[OT] Air Pollution

Every few days in Silicon Valley, CA we are treated to a kind of stench in the air probably caused by arsenide gas from our various wafer fabs. It ranges in concentration from 'merely distracting' all the way to the kind of in-your-face pall reminiscent of the worst days of the '70's. (Think 'Chewable Air')

Just now I discovered that wearing my painting respirator with type 6003 Organic Vapor/Acid Gas Cartridges almost completely removes the smell.

Just a heads-up for folks also benefiting from our high-tech environment. :)

--Winston

Reply to
Winston
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Thus enabling you to breathe deeply the most toxic odorless materials....

Reply to
Spehro Pefhany

What more could one ask? :)

--Winston

Reply to
Winston

Gee, where are you exactly? I have lived in Palo Alto for 25 years and worked in Santa Clara, Sunnyvale and Milpitas for most of that time and I have not experienced the same thing. There are a few hazy, low air-quality days, but not that many and not that bad. You must be downwind from some particular offender.

I also really doubt (I hope) that what you are smelling is arsine gas (aka hydrogen arsenide). The limit detectable by oder is 0.5 ppm, but 3 to 10 ppm induces toxic symptoms and 10 is fatal after long exposures. The occupational average inhalation limit is 0.005 ppm.

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Reply to
anorton

How can you have pollution? I thought CA was a socialist paradise?

Can you get furnace filter size cartridges, so you can have clean air indoors, at least?

Christopher A. Young Learn more about Jesus

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Just now I discovered that wearing my painting respirator with type 6003 Organic Vapor/Acid Gas Cartridges almost completely removes the smell.

Just a heads-up for folks also benefiting from our high-tech environment. :)

--Winston

Reply to
Stormin Mormon

And the LA area has the cleanest air since the 1800s

Funny how that happens

Gunner

One bleeding-heart type asked me in a recent interview if I did not agree that "violence begets violence." I told him that it is my earnest endeavor to see that it does. I would like very much to ensure

- and in some cases I have - that any man who offers violence to his fellow citizen begets a whole lot more in return than he can enjoy.

- Jeff Cooper

Reply to
Gunner

As we say: "Sanazay".

Yes. I understand that some are less prone to smell this than others. For me, the aroma can be of 'eye watering' intensity. A few days ago it was really bad.

Oniony-Garlic smell. *Really* pungent. Can appear at any time of the day. It was pretty strong here 8/11. I drove up to Cupertino and it was nearly as strong there as well.

Weird.

I envy you in 'Paly'. The air there is normally much nicer - smelling than down here in the South Valley. I worked at Xerox near PARC for several years and was delighted to go to work each day, partly because the air is very nice smelling there.

--Winston

Reply to
Winston

I cannot imagine how bad the LA pollution must have been in the 1800s! Holy Moley!

--Winston

Reply to
Winston

Maybe you are getting a wiff of garlic from Gilroy. It is a little late for the garlic harvest but perhaps the processing is still going on.

Reply to
anorton

(...)

I don't know anything about garlic but I assume it is not harvested and dried all year round. This stench pops up at any time of the year. We've had a nice reprieve this Sunday

8/12 and Monday, but this morning (Tue 8/14) The Stench was back with a vengeance. As I write this (4:00 PM) the air is 'normal' once again with just the standard smells of hot roofing material and soil, some car exhaust. Not 'nice' but not awful either.

I honestly wish I knew what this pervasive aroma is.

--Winston

Reply to
Winston

But it's safe. The gov't tells me so.

I remember the look and taste of HelL.A. air in the '60s and '70s, Winnie.

Yucky.

-- The business of America is not business. Neither is it war. The business of America is justice and securing the blessings of liberty. -- George F. Will

Reply to
Larry Jaques

The 70s were the worst I can remember. When I moved to California the first time..I was coming out of a job in Wyoming..and when we hit Riverside on the 10...I noticed the air was turning brown..and browner..and browner....and was wondering what was burning and where.

