Friday, August 1st, 2008
California announced yesterday that it intends to lead a number of states in filing a lawsuit against the EPA for its failure to regulate greenhouse gas emissions from ships, planes and farm equipment. The announcement, made by Attorney General Jerry Brown, comes on the heels of a series of environmental disputes between California and the federal government. This is also not the first dispute between the parties dealing with the EPA’s stance towards greenhouse gas emissions.
An EPA spokesman responded to Jerry Brown’s announcement by stating, this “is certainly typical of the attorney general of California. If they don’t like how we make a decision on something, they sue and hope the courts will mandate toward their position. It works sometimes, and sometimes it doesn’t work.”
Apparently, greenhouse gas emissions from the sources in dispute here (ships, off-road engines and jets), are greater than those released by every registered vehicle in the United States. This is clearly an important issue for state governments, and could just be the beginning of these state vs. federal government disputes, depending on the results of the presidential election.
Photo credit.
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Posted in Governmental Regulations, Greenhouse Gas Emissions, Industrial Development, Los Angeles, New York, Politics, San Francisco, Transportation | 1 Comment »
Tuesday, July 1st, 2008
At a time when American carmaker General Motors’ stock price has dipped to a level not seen since 1954 and Toyota is on the verge of overtaking GM in domestic auto sales, Governator Arnold Schwarzenegger announced that green automaker Tesla Motors will be building the production facility for its highly anticipated second generation vehicle, dubbed the Model S, in California. The state government was able to woo Tesla by offering it a multi-million dollar incentive package, including sales tax exemptions and grants for new worker training. The Model S is slated to begin production in two years and will be a fully electric sports sedan that seats five.
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Posted in Energy, General, Greenhouse Gas Emissions, Investments, San Francisco, Science and Innovation, Transportation | No Comments »
Tuesday, June 17th, 2008
Honda announced that its first production run of a zero-emission hydrogen fuel cell car rolled off the assembly line yesterday. The FCX Clarity will run on only hydrogen and electricity, does not emit any greenhouse gases and is two times more energy efficient than traditional gas-electric hybrids.
While the climate effects of the FCX Clarity are extremely limited, so is the availability of the car. Honda is currently only leasing a “few dozen” cars in California and plans to increase that number to only around 200 within the year. (Although a fall launch in Japan is also planned.)
One of the major problems is, of course, the availability of hydrogen filling stations. A quick review of this government resource shows that there are only 13 hydrogen filling stations within 25 miles of the (super progressive) City of Santa Monica and only 24 stations within 100 miles. Whether widespread hydrogen distribution will be built is obviously a major issue that needs to be addressed before hydrogen cars can provide a practical alternative to the current options.
[Thanks to reader Marsoner for this story tip.]
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Posted in General, Greenhouse Gas Emissions, Los Angeles, Of Interest, Transportation | 1 Comment »
Friday, June 6th, 2008
Water management, along with energy resources, is going to be one of the major sources of disputes throughout the globe this century. There are few places where this issue is more apparent than in the American West, where fifty years of rapid overdevelopment, along with worsening weather patterns, has created a serious and imminent water shortage. California in particular, a place of unparalleled growth in the country, is especially seeing the effects of this crisis.
While drought has always been a concern in this state, given that much of the region is a desert, it is only recently that planned developments have been canceled or delayed, out of serious fears of insufficient water resources. Since 2001 there has been a state law requiring new developments to provide proof of sufficient water access. However, due to the on-going drought, it has only been recently that the state has actually held up new developments. Some of these projects are being allowed to move forward after they revise their water management plans (implementing similar solutions to that being done in LA) and some are being blocked outright.
While requiring developers to show adequate water supplies is a very smart policy, it is our hope that these laws do not become swords to be wielded by obstructionists, NIMBYS and others with particular agendas. (As we are concerned may be done by the opponents of the California High Speed Rail.) Clearly water management is going to be one of the major issues facing California, and many other regions throughout the world, for the foreseeable future and we need intelligent laws to deal with this problem. Hopefully that is what this 2001 statute will be used for, instead of just a series of hoops and red tape to navigate along the way to development, or even worse, as a tool to be used by obstructionists, who, in reality, may be completely unconcerned with actual water issues.
Photo credit.
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Posted in Los Angeles, San Francisco, Water | No Comments »
Thursday, June 5th, 2008
There is a new hiccup in the drive towards building a high speed rail system in California. Apparently, the Union Pacific railroad recently told the California High Speed Rail Authority that they have “safety and operational” concerns about having the high speed train run so close to their freight trains. (The high speed railway is projected to run alongside some of the Union Pacific right-of-way.) It is unclear whether this is a bargaining ploy by Union Pacific, or a reflection of legitimate safety concerns. Surprisingly, Union Pacific and the Rail Authority only met last month for the first time in two years.
A concern for rail supporters is that any alteration to the proposed course of the railway could result in the need to modify the Environmental Impact Report (EIR). EIRs are extremely expensive to put together and the technical requirements of them can be used by project opponents to create delays through litigation.
Having personal experience in the process of public financing of major projects, it is very concerning to think that the Rail Authority could be forced to alter the currently proposed route, and consequently the EIR. Often times, opponents of construction projects will use EIR requirements as a tool to stall the forward progress of a project. Even if there are no legitimate environmental issues, having to modify an EIR, which requires additional time and money, can create substantial delays that can lead to a loss of financing and an ultimate failure of the project.
It is unfortunate that environmental laws can be used as an obstructionist tool, since it discredits their usefulness as a legitimate means of protecting the environment, and we hope that this does not become the case in this situation.
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Posted in Los Angeles, Politics, Transportation | No Comments »
