Senator Florez to challenge basis for San Joaquin Valley Air Pollution Control District's effort to allow burning to continue in the country's dirtiest air basin
SACRAMENTO - The Senate Select Committee on Air Quality, chaired by Senator Dean Florez (D-Shafter), will conduct an oversight hearing Wednesday, July 28th to challenge regulatory loopholes that will allow more than 90 percent of all agricultural burning to continue in the San Joaquin Valley.
Sen. Florez authored a series of air pollution control laws in 2003 that, among other things, banned the archaic practice of farmers burning their uprooted vines and trees in big bonfires. But the San Joaquin Valley Air Pollution Control District is now trying to exempt most grape, citrus and almond growers from that law.
Florez is charging that the district is using a faulty "economic feasibility" test to claim that these farmers cannot afford to send their waste to a biomass plant or hire a chipper/shredder to break it down in an environmentally friendly way.
WHITE HOUSE FINALIZES HISTORIC VEHICLE STANDARDS TO SAVE OIL, CUT POLLUTION, AND CREATE JOBS:
The Obama White House yesterday finalized new clean car rules from the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and Dept. of Transportation (NHTSA), securing the largest boost in fuel economy in decades and, for the first time, using the Clean Air Act to require reductions in the amount of heat-trapping emissions from cars and light trucks.
"To paraphrase the Vice-president, this is a really big deal," said Jim Kliesch, a senior engineer in the Union of Concerned Scientists' Clean Vehicles Program. "Because of these standards, Americans will drive vehicles that save them money at the pump, cut the country's oil dependence, and produce a lot less global warming pollution."
The joint rule will boost the average fleetwide fuel economy of new vehicles sold in the United States to 34.1 miles per gallon by model year 2016. The standards also set national global warming pollution standards for vehicles at 250 grams per mile, roughly 25 percent less than the emissions produced by today's average new vehicle.
Gas station owners in California have had FOUR YEARS to change over their pumps to comply with a new state law controlling toxic vapor emissions that leak from car fueling. They waited and waited and found themselves, at the last minute, staring into a deep recession without the ability to get credit to pay for the new capital expense. So they've done the sensible move by engaging in civil disobedience.
James Hosmanek, an ex-Marine, has operated his San Bernardino Chevron station for 21 years, patiently installing equipment to control gasoline emissions, even as the region's air grew smoggier.
Now he says he can't, and won't, obey the latest mandate: a state order to buy sophisticated nozzles and hoses to capture more of the vapors that cause respiratory disease and cancer. "It may be necessary to protect public health," he says. "But it's unaffordable."
I find it hard to weep for these owners who knew exactly when this deadline was coming for years and failed to make the necessary investment. But Arnold Schwarzenegger, of course, feels their pain. The so-called "green governor" wants the legislature to delay implementation of the rules.
Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger wants California's air-pollution fighters to delay a new rule that requires thousands of gas stations to beef up their pump nozzles so that less fuel vapor escapes into the atmosphere when drivers fill their tanks. The governor also asked the Legislature for a "one-year enforcement holiday" for the stations.
The new rule, scheduled to take effect Wednesday, requires the nozzles to block 98 percent of fuel vapor, up from the current regulation of 95 percent.
But the Republican governor late Friday asked Air Resources Board Chairwoman Mary Nichols - an appointee of the governor -- to postpone the regulation by six months or a year because "significantly more time is needed before it can be successfully enforced without significant negative effects on our state economy."
Contrary to what the article says, the Governor has engaged in slow-walking and blocking environmental legislation for years, as long as the Chamber of Commerce calls for it. He forced the last Air Resources Board Chairman to resign due to meddling in the agency's affairs. And in February, he rammed into the budget a provision allowing construction firms to delay a changeover from diesel bulldozers into more energy-efficient equipment. He has always been terrible on the environment, and nobody should let the greenwashing fool them.
Meanwhile, Dave Cox (Yacht Party - Fair Oaks) seems to be taking the sober tack:
In the Legislature, Assemblyman Martin Garrick (R-Solana Beach) and Sen. Dave Cox (R-Fair Oaks) are leading the charge to delay enforcement. On Monday, Cox called for the resignation of state Air Resources Board Chairwoman Mary D. Nichols for being "recalcitrant" in refusing Schwarzenegger's request for a delay.
Mary Nichols should definitely resign for having the temerity to schedule a deadline four years in advance when she knew full well there would be a recession, thanks to her time machine.
Asm. Ira Ruskin (D-Redwood City) is carrying a bill that would offer $8 million dollars in grants to gas station owners who have not ordered the new equipment. That's kind of pitiful, but Californians could at least breathe a sigh of relief. And when I say that, I mean they could breathe.