Then it got chewie. When we reached Anaheim headquarters..it was like being down wind of a smelting plant.

Now there is only the faintest hint of color in the otherwise blue skies

Gunner

One bleeding-heart type asked me in a recent interview if I did not agree that "violence begets violence." I told him that it is my earnest endeavor to see that it does. I would like very much to ensure

- and in some cases I have - that any man who offers violence to his fellow citizen begets a whole lot more in return than he can enjoy.

- Jeff Cooper

Reply to
Gunner

I agree 100%.

As a yout, I drove to LA once (gas was maybe $0.40 a gallon?) The smog in the Bay Area at the time was pretty bad, but the stuff in the LA basin was 'way browner.

(Yes, I get the irony about driving around aimlessly and then complaining about the smog.) :)

Thank you, C.A.R.B. I like breathing easy now.

--Winston

Reply to
Winston

We used to get bad days when the L.A. smog fanned itself down to Vista and turned it into an INDOOR ONLY day. I couldn't breathe the outside air on those days. Later, Sandy Eggo smog wafted up to the North County on occasion and it bothered me then, too. The air is much better up here, but only when the idiots don't burn their woodstoves on windless days. Medford (Jackson County) is really bad that way, but they now have smog alert days where woodstove use is banned. I was certainly happier downwind from San Onofre Nuclear Generation Station (SONGS) rather than a damned coal-fired power station.

I disagree with that sentiment. I had my smog license and watched some pretty nice vehicles go into meltdown after installing some of CARB's required devices and settings. Millions of dollars of vehicle engines were toasted from that idiocy. CA air would have greened fairly quickly anyway, sticking to federal guidelines, so I think it was a ghastly waste, a crime against the populace.

-- Make awkward sexual advances, not war.

Reply to
Larry Jaques

(...)

The NRDC says: "In recent years, scientists have shown that air pollution from cars, factories and power plants is a major cause of asthma attacks."

Now, I've never suffered an asthma attack but the symptoms sound horrifying. I'm very happy to consider the improvements in air pollution over the last 15 years has reduced the number of people that suffer in that awful way.

It's possible that CARB requirements and the rather sudden drastic improvement in air quality are coincidences without causal linkage, I suppose.

That ain't the way I would bet, however. :)

--Winston

Reply to
Winston

When the Great Cull arrives...there will be no survivors among the CARB people. Bet on it.

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Gunner

One bleeding-heart type asked me in a recent interview if I did not agree that "violence begets violence." I told him that it is my earnest endeavor to see that it does. I would like very much to ensure

- and in some cases I have - that any man who offers violence to his fellow citizen begets a whole lot more in return than he can enjoy.

- Jeff Cooper

Reply to
Gunner

On Tue, 14 Aug 2012 21:40:51 -0700, Larry Jaques wrote:

This site is dedicated to a grassroots effort with the sole purpose of convincing California law makers to disband The California Air Resources Board. Why are we doing this? Because the California Air Resources Board (CARB) is a rogue agency that is causing harm to the environment and to the working people of this state.

8500 California Teachers Fired to Fund Rogue State Agency--Truckers Next!

We need to get started now. The first step is making contact with your Representatives and asking them to support this effort. If they agree, they will be praised here. If they do not they will be exposed. We are asking that you write a letter, send an e-mail or fax to your representative in the State Assembly and State Senate, then send us both your letter and the reply that you get. Those will be posted here. You will remain anonymous if you state that is what you want. To get started, click on the link to the lists of Members of the State Assembly and Members of the State Senate. Next, find your representatives and make contact. It is important that you act now!

