Calif. Smog, Big Brother's Plan, It's Comming

[DarrylMueller]

Valspar fined $218,000 for consumer products violations

Release 09-80
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
September 8, 2009
Gennet Paauwe
(916) 322-2990
www.arb.ca.gov
Valspar fined $218,000 for consumer products violations
'Goof Off' among products illegally made available

SACRAMENTO - The California Air Resources Board last month fined paint and coatings giant Valspar Corp. $218,000 for violating clean-air regulations between 2007 and 2008.

ARB investigators found that Minneapolis-based Valspar sold, supplied or manufactured for sale three consumer product lines that exceeded California standards for volatile organic compounds, including the well-known 'Goof Off' adhesive remover.

"Smog is still a serious health concern in California," said ARB Chairman Mary D. Nichols. "Consumer products contribute to our air pollution problems and our enforcement teams are on the lookout for violators."

Valspar fully cooperated with the ARB investigation. Their violations include:

* 42,012 units of 'Goof Off The Ultimate Remover,' a general purpose adhesive remover, exceeded the 20 percent VOC limit;
* 7,006 units of 'Goof Off Graffiti Remover' exceeded the 50 percent VOC limit; and,
* 4,555 units of 'AFTA Adhesive Remover Cleaning Solvent,' a general degreaser, exceeded the 4 percent VOC limit.

Valspar no longer owns the 'Goof Off' product line and stopped selling the AFTA product in California.

The company will pay $218,000 in penalties to the California Air Pollution Control Fund for projects and research to improve California's air quality.

VOCs are building blocks that help create ground-level ozone, or smog. Smog can damage lungs, cause coughing and chest tightness, and worsen asthma symptoms while also affecting crop yields. It is particularly harmful to children, the elderly and those who have preexisting health problems.

 

[CEwriter]

Help Stop CARB Diesel Regs

California assemblyman, Roger Niello, is leading a bi-partisan group of state legislators to send a letter to the California Air Resources Board (CARB) requesting a temporary suspension of the agency's recent regulations on in-use on and off-road diesel engine emissions. California voters should call their state representatives as soon as possible and urge them to sign the letter.

Read about three regs' affect on one contractor's business, suggested talking points, and how to find your California state representative here.

Remember, this is not just about California. Nonattainment areas all over the country are lining up to adopt these same regs.

 

[DarrylMueller]

Californi is fineing up the whzoo!