CALIFORNIA TAKES ANOTHER GIANT LEAP ON GLOBAL WARMING POLICY AIR BOARD RELEASES COMPREHENSIVE PLAN TO CUT POLLUTION
SACRAMENTO (June 26, 2008) - The California Air Resources Board (CARB) released the nation's most comprehensive plan to date for reducing the pollution that causes global warming. While the plan is still a proposal, it represents the furthest step forward any state has taken in the fight against global warming, according to the Union of Concerned Scientists (UCS).
Patricia Monahan, the director of UCS's California office, said CARB's plan would add more momentum to the fight against global warming. "California is showing the rest of the country how we can build a clean energy economy," she said. "There's no drilling our way out of energy problems. As energy prices skyrocket, consumers need real alternatives that sip rather than guzzle, and that are homegrown instead of imported."
The 75+ page plan includes a range of policy recommendations. Chief among them is increasing the state's renewable electricity standard. The plan also contains provisions for a regional cap-and-trade program that could work in harmony with other more specific policies to reduce pollution economywide. The plan also says CARB will consider a vehicle "feebate" program that would provide incentives to consumers to buy cleaner cars.
In addition, the proposal includes plans to reduce emissions from heavy-duty trucks with hybrid engine technology and better fuel economy. Like many of CARB's proposals, the heavy-duty truck provisions would improve public health by also reducing smog-forming pollution. The plan also advocates for a high-speed train system in California.
Christopher Busch, a UCS climate economist, pointed out that many of the draft plan's policies would save consumers money and yield economic benefits, while the overall cost of implementing the plan would likely be negligible. "Fundamentally, we're talking about making our economy more efficient, which will give us energy savings," he said. "And investing in clean, renewable energy will make our electricity and fuel supplies more diverse, and insulate us from price swings in the fossil fuel market."
Busch added that global warming pollution reduction strategies also would provide public health benefits by cleaning up the air as well as support the state's growing clean technology industries. "California has proven time and again that we can clean our air and grow our economy," he said. "Now the state is going to prove the same thing with global warming."
The renewable electricity standard in the plan would require utilities to generate 33 percent of their electricity from clean, renewable sources, such as wind and solar power, by 2020. Such a standard would reduce global warming pollution by an amount equivalent to avoiding the construction of 10 new large fossil fuel power plants or removing nearly 3 million cars from the road. And such a standard could save residents money on their electricity bills by displacing natural gas. Additionally, it would reduce smog-forming pollution, create new green-collar jobs in the state, and bolster California's growing clean technology sector.
"California has a wealth of renewable electricity potential we aren't tapping into yet," said Dan Kalb, UCS's California policy coordinator. "Shifting to clean, safe sources of carbon-free electricity in a smart and well-planned manner is a win for the environment, the economy and consumers."
Frank Russo predictably delivered with great coverage of yesterday's Assembly Natural Resources Committee hearing into political pressure from the Governor's Office on the California Air Resources Board. Just keep scrolling. The most shocking piece of news that Russo highlights, which was also in a couple news articles on the subject, was that the Administration flack sent to give the Governor's side of the story, Dan Skopec, ISN'T EVEN PART OF THE ADMINISTRATION ANYMORE.
Skopec no longer works for the Schwarzenegger Administration as of a week ago, and has started his own firm, "Climate & Energy Consulting" on Sacramento's K Street Mall, to serve clients he described as "emerging technologies companies that will take advantage of the changes in energy that will result from climate policies." Despite repeated questions from committee members, he refused to reveal who in the Administration had asked him to testify, who he had spoken to about the hearing, who had prepped him, and what he was told. Although he repeatedly testified about actions of the Schwarzenegger Administration using the word "we", he later apologized for the use of that word which he is accustomed to use. He later admitted that he was not speaking for the Schwarzenegger Administration, but was basically there as a private citizen.
They sent a lobbyist to defend the Governor. The hay that can be made from that decision is pretty clear. And this part could be even more damning:
Dr. Sawyer (the former CARB chief), in his testimony, complimented Catherine Witherspoon for resigning from her position as the Executive Officer of CARB since she serves in that position at the pleasure of the board itself. Despite the desire of Susan Kennedy, Schwarzenegger's Chief of Staff, to have her fired, this could not be accomplished directly by the Governor. Sawyer said he had been ordered to place this on the agenda and met with a subcommittee of the board only to find out that there was a consensus of fellow board members not to do so. It was feared that had Witherspoon remained in the position that individual board members would be removed until there was a majority willing to fire her.
Does this remind one of the Saturday massacre involving U.S. Attorney General Elliott Richardson and Archibald Cox during the Watergate scandal of the Nixon Administration?
Schwarzenegger is taking a beating in both the local and national press, as well he should. This reflects nothing more than an abuse of power.