Your tax dollars fund CARB. In fiscal year 2007-08 they got $722 million for 1172 employees. In fiscal year 2008-09 they got $650 million for 1272 employees, and in fiscal year 2009-10, your state legislators and the governor fired over 8500 teachers in the state in order to give $857 million to this outrageously corrupt state agency and its 1280 employees. Why? Easy. Follow the money. The CARB payroll is loaded with political friends of the legislators. Hundreds of these worthless so-called public servants collect hundred thousand dollar salaries and pension benefits that working families can never expect. CARB is also in bed with organizations that steer many millions to the campaign coffers of the legislators. Why otherwise would the legislature keep CARB alive and growing --- and rob the youth of California of the education they deserve? When the state is bankrupt, teachers are losing their jobs, millions are out of work, and the legislature gives CARB billions of dollars to waste on its fraudulent campaigns and regulate the working people as if they are criminals spoiling the environment. Of course, CARB must manufacture a new "health crisis" every year to justify its existence.

CARB is demanding that perfectly good diesel engines in the state be replaced with less efficient engines that will actually add to the amount of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere. They are doing this based on a flawed report by a fraudulent CARB employee. They claim a $70 billion savings in health care by destroying these engines. Their own summary document shows that there is no proven link between diesel particulate mater and cancer. This action is based on "indications" and "suggestions"! As if that is not enough, the 20 billion dollar price tag will place a financial burden on an estimated 30 thousand business owners and will put many of them out of business--it is estimated that 150,000 jobs could be lost if these companies pull up stakes and move from California. Comments from noted scientists and the public sent to CARB regarding Hien Tran's report are contained in a supplement to the report and were for the most part ignored by the board.

Here are some other CARB highlights:

Reformulated Diesel Fuel: Do you remember when CARB mandated that Diesel Fuel be reformulated without adequate testing in the 1990's? The new fuel damaged thousands of diesel engines in the state and over ten million dollars of state funds were used to replace many of the damaged engines. You the taxpayers and working people paid for this. Bet your legislators never told you about this. But they fired 20,000 teachers in the state recently because they wasted your tax dollars on fraud agencies like CARB where they have placed their friends and political cronies on the payroll until the next election. MTBE: Over $30 million paid out by working families over ten years for extra 20 to 30 cents a gallon. Estimated $20 billion dollars more to clean up ground water around the state that is contaminated with MTBE. CARB has an army of professional liar "public information officers" who spread the CARB propaganda to keep the CARB agency budget growing every year. They spent ten years lying to both the legislature and the public about the "benefits" of MTBE in your gasoline. Finally, the legislature had to ban MTBE in your gas when scientists proved that it was a poison to our environment and you. The average working family was forced to pay out over eight thousand dollars over ten years for the MTBE poison in their gasoline in California. (They would have over $12,000 in the bank today for their childrens' education if that money had been saved and invested). Electric Car mandate: CARB set the American automotive industry back by ten years in developing hybrid cars because CARB would not allow them as zero emission or low emission cars while CARB insisted on demanding that 5% of cars in California had to be electric cars. Only after they were forced to admit that the electric cars were a fraud, did they allow hybrid cars. By that time the Japanese manufacturers were way ahead of America. That has cost the American workers in the auto industry over 200.000 jobs and crushed the industry. Hien Tran Fraud: Hien Tran lied about having a PHD from U.C. Davis but really purchased his degree at a diploma mill. Tran was the project coordinator and lead author of a report entitled ?Methodology for Estimating Premature Deaths Associated with Long-term Exposure to Fine Airborne Particulate Matter in California.? This report was the main support document of a draconian regulation proposed by the CARB that would cost California diesel users billions of dollars, a cost that eventually the consumer would pay for in higher food, construction and transportation costs. These costs would be incurred in the retrofitting of almost all diesel engines for on- or off-road, even relatively new ones, with new pollution controls for the sole purpose of limiting particulate matter as small as 2.5 microns (PM2.5). Although there have been some epidemiological studies in the past that claim there is a health risk, those studies were highly speculative and done with poor data. In fact, there is a significant study that says that PM2.5 is not a health risk in California.

