Free Republic

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger signed an executive order Tuesday moving him closer to vetoing renewable energy regulations that the Legislature approved last week. "It is terrible legislation," he said at a ceremony held at a Sacramento Municipal Utility District solar-energy farm in Rancho Cordova. Schwarzenegger said he's "more than happy to sit down with legislators any time" to continue to talk about California's ambitious plans to cut use of fossil fuels. The governor's order assigns the California State Air Resources Board – rather than legislators – the task of charting how utilities arrive at using at least 33 percent renewable energy...

Top officials at the California Air Resources Board knew that the lead scientist on a study justifying sweeping new regulations on diesel emissions from heavy-duty trucks had lied about his academic background before adopting the rules on Dec. 12, according to an official document provided by the air board. The document is a 12-page "Notice of Adverse Action" to air board scientist Hien T. Tran, who was demoted and given a 60-day unpaid suspension for lying about having a Ph.D. in statistics from the University of California, Davis. The finding of facts in the notice include a timeline of when...

SACRAMENTO – California's top air-quality agency for the first time on Thursday will reveal a long-awaited strategy for how it expects business and the public to respond to the challenge of dramatically reducing greenhouse gas emissions from factories, power plants and cars. By itself, the draft plan before the Air Resources Board will not impose specific regulations to curb greenhouse gas emissions linked to global warming. Instead, the plan is widely expected to set the course for establishing state policies that will redefine energy use in California. No sector will be excused. The proposal will lay out blueprints for refineries,...

Only three hours before addressing California's semiannual state Republican convention, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger announced the appointment of two Democrats to the state Air Resources Board. Environmentalists and Democrats cheered the appointees to the commission given the task of overseeing the implementation of last year's landmark global warming agreement. The new members of the air board are Jerry Hill, 59, a member of the San Mateo County Utility Sustainability Task Force and the Bay Conservation and Development Commission, and Daniel Sperling, 55, founding director of the Institute of Transportation Studies at the University of California, Davis. "These are great appointments. These...

California's smog-fighting agency on Thursday approved a sweeping plan to reduce air pollution caused by the ports, rail lines and roadways that move goods around the state. The Air Resources Board's plan sets out long-term goals and strategies to roll back air pollution levels from cargo movement to what they were five years ago. Diesel-related pollution alone would be reduced 85 percent. With the amount of goods entering California ports expected to triple in 15 years, "now is the time to take action," board Chairman Robert F. Sawyer said during a public meeting. "This problem did not occur overnight and...

SACRAMENTO (AP) - A Senate committee on Wednesday recommended removing Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's appointee to head the state Air Resources Board, an agency that has led the nation in cutting air pollution and reducing automobile emissions. A vote by the full Senate was scheduled for Thursday. The committee, on a party-line vote, cited the polarizing influence of Cindy Tuck as chairwoman of the California Air Resources Board. She has held the job for just six weeks after two decades representing the oil and energy industries. The air board has enacted numerous regulations that have been mimicked by other states and...