I have tried to only post a brief idea of what the enviro-IwanttosayitbutIcant have been doing to kill California Businesses. Please support any effort around the Country to expose this.
Do an internet search for "CLIMATEGATE". You will see much more clearly than ever before, please get this into your congressperson heads!
I have a friend that bought a new machine because carb said that his 96' backhoe could not be registered, he will be loosing this bacckhoe along with his house, NO WORK = NO MONEY to pay bills.
9/16/09 ARB fines marketers of gasoline-powered blenders $240K
Engines used to power appliances were not CA-certified
Sacramento – The Air Resources Board this month fined Orange
County-based On the Edge Marketing and CSK Auto Inc. of Phoenix
$240,000 for selling gasoline-powered blenders using illegal
uncertified small off-road engines to California businesses and
residents.
9/21/09 Southern California waste hauler Arakelian Enterprises fined
$270,000 for emissions violations
SACRAMENTO - The California Air Resources Board fined Southern
California waste hauler Arakelian Enterprises, also known as
Athens Disposal Company, $270,000 this month for diesel emissions
violations.
9/21/09 Gold country waste hauler fined $18,375 for emissions
violations
SACRAMENTO- The California Air Resources Board fined Waste
Connections Inc. $18,375 in July for emissions violations in
2008.
10/7/09 West coast marine cargo company fined $35,625 for emissions
violations
SACRAMENTO - The California Air Resources Board fined APL Eagle
Marine Services $35,625 this month for emissions violations
during 2007 and 2008.
10/7/09 ARB investigation leads to $33,000 judgment against Bay Area
dealer of "pocket bikes"Vehicles were uncertified, illegal to sell in CA
SACRAMENTO - An investigation by the Air Resources Board has led
to a $33,000 judgment issued in June by the Alameda Superior
Court against Alameda-based Scooter Importers for selling
uncertified off-road vehicles and "pocket bikes."
10/12/09 City of Ventura fined $8,500 for emissions violations
SACRAMENTO – The California Air Resources Board fined the city
of San Buenaventura, also known as Ventura, this month $8,500 for
diesel emissions violations that occurred in 2006 and 2007.
10/23/09Southern California waste hauler fined $500,000 for diesel
violations
Company cited for failing to self-inspect its fleet and install
emissions filters
SACRAMENTO - The Air Resources Board last month fined
Montebello-based waste hauler Key Disposal, Inc., $500,000 for
failing to adequately inspect its fleet and retrofit some of its
vehicles with diesel filters as required by State law.
10/26/09 Southern California disposal company fined $219,500 for
emissions violations
SACRAMENTO - The California Air Resources Board fined waste
removal company EDCO Disposal Corporation $219,500 last month for
emissions violations during 2005 and 2006.
11/9/09 Santa Maria company fined $22,875 for emissions violations at
Salinas terminal
SACRAMENTO - The California Air Resources Board last month fined
a Santa Maria, Calif., based company $21,675 for failing to
inspect its diesel trucks at a Salinas fleet center for
compliance with the state's smoke emissions standards.
11/16/09 Tehama County commercial recycler fined $7,950 for emissions
violations. SACRAMENTO – The California Air Resources Board fined commercial
Recycler Omega Waste Management Inc., also known as Specialized
Fibers, $7,950 last month for diesel emissions violations during
2007 and 2008.
11/17/09 JLG Harvesting, Inc. fined $21,500 for emissions violations
SACRAMENTO – The California Air Resources Board fined JLG
Harvesting Inc., $21,500 last month for emissions violations
during 2005 and 2006 at its Salinas, Calif., terminal.
11/17/09 SACRAMENTO- The California Air Resources Board penalized
Donaldson Company, Inc. $650,000 last month for selling
mislabeled and illegal parts throughout California in 2007, with
required corrective actions costing over $1.5 million bringing
the total costs to over $2.1 million for the company.
11/24/09 SACRAMENTO - The California Air Resources Board last week fined
Washington-based Cablecom $19,800 for failing to inspect their
diesel trucks for compliance with the state's smoke emissions
standards.
Complete info is located on the carb site.

 

[OCR]

Calif. Smog, Big Brother's Plan, It's Comming:

This seems to be a somewhat interesting "development", Darryl.

I don't know if you've read about it or not, and I'll let you sort through all the links... looks like a bit of "damage control" taking place.

You might want to do a little digging!

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Climatic_Research_Unit_e-mail_hacking_incident

Check this out, too:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hockey_stick_controversy

And, check the two blogs, at the bottom.


On edit: The first link, might be what is referred to as "Climategate".

It's kind of an on going story, I didn't see that part when I first read it.


OCR

 

["Two-Books"]

Personally I think it's time to take Caterpillar's lead here, just make an announcment that we all just shut er down, we are outta here nuff said!!!

 

[John C.]

Thanks Darryl for keeping up the posting!

The climate issue is probably a moot point for California in that they are using the pollution tool to say that weak people and kids are being put at "risk". I say "risk" because it can't be proved how many people are dieing early because of pollution in the air.

The government in California is playing the violin right now and watching the state burn. The reaserch and statistics that were used to justify these restrictive laws were put in question some time ago but the legislature has refused to listen. All this makes it obvious to the blue coller public that the issue is one of power and money and never was about public benefit.

 

[RobVG]

The same thing is happening on a "global" scale John. Although it's a little early to be condeming the whole AGW camp, it wouldn't surprise me if the spectacle "Climategate" is widespread.

 

[DarrylMueller]