I would like everyone reading this who lives in California to call their Assemblymember. They need to know that they will be supported in this effort to rein in the Schwarzenegger Administration and ensure that oversight is undertaken and the laws of the state are met. That includes subpoenas for top Schwarzenegger Administration officials if need be. The Senate also needs to hear from you; they will be meeting next week in the Rules Committee to confirm the new chair of the Board, Mary Nichols. That needs to be a legitimate confirmation hearing with tough questions about Nichols' independence and how she will implement the Global Warmings Solution Act. This is not a small issue; as I write, I'm watching the Live Earth concerts and seeing millions of people begging for action on climate change. Now, here we have one of the only legitimate pieces of legislation in this country addressing the issue, and it's being undermined by a Governor who wants to talk big on the environment while supporting his corporate buddies behind the scenes.
The first couple reports about today's Assembly Natural Resources Committee hearing into the politicization of the California Air Resources Board are starting to dribble out. The SacBee described a set of angry lawmakers sking pointed questions and threatening that their probe into how the Governor is trying to manipulate the board into adopting his favored implementation of anti-global warming laws would continue.
Assembly Democrats said Friday they will continue investigating whether Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger exerted "illegal and improper pressure" on the California Air Resources Board after they were dissatisfied with answers given by two lower-level representatives of the governor at a Capitol hearing.
I wouldn't have expected the national media to pick up on the story of the Governor's actions not matching his rhetoric when it comes to the environment, but the New York Times actually found some room for it in today's paper. They even highlight the governing-by-magazine-cover that has become a staple of this Administration.
In September, Mr. Schwarzenegger, a Republican, signed into law a landmark emissions-reduction measure and then drove a green bus during his easy, breezy re-election campaign. Since then, he has announced that he will buy offsets for his own personal carbon emissions, threatened to sue the Environmental Protection Agency over air quality and appeared on the cover of Newsweek spinning a globe on his finger [...]
But the Governator’s eco-friendly reputation may have taken a dent over the last week in a messy battle over the leadership of the California Air Resources Board, a science-geared agency that has traditionally operated with considerable autonomy, even though its 11 members are political appointees. Its most visible mandate is the nuts and bolts of putting the emissions law, known as AB 32, into effect [...]
“We have schizophrenia here,” said James Marston, a lobbyist for Environmental Defense who worked on passing the emissions law. “Even while we were doing AB 32, the Schwarzenegger administration was a little schizophrenic." [...]
“There’s an obvious difference to what he’s been saying and what his administration and other appointees have been doing,” said Don Perata, a Democrat who is president pro tempore of the State Senate. “There’s some real knuckle draggers over there.”
Mary Nichols, the former chair of the California Air Resources Board under Pat Jerry Brown, was named today to be the new head of the board tasked with implementing the landmark global warming legislation passed last year. She was a cabinet secretary under Gray Davis and served in the Clinton Adminstration working on the environment. The early accounts are glowing, particularly from her predecessor.
...the appointment of Nichols, one of the state's first environmental attorneys, is likely to blunt complaints from administration critics that Schwarzenegger's actions on the environment are not living up to his bold promises.
"She's superb, and she will be an independent person," Sawyer said. "I've known Mary for a long time, we've served together on the air board, and I would find it hard to think of a better person."
He said under Nichols' previous tenure as air board chair, historic regulations were implemented on unleaded gasoline, catalytic converters and other regulations that helped cement the board's reputation as the world's most innovative and toughest air pollution agency.
"She's a lawyer and she knows the Clean Air Act probably as well as anybody in the state," he said.
I was all set for an industry lobbyist or something to be installed, but Schwarzenegger does seem to know that his brand is being threatened with the appearance of meddling into AB 32 [ed. -- last year's Global Warming Solutions Act]. Mary Nichols sounds like an excellent appointment. But this will not stop Friday's hearing, and it will not stop the demands for accountability on the Governor's attempts to subvert a law he signed.
...I should also mention that without the outcry over the other resignations on the board, there is no way Arnold would have replaced them with anyone nearly as qualified. Fighting back actually can work.
Catherine Witherspoon resigned today, and unlike Robert Sawyer, it appears that this resignation was legitimate. Witherspoon was incensed by Sawyer's dismissal and the repeated attempts by the Governor to change the landmark global warming law through implementation in ways that he couldn't change it in the legislative arena.
In interviews with The Times, Witherspoon said there had been a pattern of interference by the governor's top staff in favor of industry lobbyists seeking to weaken or stall air pollution regulations, including the state's landmark global warming law and proposed regulations on diesel construction equipment and wood products containing formaldehyde.
"They were ordering us to find ways to reduce costs and satisfy lobbyists," she said, adding that the governor's chief of staff, Susan Kennedy, and Cabinet Secretary Dan Dunmoyer took the lead on pressuring the agency staff and board chairman.
Adding insult to injury, she said, members of the governor's staff have publicly blamed her and Sawyer for not doing more — conduct she described as "Orwellian … a triumph of appearances over reality."
This will go completely nowhere on the national scene, where Arnold actually governs. But within the state, more journalists are questioning the Governor's commitment to the noble goals on global warming that he wastes no time espousing worldwide. On the flip...
