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Legislation to abolish the California Air Resources Board has been killed by a legislative committee. The proposal by Assemblyman Tim Donnelly, R-Twin Peaks, died Monday in the Assembly's Natural Resources Committee on a party-line vote, with Democrats opposed to the measure. Assembly 1332 would have transferred the Air Resources Board's duties, powers and jurisdiction to the state Environmental Protection Agency.

`Caesar's wife must be above suspicion." - Julius Caesar, 62 B.C. Julius Caesar, the Roman ruler, made that statement while divorcing his wife Pompeia when she was accused of having an affair with his colleague, Clodius Pulcher, a charge that was never proved. If there's one California agency that needs to be as pure as Caesar's wife, it is the Air Resources Board, whose huge powers have made its 11 mostly anonymous members among the most nationally influential of California officials. Until very recently, there's been no reason to doubt the purity of the ARB. Its actions have reduced smog...

SACRAMENTO — State air-quality regulators appear back on track to impose the nation's first broad-based fee on greenhouse gas emissions, potentially costing Californians a little extra to fill their gas tanks, turn up the heat or go out to dinner. Regulators estimate that overall, the average consumer will pay less than $1.50 a year more once the fee is passed down by energy providers and others that release greenhouse gasses linked to global warming. ... The fee will affect about 250 types of businesses, such as the energy and cement industries, that burn huge quantities of fossil fuels. Together, those...

Anticipating hundreds of millions of dollars a year in greenhouse gas fees collected from California businesses, the Legislature is planning to redistribute much of the bounty to the state's "most impacted and disadvantaged communities." Perhaps a bill pending in the state Senate reveals the motive of feel-good legislative efforts to fight global warming: a massive redistribution of wealth. Assembly Bill 1405 calls for 30 percent of new fees raised under global warming regulations yet to be drafted to go to a Community Benefits Fund to be used in specially selected communities, based on specific criteria also yet to be drafted....

Just how transparent is the work of unelected staff members of the Air Resources Board as they prepare to micromanage California's private economy with as-yet unwritten regulations to curb global warming? Already, the state Air Resources Board is being challenged about how it has spent $57 million of tax money advanced by the Legislature to implement 2006's Global Warming Solutions Act, which ambitiously – and we feel unnecessarily – aims to curb greenhouse gas emissions. The ARB contends every dime is fully accounted for in a 141-page summary of 50,000 documents that show where the money has been spent to...

The new chairwoman of the California Air Resources Board owns stocks in several oil, coal and utility firms, some of which are likely to be affected by rules the agency implements as part of the state's groundbreaking law to fight global warming, The Chronicle has learned. Mary Nichols' stock holdings include shares in oil giants Chevron Corp., BP PLC and Royal Dutch Shell, as well as a stake in a Bermuda tanker company that transports crude oil, according to economic interest statements she filed this week. She also owns stock in the world's largest coal company, Peabody Energy Corp., along...

Three months after his initial choice of an industry lobbyist was condemned by environmentalists and rejected by Democratic legislators, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger on Thursday appointed a respected air-quality scientist to chair the California Air Resources Board. The Republican governor's choice of Democrat Robert F. Sawyer — a UC Berkeley emeritus energy professor who has been active on air-quality issues for decades — is not expected to generate any significant opposition from environmental groups or the Legislature. The appointment of Sawyer, 70, must be confirmed by the state Senate. The job pays $117,818 a year. "I am honored Gov. Schwarzenegger has...

For nearly two years, a single employee at the state Air Resources Board stole 2,092 gallons of gas, often using his state-issued fuel credit card to pay for fill-ups of his personal vehicle. Some gas also went into his state-assigned vehicle, which he then routinely drove for nonwork purposes, violating state regulations as he racked up 2,000 miles on the taxpayers' tab, state auditors found. These allegations - and they don't end here - illustrate the potential for abuse of the state fuel card system. Concerned about weak oversight in the system, state Auditor Elizabeth M. Howle has asked the...

SACRAMENTO (AP) - California's new greenhouse gas emission standards can be met largely by using existing auto technologies and will generate consumer savings by improving gas mileage, a state regulator said Monday. "We're not talking about exotic technologies here," said Chuck Shulock, manager of the state Air Resources Board's greenhouse gas reduction program. "Significant reductions can be achieved simply by taking existing technologies and applying them very broadly across the (vehicle) fleet." Shulock testified at a hearing held by the Assembly Transportation Committee to determine if regulations approved by the ARB last September comply with 2002 legislation that made California...