Research fraud spurs CARB member to call for truck rule suspension

From: Land line Truck Magizine 12/3/09
http://www.landlinemag.com/todays_news/Daily/2009/Dec09/113009/120309-02.htm
Research fraud spurs CARB member to call for truck rule suspension.
It appears Christmas may be coming early for truckers this year.
A brewing scandal at the California Air Resources Board has resulted in one CARB board member calling for the suspension of CARB’s most expensive truck rule to date.
Written under the authority A.B. 32 – the 2006 law that addresses global warming, the Truck and Bus rule requires trucking fleets to acquire diesel particulate matter filters and upgrade their truck engines beginning in 2012.Most small trucking businesses – including fleets of one to three trucks –will be exempt until 2014.
Numerous California and national news organizations reported this week that several top CARB officials, including CARB Chairman Mary Nichols, knew a year ago that the team leader and researcher on diesel pollution fatalities was a fraud and hadn’t earned the doctorate degree he claimed on his resume.
The revelation came at least as early as December 2008, the day before CARB considered and approved its controversial Truck and Bus rule. The rule, which CARB research then estimated would cost the transportation industry $6 billion to $10 billion to comply with, requires diesel particulate filters and new engines for commercial trucks and buses on California roads and highways.
According to emails posted at www.killcarb.org, a CARB board member unearthed the scandal that top agency officials had managed to keep quiet for more than a year by asking Nichols and other CARB board members about the research and qualifications of agency employee Hien T. Tran.
Go read the rest at:http://www.landlinemag.com/todays_news/Daily/2009/Dec09/113009/120309-02.htm

You are aware that FED EPA and other State's have been adopting California's CARB's rules, for all engines including Heavy Equipment and Farm Equipment, it's like a cancer to our industry's.

 

[CEwriter]

CARB's own numbers catch them with their pants down

CARB's own numbers catch them with their pants down: AGC projected off-road diesel emissions using the same model that CARB used to justify its In-Use Off-Road Diesel Vehicle rule, substituting only the actual California fleet inventory numbers gathered during this year's initial phase of the rule (it required off-road diesel registration). Found that no more retrofits are necessary to meet CARB's NOx-reduction targets through 2025, and nothing needs to be done until 2014 to meet PM-reduction targets.

Guess CARB made a few mistakes estimating the California fleet back in 2000, then used the bogus baseline to draw up their rule.

AGC asked CARB to revise the In-Use Off-Road Diesel Vehicle rule to apply the requirements prescribed for small fleets to all fleets. They're certainly expecting something to change.

It's going to take a loud and persistent chorus of objection and demand for change to make any difference at all. You can reach CARB at

Postal mail:
Clerk of the Board, Air Resources Board, 1001 I Street, Sacramento, California 95814

Electronic submittal: http://www.arb.ca.gov/lispub/comm/bcsubform.php?listname=dec09update&comm_period=N

E-mail: arbboard@arb.ca.gov

But I would recommend adding messages to your CA-state assemblyman, and the governor's office.

Lest you think this is only a California thing, AGC has identified 33 states that are likely to pick up California's In-Use Off-Road Vehicle rule and enforce it -- many of whom have already adopted California regs on autos and truck diesels.

If you want a headful of what might be going on well beneath the rhetoric of ClimateGate emails, here's an interesting discussion of some of the computer code that was used to analyze climate data. 'Course this is just a blog posting. I got no way to substantiate these propeller heads' assertions.

Climategate: The Smoking Code

The disturbing coincidence between the Tran Transgression/utterly faulty baseline data in California and ClimateGate is what appears to be pattern hubris. How could ego be so strong in a group of scientists and regulators that it would justify forcing such incredibly stupid, crushing regulation on fellow citizens?

More on that link here - ClimateGate Comes to CARB

 

[CEwriter]

CARB to Look at More Flexible Truck & Bus Rule; Rewriting Challenged Research Report

From today's TruckingInfo.com

"The California Air Resources Board Wednesday directed its staff to come back in April with a new provision that would give truck fleets more flexibility in cleaning up their diesel emissions under the state's Truck and Bus Rule that was adopted last December, in light of the recession's effect on the industry.

"At the Wednesday CARB meeting, staff made a presentation on the impact of the recession on trucking emissions, saying overall trucking activity was down 10 to 18 percent. According to Leo Kay, CARB spokesman, the agency has seen reductions in emissions that they hadn't counted on before passing the Statewide Truck and Bus rule, especially as fleets have more trucks parked in the lot."

"Separately, the board addressed the issue of Hien T. Tran, the lead scientist and coordinator of the study used to justify the new rules. Tran had lied about holding a Ph.D. in statistics from the University of California Davis, but his Ph.D. was the mail-order version. Senior air board officials knew about it before the vote, never revealing it to the public. According to Kay, Tran was disciplined, bumped down two pay grades and the board plans no further action against him."

". . . the Board directed staff to withdraw and redo the health report that carried Hien Tran's name. The implementation of the rule will continue to be carried out during this period. Kay described Tran as a bit player, who primarily compiled data, and emphasized that the science is still the same, regardless of the controversy over Tran's credentials."

