California Air Resources Board News Clips
Updated April 26, 2012
AIR POLLUTION
Bay Area no longer among 25 most-polluted regions. The San Francisco metropolitan area has dropped off the list of the top. 25 most polluted regions in the nation, the American Lung Association said in a report Wednesday. The State of the Air report ranked regions across the United States on particle and ozone pollution, finding that three of the nine least smoggy counties in California are located in the Bay Area and that, with a few exceptions, the air in Northern California is safe to inhale. Posted.
E.P.A. Weighs Texas Plan to Cut Haze in National Parks. Last year, as wildfires raged in Texas, New Mexico and Arizona, visitors to Guadalupe Mountains National Park had to settle for a more limited view when hiking up Guadalupe Peak, Texas’ highest point. “All summer, there was a haze here,” said Jonena Hearst, the park’s geologist. Even before the fires, she said, visibility had been decreasing slightly over time. Posted.
Monterey Bay Unified Air Pollution Control District investigates its top management. It’s a good thing for air quality on the Monterey Peninsula that there’s not enough sun or water to easily grow grass; running a lawnmower for an hour emits as much air pollution as a new car driving 300 miles. But a proposed $15,000 trade-out program at the Monterey Bay Unified Air Pollution Control District, which would allow tri-county residents to swap diesel hogs for electric lawnmowers, is unlikely to ever rev up. Posted.
American Electric Seeks Easing of EPA Toxics Plan for Particles. Power producers fighting the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s $11 billion rule to curb mercury and toxic emissions are gaining ground in a drive to revise part of the standard. American Electric Power Co. (AEP) and Southern Co. (SO) asked the EPA to ease its planned limits on small-particle emissions from coal-fired plants. Otherwise the rule would require expensive changes to plants that already have pollution-controls, the companies said in a closed-door meeting with the EPA this year. Posted.
2011 Proving to Be a Bad Year for Air Quality in Texas. Nestled near subdivisions north of Fort Worth stands equipment that measures air pollutants. On 26 days this year, readings at the site showed higher concentrations of lung-damaging ozone than allowed by federal air-quality standards. All told, Dallas-Fort Worth violated ozone standards on more days this year — 32 so far — than anywhere else in Texas, including the greater Houston area. “Every place in Texas suffered worse air quality this year. Posted.
Bay Area power producer pays to offset valley air pollution. The owner of a Bay Area power plant fulfilled a commitment to help offset emissions in the regional air basin last week by providing the San Joaquin Valley Air Pollution Control District a check for $644,503 for pollution-reduction projects in the Northern San Joaquin Valley. Mariposa Energy LLC, owner-operator of the Mariposa Power Plant in Alameda County, reached the agreement with the air district in 2009. Posted.
CLIMATE CHANGE
Activists urge Discovery to acknowledge climate change science. Forecast the Facts, the activist group that first confronted GM about its support of climate change doubters the Heartland Institute, now plans to muster a public campaign targeting the Discovery Channel. The purpose: to get Discovery to acknowledge the scientific consensus on man-made climate change in its programming. The flap follows the recent airing of the final episode of Discovery’s lush exploration of the polar regions, “Frozen Planet.” Posted.
Carbon Traders Ask California to Add Offset Projects to Curb Projected Rise in Compliance Costs. Carbon traders and regulated entities have urged California to boost the supply of offset projects available under its greenhouse gas emissions cap-and-trade program to avoid skyrocketing compliance costs during the second phase of the program. Their plea came April 11 at the Climate Action Registry’s 10th annual conference, which focused largely on California’s economy-wide emissions trading program and efforts to link it with the cap-and-trade program adopted by the Canadian province of Quebec. Posted.
South Africa says climate deal took delicate touch. Pushing too hard at international climate change talks might have killed the only treaty regulating carbon emissions, host South Africa said Monday after concluding tense negotiations on how the world should respond to global warming. Given the international financial crisis and competing national political interests, trying to force countries to do more than they are willing and able to do “would have resulted in a ‘no deal’ in Durban, not only killing the Kyoto Protocol therefore, but possibly even the U.N. Convention on climate change itself,” Edna Molewa, South Africa’s environment minister, told reporters. Posted.