Tran's problems started with the completion of the first draft report when Dr. S. Stanley Young, the assistant director of Bioinformatics at the National Institute of Statistical Sciences, came to his attention. Dr. Young fired off a letter to Gov. Schwarzenegger, writing in part, ?I note that none of the authors are professional statisticians. Some are trained in epidemiology. It is useful to know that the track record of epidemiologists in the use of statistics to make claims that are reproducible is very poor. Their claims fail to replicate 80-90 percent of the time (Ioannidis, JAMA, 2005). Their recommendations, most likely wrong, are projected to be very costly.

As punishment for his lie, Tran was suspended for 60 days and took a pay cut. He still works at CARB. CARB's "Forbidden Speech" regulation: Sounding like something from George Orwell, CARB was poised to adopt a regulation that literally ?forbids? and ?penalizes? opposing views. The resolution, which CARB dubs, ?prohibition on false statements,? is frightening in that it would actually sanction communications to the agency during hearings or in the presentation of studies that CARB disagrees with. Apparently, CARB?s legal staff missed that whole bit on the First Amendment. The first hearing on CARB?s proposed regulation was scheduled for December 1st, 2010. According to CARB?s website, the hearing has now been postponed until next year. Moreover, the proposed regulation providing for ?penalties? for false information has been removed from CARB?s website. CARB's 340% Overestimation: The California Air Resources Board went above and beyond in screwing up their diesel regulations based upon ?grossly miscalculated pollution levels? of 340% over reality. Yes, you read right, 340%. Was this stupidity? Gross negligence? Gross incompetence? Outright fraud? All of the aforementioned? Read and decide for yourself. The air board?s shame / Staff never revealed internal scandal before crucial vote

Air board still scandalous

On Dec. 12, 2008, the California Air Resources Board unanimously approved groundbreaking new rules governing diesel emissions. Members rejected complaints from the trucking industry about their heavy cost and from some academics who said CARB grossly exaggerated the health risk posed by the emissions.

Soon afterward, a Union-Tribune editorial writer confirmed allegations that Hien T. Tran ? the lead scientist and coordinator of the study used to justify the stringent new diesel regulations ? had lied about holding a Ph.D. in statistics from the University of California Davis. Instead, it turned out, Tran had a mail-order Ph.D. sent to him from a ?university? based at a mailbox at a UPS office in New York City ? and that senior air board officials knew this before the Dec. 12 vote.

Incredibly enough, air board Chairwoman Mary Nichols has pretended this is a minor problem. Instead of suspending the diesel rules until the research they were based on was thoroughly investigated by an independent outside group, board officials never revealed Tran?s deceit to the public. This editorial page and The Bakersfield Californian have provided the only print media coverage since the scandal broke.

Tran wasn?t even fired, just demoted.

This is not how a reputable government agency should behave. This is shameful. And at long last, someone with authority within the air board has finally figured this out.

On Nov. 16, Dr. John G. Telles, a Fresno cardiologist appointed to the air board by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger in April 2008, wrote a letter to Ellen Peters, the air board?s chief counsel, in which he said the air board?s staff failed to meet its ?ethical if not legal obligation? to provide all board members with pertinent information before a vote on a state regulation.

Telles had never heard about Tran?s deception until a Sept. 24 air board meeting in Diamond Bar, when it was raised during public testimony about the harsh toll the diesel rules threatened to have on businesses whose trucks and off-road vehicles have to be scrapped or retrofitted at great cost. Only after that meeting did CARB officials finally tell all board members the truth about Tran.

Telles says this withholding of key information must be addressed. ?Not taking action seems unacceptable in light of what appears to be a violation of procedure with both ethical and perhaps legal implications. How we handle this procedure will reflect on the future credibility of CARB. I believe that CARB needs to seize the initiative and take steps to protect and preserve the integrity of CARB, its board members and the decision-making process.?

We could not agree more. Mary Nichols? handling of this matter has been indefensible and outrageous.

Will other air board members figure this out, too? Will the governor, whose office was informed about Tran?s deception last December? For that matter, will the California media?

We shall see. One bleeding-heart type asked me in a recent interview if I did not agree that "violence begets violence." I told him that it is my earnest endeavor to see that it does. I would like very much to ensure

- and in some cases I have - that any man who offers violence to his fellow citizen begets a whole lot more in return than he can enjoy.