 

[J_Deere]

Here is another example of why California is going broke. The state government is full of corruption and "do-gooders" who know what's best for everyone else.

WOW! This guy Tran lied about his Phd and falsified test results and when he is found-out, he doesn't get fired, he gets "bumped down 2 pay grades". Big deal! In the private sector, if you falsify your resume you get fired the minute they find out you lied! Thank God he is working for the State of California, where a good liar is considered a valuable employee.

 

[OCR]

Smog, Big Brother's Plan, It's Comming:

Thank God he is working for the State of California, where a good liar is considered a valuable employee.

LOL, lol... :lmao


OCR... :thumbsup

 

[stock]

Not the only state where that's a prerequisite for employment.

 

[tootalltimmy]

They think that they must do everthing they can to "save" us. The end justifies the means in their minds.

This is a very interesting topic. Thanks for keeping us updated!

 

[CEwriter]

The real offense here is that some of the Air Resources Board members, including the chairwoman, knew that Tran was a fraud BEFORE THEY VOTED ON THE TRUCK & BUS RULE. And they decided not to tell anybody. It would just be their little secret! Tee hee.

And they figured that would be OK . . .

 

[JDOFMEMI]

The following was sent to me after they were given the latest from the AGC pointing out that the recession has reduced emmissions to a point well below what they require:

""Just a heads up, a CARB staff unofficial response to AGC's study is that yo=u can make data say anything you want. In other words I think they are dism=issing the study and will have to be taken to task to accept the study. ""

This comes as no surprise to me, from the agency with the most experience at making the data say whatever they want it too.

 

[Greg]

Never go through because of all of the upset farmers and others? You got to be kidding. The people that get elected thumb their noses and the voters and do what they damn well please. Case in point, Healthcare. Nobody wants this damn mess that has gone through House and is in the Senate but it will be shoved down our throats want it or not. Tier 4 and what ever else when ever they want it will be done no matter what all of us have to say.

Rotten mileage and no power because of increased emissions standards? They could care less. Ram it down our throats.

It is time for everyone to go vote for somebody different every two years.

Big problem is that most people are more worried about last Sunday's football scores which have no effect on our day to day lives than this kind of stuff which has the potential to wreck our industry and ability to earn a living. As for me, it won't affect me much because I am old enough I am getting ready to sell out and quit.

 

[J_Deere]

:Banghead Another side effect of the new laws is that your used Trucks and Heavy Equipment is worth a whole lot less now because who wants to buy something that will need re-powering in a couple of years.

I recently found out that surplus Diesel Trucks being sold by City, County and State agencies can not be re-registered in California. They must be shipped out of state or scrapped for parts. A friend who works for a local City told me that they use to get about $20K for a surplus Fire Truck when it went to auction. The last one they sold, thanks to the new laws, went for $3,500. So, the tax payers take a $16,500 hit!

 

[JDOFMEMI]

Just think, on the firetrucks, as well as others, they used to be bought by smaller towns that do not have the budget to buy new, but can get by for years with a retired unit from a larger city fleet. Now they can't buy that $20K firetruck anymore, and they can't afford a new one either, so they go without. How does that help anyone??

Now they are only good to be scrapped out for parts. The CARB laws are robbing people of their equity and it affects public and private fleets. Of course the public fleet owners will now cry for a tax increase to cover all the additional costs, and that will rob the private owners of even more equity.

The people making up these rules have no idea what it takes to make it in this or any other business. Any one of them would go broke in short order. Their experience is that if they need more money, they get a budget increase, or raise money through fees and fines.
This road we are on will continue until there are people in charge that understand what it takes to successfully run a business. In the nanny state of CA, where most have there hand out crying for the state to take care of them, I don't see real business leaders getting elected.

 

[Greg]

Same is true here in Wisconsin. Nanny state nanny leaders, nanny everything. As far as the ones making up the rules going broke in short order trying to run a business? HA, those states are all broke already. California, Nevada, Illinois, Wisconsin, Minnesota and New York just to name a few. In our fair state of Wisconsin, 6.0 Billion deficit on 52.0 Billion budget. County property tax of 8.0 percent in Dane County for this year. (We call it the Socialist Republic of Dane). Nothing will change until the bastards are all thrown out every term. Get your heads out of your a---- and start to VOTE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!1