GREEN ENERGY
Sacramento Catholic girls’ school completes huge installation of solar panels. A Sacramento Catholic girls’ school has completed the installation of a huge array of solar panels. Next week the students of St. Francis High School in east Sacramento will wear flip flops and sunglasses during the dedication of the new photovoltaic system. Solar power generation from 1,316 panels on the rooftops of 7 campus buildings is expected to produce about. 30 percent of the school’s current electrical demands – and save the school $1 million over the next 25 years. Posted.
BofA to fund SolarCity’s military housing project. A billion-dollar project by SolarCity to stick solar panels on military housing across the country will proceed solely with private financing, after the federal government backed out in the wake of Solyndra’s bankruptcy. SolarCity, based in San Mateo, will report today that it has reached an agreement with Bank of America Merrill Lynch to fund the effort, which is expected to cost more than $1 billion and take five years. SolarCity calls it the largest residential solar project in history, potentially providing electricity to 120,000 military housing units. Posted.
OPINIONS
Well, Duh: L.A. Has Some of the Dirtiest Air in America. For yet another year, Los Angeles has been named by the American Lung Association as one of the cities with some of the dirtiest air in America. The just-released annual State of the Air report indicates that Californians are still waiting to exhale: More than 90 percent of Californians still live in counties plagued with unhealthy air, particularly in the Central Valley, Los Angeles, Inland Empire, Sacramento, and San Diego. That means more people are at risk for asthma attacks, heart attacks, and premature death. Posted.
Viewpoints: Potential of low carbon fuel will drive California forward. For the first time since the 1950s the United States is exporting more gasoline and diesel than it imports. To become energy secure, we need to invest in homegrown fuels, but also develop fuel-efficient vehicles that go farther on a gallon of gas, while producing as little pollution as possible. That’s where California’s low carbon fuel standard comes in. The low carbon fuel standard, the first of its kind in the world, was enacted in 2009 and incentivizes all producers of motor fuels, including gasoline and corn ethanol, to reduce by 10 percent the carbon content of motor fuels sold in California. Posted.
Viewpoints: Low Carbon Fuel Standard aids economy, saves consumers cash. If there is any silver lining to the modern era of soaring gasoline prices, it’s the way they have renewed Californians’ desire for more choices at the pump. As a result, Californians are pursuing cars powered by lower cost, cleaner fuels, such as electricity and natural gas. Diversity in our transportation fuels market is beneficial to our economy, our environment and our national security. On Friday, members of California’s Air Resources Board could act to help give Californians more choices with lower-cost alternative fuels. This is an opportunity CARB should seize. Posted.
Global Warming and Adaptability. Any carbon deal to replace Kyoto would have a negligible impact on climate in coming decades. The Durban pit-stop in the endless array of climate summits has just ended, and predictably it reaffirmed the United Nations’ strong belief that the most important response to global warming is to secure a strong deal to cut carbon emissions. What is almost universally ignored, however, is that if we want to help real people overcome real problems we need to focus first on adaptation. The Durban agreement is being hailed as a diplomatic victory. Posted.
Back to an electric future for cars. A Caltech scientist turned the key in 1948, and innovation is getting into gear. Now we’re on the road from smog to ZEVs. One day in 1948, Caltech chemistry professor Arie Haagen-Smit took a break from trying to decipher the mystery of the flavor of the pineapple. He stepped outside his lab for a breath of fresh air but instead found himself enveloped in what he called “that stinking cloud” of smog. At the time, there was a bitter debate as to what caused smog. Posted.
Bill Lockyer: Air board must not back down on clean fuel standards. The Gas Guzzling Age is receding into the past. California can be proud of the prominent role it has played in making that happen. Our state has long been a leader in pushing for cars and trucks to burn less gasoline and produce less pollution. For the past two years, we’ve also become a world leader in encouraging the development of clean fuels. In 2009, California established the world’s first Low Carbon Fuel Standard. Posted.