- Jeff Cooper

Reply to
Gunner

FORBIDDEN SPEECH Jon Coupal, President, Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Association November 29, 2010

Philosophers have pondered and debated the question of ?what is true?? for eons. Now, thanks to the bureaucrats at the California Air Resources Board (CARB), we have our answer: The truth is whatever CARB says it is, and those who utter forbidden opinions to the contrary will be punished.

Sounding like something from George Orwell, CARB is poised to adopt a regulation that literally ?forbids? and ?penalizes? opposing views. The resolution, which CARB dubs, ?prohibition on false statements,? is frightening in that it would actually sanction communications to the agency during hearings or in the presentation of studies that CARB disagrees with. Apparently, CARB?s legal staff missed that whole bit on the First Amendment. In America, we don?t jail people for making ?counter-revolutionary statements.?

Not surprisingly, it is usually the crackpot dictator forbidding dissent who plays fast and loose with the truth. CARB?s regulations which have so devastated the trucking industry were based on a discredited report by a ?Dr.? Hien Tran, a CARB researcher who mail ordered his PhD from a phony university. However, even when it was discovered that Hien Tran had falsified his qualifications, CARB refused to fire him and stood by his study ? a study that now even CARB itself admits overestimated pollution by more than 300%. If you are waiting for CARB to apply its new proposed rule to itself, don?t hold your breath.

That CARB seeks to squelch dissent before it even begins is not surprising. In the wake of Prop 23?s defeat, CARB is chafing at the bit to fully implement California?s one-of-a-kind ?global warming solution? law known as AB 32. The last thing the agency wants is to have to contend with contrary views about complex issues ? notwithstanding the fact that the so-called ?consensus? on climate change has become much less of a consensus since the days of Al Gore.

Moreover, it is not just the science of climate change to which CARB has an allergic reaction to competing views. In attempting to measure the true cost of AB 32 on California?s economy, any suggestion that ?green jobs? won?t be the miracle cure claimed by CARB and the investors behind Green Tech will be met with a reaction similar to that of a vampire to a crucifix.

Despite its lack of economic expertise, CARB and its allies are committed to a vision of California unhinged from reality. They believe that imposing price hikes during a recession will lead to this new ?green jobs? economy. But that myth has already started to unravel with the closure of model green business, Solyndra?s first factory. Solyndra, a solar panel manufacturer, had once been hailed by the CARB cheering section as an example of many more green manufacturers to come. Yet despite hundreds of millions in subsidies and the support of the Governor and President Obama, the Solyndra closure illustrates how even green manufacturers have difficulty competing under our state?s crushing burden of high taxes and endless red tape.

The important question here is whether an effort by credible economists, taxpayers, consumers or business interests to inform CARB that price increases during a recession are bad for the economy will be met with ?penalties? for failing to line up with the ?truth? as decreed by CARB.

CARB?s Chairwoman, Mary Nichols, is now proceeding ?full speed ahead? with AB 32 implementation, effectively flooring the accelerator as she and her agency drive our economy over the cliff. ?Forbidding? people from saying this may not be a good idea right now is the equivalent of Mary Nichols putting her hands on her ears and saying ?la la la I can?t hear you la la la,? as taxpayers and business owners scream that she stop.

[Final note: The first hearing on CARB?s proposed regulation was scheduled for December 1st. According to CARB?s website, the hearing has now been postponed until next year. Moreover, the proposed regulation providing for ?penalties? for false information has been removed from CARB?s website.]

One bleeding-heart type asked me in a recent interview if I did not agree that "violence begets violence." I told him that it is my earnest endeavor to see that it does. I would like very much to ensure

- and in some cases I have - that any man who offers violence to his fellow citizen begets a whole lot more in return than he can enjoy.

