofuel and traditional petroleum-derived jet fuel." Posted. http://travel.usatoday.com/flights/post/2011/11/biofuels-alaska-air-united/562230/1 Studies suggest link between smog, joint disease. Exposure to certain types of air pollution is associated with an increased risk for the painful joint disease known as rheumatoid arthritis, new research suggests. This link is strongest for sulfur dioxide, one of the six most common air pollutants in the United States, according to the findings from two studies scheduled to be presented Wednesday at the American College of Rheumatology annual meeting, in Chicago. Posted. http://yourlife.usatoday.com/health/story/2011-11-07/Studies-suggest-link-between-smog-joint-disease/51106442/1 Pomona transfer station proponents file appeal of Planning Commission's failure to approve its plan. Proponents of a proposal to build a waste transfer station in the southeast end of the city have filed a request appealing a recent decision by the Planning Commission. Representatives of Valley Vista Services are requesting the City Council reverse the commission decision of Oct. 26 in which the body twice deadlocked on the proposal. Commissioners tied 3-3 on the matter, resulting in a denial of the project. Valley Vista Services is appealing the commission's failure to certify an environmental impact study as well as its failure to consider a conditional use permit and a tentative parcel map, Planning Manager Brad Johnson said. Posted. http://www.dailybulletin.com/ci_19277087?IADID=Search-www.dailybulletin.com-www.dailybulletin.com OPINIONS The Dark Side of the ‘Green’ City. THE struggle to slow global warming will be won or lost in cities, which emit 80 percent of the world’s greenhouse gases. So “greening” the city is all the rage now. But if policy makers end up focusing only on those who can afford the low-carbon technologies associated with the new environmental conscientiousness, the movement for sustainability may end up exacerbating climate change rather than ameliorating it. Posted. http://www.nytimes.com/2011/11/07/opinion/in-phoenix-the-dark-side-of-green.html We Found Oil! Is That Good? New ways to extract oil and natural gas could buy the U.S. some time to develop renewable energy. Or they could keep us addicted to dirty fuels. New and efficient technologies for extracting oil and natural gas are increasing the supply of both fuels from North America. But the consequences will be different for oil than for natural gas. Oil is traded in a highly integrated world market, and the relatively small increases in North American oil will have virtually no effect on prices. Posted. http://www.nytimes.com/roomfordebate/2011/11/06/will-a-boom-for-oil-and-gas-delay-renewable-energy/cheap-gas-is-a-trap Here Comes the Sun. For decades the story of technology has been dominated, in the popular mind and to a large extent in reality, by computing and the things you can do with it. Moore’s Law — in which the price of computing power falls roughly 50 percent every 18 months — has powered an ever-expanding range of applications, from faxes to Facebook. Our mastery of the material world, on the other hand, has advanced much more slowly. The sources of energy, the way we move stuff around, are much the same as they were a generation ago. Posted. http://www.nytimes.com/2011/11/07/opinion/krugman-here-comes-solar-energy.html?scp=4&sq=fuels&st=cse REGION: Come on, baby, let me light my fire. My wife is not a morning person, but there she was gazing at the computer before sunrise. Weather. That’s what I assumed. She likes to “visit” weather sites after freak snowstorms and gloat about freezing temps in cities where we supposedly have friends. (If they only knew how she spent her time.) Wrong. She was visiting www.airalerts.org, exposing her neck to the hot breath of government. We only have so many fireplace days in SoCal, and she was convinced Big Brother was about to stomp out her quality of life. Boy was she steamed! Posted. http://www.pe.com/local-news/columns/dan-bernstein-headlines/20111105-region-come-on-baby-let-me-light-my-fire.ece Take this bullet train. Please. California's proposed high-speed rail project is a costly boondoggle. So, the California High-Speed Rail Authority was wrong. The bullet trains from Anaheim and Los Angeles to San Francisco will not cost $34 billion as originally estimated, or $43 billion as the authority insisted just two years ago, but closer to $100 billion. Critics say the agency's new $98.5-billion estimate is low, and the authority admits it might go as high as $117.6 billion, but for sake of argument call the cost $100 billion. Posted. http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/commentary/la-oe-white-railroaded-20111106,0,7483888.story?track=rss Cap-and-trade scam. The cult of climate change is alive and well here in the backwards state of California. The California Air Resources Board has just approved plans for a cap-and-trade system. The fact that it will have absolutely no effect on climate whatsoever does not matter to them. That this most regressive of taxes will affect the poor the hardest as energy and gas prices skyrocket does not matter to them. The fact that thousands will lose their jobs as businesses flee the high energy costs or go out of business does not matter to them. They simply do not care. Posted. http://www.dailybulletin.com/ci_19278708?IADID=Search-www.dailybulletin.com-www.dailybulletin.com http://www.sbsun.com/letters/ci_19278708 L.A. improving its part of I-5. As a truck driver for 15 years, John Rhodes was used to slamming on the brakes when he approached Valley View Avenue on the northbound I-5 freeway. "That's where the L.A. County line starts – definitely a bottleneck all the way up through the I-605," said Rhodes, 46, from Anaheim. "You know exactly where the congestion is going to start." With an average of 178,000 daily commuters traveling the jam-packed I-5 from the Orange County line to the I-605, Los Angeles County officials say widening the nearly 7-mile-long stretch will provide some relief for motorists who cross the county line and are funneled into the aging Los Angeles portion of the freeway. Posted. http://www.ocregister.com/articles/county-325411-freeway-improvements.html BLOGS Making a Boeing 737 More Like a Prius. Just as some hybrid cars move at low speeds solely on electricity, Boeing 737s can be made to do the same, reducing fuel burn and emissions, according to a company called WheelTug. On Monday, the company announced a tentative deal to equip 20 jets of the Israeli carrier El Al with a motor system that eliminates the need for a tug to pull the plane away from the airport gate. Posted. http://green.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/11/07/making-a-boeing-737-more-like-a-prius/ Straight Talk on Rising Seas in a Warming World. Joshua K. Willis of NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory is deeply involved in efforts to clarify oceanic ups and downs using space-based and deep-diving instruments. I frequently reach out to him when people tussle over the data and analysis pointing to rising seas in a human-heated world. This arena remains dogged by durable uncertainty on time scales relevant to policy debates even as the long-term picture of centuries of rising seas is clear. Posted. http://dotearth.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/11/07/straight-talk-on-rising-seas-in-a-warming-world/ Restaurant Grease As Good As Gold To Biofuel Thieves. Used restaurant grease has become a hot item for thieves, who siphon it from barrels behind restaurants to sell on the booming biofuels market. Late last month, the California Department of Food and Agriculture said it would pay local police target the alleys and parking lots where restaurants typically park their barrels of used grease. Posted. http://www.npr.org/blogs/thesalt/2011/11/07/141986455/restaurant-grease-as-good-as-gold-to-biofuel-thieves