- Jeff Cooper

Reply to
Gunner

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Sacramento CH13 KOVR Reporter Exposes More CARB Junk Science

Sacramento based KOVR?s "On the Money" reporter Mike Luery's report about CARB?s continued scientific incompetence.

The two part report aired at 6 pm and 10 pm October 26, 2010.

One bleeding-heart type asked me in a recent interview if I did not agree that "violence begets violence." I told him that it is my earnest endeavor to see that it does. I would like very much to ensure

- and in some cases I have - that any man who offers violence to his fellow citizen begets a whole lot more in return than he can enjoy.

- Jeff Cooper

Reply to
Gunner

California Air Resources Board caught using intentionally flawed data Posted on October 8, 2010 by Erick Brockway

- Dr. James Enstrom (HT: Martinezgazette.com)

The California Air Resources Board (CARB) has been caught making environmental policy based on badly flawed and intentionally dishonest estimates of PM2.5 pollution admissions. How bad is bad? Try a 340% overestimation of diesel particulate pollution levels? No way? Way!!

The pollution estimate in question was too high ? by 340 percent, according to the California Air Resources Board, the state agency charged with researching and adopting air quality standards. The estimate was a key part in the creation of a regulation adopted by the Air Resources Board in 2007, a rule that forces businesses to cut diesel emissions by replacing or making costly upgrades to heavy-duty, diesel-fueled off-road vehicles used in construction and other industries.

The CARB staff blames this ?oversight? on the recession and the resulting termination of many construction projects. Independent reviewers argue that applying the current methodology to existing data still gives terribly inaccurate results. The data then was used to produce the predictable Malthusian Scare Statistics. 18,000 premature deaths per year were attributed to diesel emissions according to the

340% inaccurate research. This has since been revised downward, after the monies were expropriated from construction firms operating diesels, to 9,200.

Given the intelligent and diligent people that work at CARB, this should surprise everyone. Well, ok, whom am I kidding? Maybe it shouldn?t. According to Dr. James Enstrom of UCLA and others who offered a 100 page critique of the ?science? used by CARB, the regulatory commission was not exactly fielding the varsity when it undertook the analysis to support the regulations.

The year-long process of development of the new regulations resulted in some very revealing public commentary, accusations of complicity in the scientific review process, and even misconduct by CARB officials.

In the biggest scandal, opposition scientists found the lead author of the key study by CARB had faked his Ph.D. and lacked expertise in air pollution research. In addition, CARB hired reviewers to review their own papers, naturally resulting in approval of the scientific studies that claimed the death and health effects.

(HT: The Heartland Institute)

In order to properly fertilize the science, the authors of the ?scientific research? had to use PM2.5 data that did not come from a California Airshed. The Heartland Institute points out that five separate independent researchers claim no significant link exists between PM2.5 and premature deaths in CA. One reason no link exists stems from the fact that California has the 4th lowest death rate in the nation and extremely low rates of diesel pollution compared to prior years.

This suggests that reasonable observers may well have valid gravamen to contest the merits of the scientific brilliance of a study that links the deaths of people who are still walking around town to substances that are very, nearly almost absent from the air that said cadavers are currently continuing to breathe. However, based on the deliberately falsified science by the CARB, the following regulatory findings were handed down.

All Drayage diesel trucks older than 1994 must be retired from service. Those built between 1994 and 2003 must undergo a costly retrofit ? a soot trap ranging in price from $12,000 to $25,000, depending on the age of the vehicle. Leo Kay, the Communication Director for the ARB, said that there are approximately 20,000 affected trucks in California. ARB offered $11 million in grants for the affected truckers. Each trucker could potentially receive $5,000 toward the retrofit of their diesel?.

(Martinez Gazette ? Ob. Cit.) One bleeding-heart type asked me in a recent interview if I did not agree that "violence begets violence." I told him that it is my earnest endeavor to see that it does. I would like very much to ensure

- and in some cases I have - that any man who offers violence to his fellow citizen begets a whole lot more in return than he can enjoy.

- Jeff Cooper

Reply to
Gunner

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