Mary, Mary, Quite Contradictory!

10-10-10
Bakersfield Californian
LOIS HENRY: Air board must be held accountable
http://www.bakersfield.com/news/local/x618251275/Air-board-must-be-held-accountable
Here's a topic for the next governor's debate: If elected, would you investigate the California Air Resources Board for fraud?
Oh, did I say the "f" word?
Absolutely.
This agency is out of control and, I believe, has perpetrated an outright fraud on the people of this state.
And, no, I'm not just talking about how the agency was recently forced to admit it was wrong about the amount of diesel emissions that heavy construction contributes to air pollution.
(They were off by 340 percent and had even "overestimated" how much diesel fuel was being used per year, saying the industry used 1 billion gallons a year when it was closer to 250,000 gallons a year. The correct information was readily available through the Franchise Tax Board, by the way.)
Nor the fact that, per its own report on Aug. 31, the number of people who supposedly die prematurely due to exposure to PM2.5, tiny particulate matter such as dust and soot, inexplicably dropped from 18,000 to 9,200.
(In two CARB reports from 2006 and 2008, used to justify regulations of off-road construction equipment and on-road diesel trucks, premature deaths were pegged at 18,000. About 3,500 of those were supposedly due specifically to diesel PM2.5. CARB's Aug. 31 report claims the number of premature deaths is now 9,200 with no explanation for the decrease and no mention of the 3,500 supposed diesel PM2.5 deaths. Curious.)
And, though this is reason enough for a fraud investigation, I'm not referring to revelations that the man who wrote those 2006 and 2008 reports lied about his credentials.
(When that issue was brought to the attention of CARB board chairwoman Mary Nichols and at least three other board members, it was not shared with the full board until after a critical vote for draconian new rules limiting emissions from on-road truck emissions. Can you say coverup?)
And I'm not even using the "f" (fraud! Come on, this is a family paper!) word because more and more science is showing there is little to no evidence of premature deaths in California caused by exposure to PM2.5.
(Last February, Michael Jerrett a UC Berkeley scientist hired by CARB to look at California specifically, gave preliminary results showing zero effect of PM2.5 on all mortality. Oh, and that new CARB health report put out Aug. 31 relies on a 2009 national study that shows there is no mortality effect in California from these emissions.)
Incredibly, there's more.
Remember James Enstrom? He's the UCLA scientist who did a study in 2005 of older Californians that showed few if any premature deaths from PM2.5 exposure and tried to get someone, anyone's, attention over at CARB.
Not only was his study essentially thrown away, his employment at UCLA is now under threat. He's apparently in trouble for voicing concerns about CARB's recklessness. Well, while Enstrom's been waiting for the appeals of his dismissal to run their courses, he's done a little digging, specifically into the 2009 Health Effects Institute report that CARB and the Environmental Protection Agency used to gin up this new PM2.5 death toll of 9,200.
The study was actually an extended follow-up of a 2000 Health Effects Institute report looking at PM2.5's effects nationally. It was done by Daniel Krewski and co-authored by Jerrett, who's now doing the California-specific study for CARB, which Krewski is also working on, by the by.
At the urging of the California Dump Truck Owner's Association, Krewski did a separate analysis that teased out the California specific information from his 2009 Health Effects Institute follow-up study. Statistically, this analysis showed hardly any premature deaths from these particulates.
In a letter to CARB, Krewski warned that because so few areas in California were used (Fresno, San Francisco, San Jose and Los Angeles counties), the information was statistically limited.
Even so, Enstrom was curious about Krewski's information and delved more deeply into the numbers.
Using as much of Krewski's data and methodology as he could glean from the 2000 Health Effects Institute report, Enstrom ranked the areas that were monitored for levels of PM2.5 and assessed their relative risk for premature deaths.
Fresno ranked third lowest for levels of PM2.5. Hmmm. We're not even allowed to light fires on cold winter nights in the Central Valley for fear of the dreaded PM2.5. San Francisco and San Jose ranked eighth and ninth lowest, respectively, and Los Angeles was 39th out of the 49 areas originally monitored (in 2009 Krewski extended the study to include 116 cities).
When he assessed relative risk of premature death and averaged it for each geographic region, Enstrom found that California ranked well below the national average for risk. He double-checked his numbers using other studies, including Jerrett's preliminary results and two other independent studies, and found them consistent.
All of Entstrom's number-crunching also fits perfectly with a map in the original 2000 Krewski Health Effects Institute report, which showed levels of PM2.5 and mortality risk for the 49 areas across the U.S. Then using another Krewski chart showing PM2.5 and mortality risk, Enstrom ranked each area. In that ranking, Fresno is 2nd lowest in mortality risk and Los Angeles is fifth lowest of the 49 areas.
That compliments another study of Medicare enrollees in the western U.S., by Scott Zeger, 2008, that showed while Los Angeles is high in PM2.5, its total associated death rate is low.
"What this means is there absolutely is geographic variation in PM2.5 mortality risk and I think Krewski and Jerrett must have known this for at least the last 10 years," Enstrom said. "Instead of bringing it to someone's attention they've watched their work be used in ways that are unacceptable."
Not only by CARB. The EPA is about to lower the national standard for PM2.5 from 15 micrograms per cubic meter to 11.
"Which just makes no sense considering the obvious geographic variation," Enstrom said. "And it certainly makes no sense in California when there's no relationship between PM2.5 and premature death.
"It's a complete misrepresentation of the science."
And that's where I believe fraud comes into play.
Some people -- especially CARB's leadership -- must have known about this information for years. But these are the same people holding the state's regulatory reins. That means power.
And power, as we all know, is far more toxic than even the most deadly PM2.5.
9-5-07
Badlands Journal
Hun meets environmental Typhoid Mary
http://www.badlandsjournal.com/2007-09-05/00352
The Hun Our Governor panicked a few weeks back when a bunch of young activists did some demonstrating in front of the Fresno offices of the San Joaquin Valley Air Quality Control Board, which had just decided to forestall pollution cleanup, accept the worst designation of air quality the federal government has to offer until 2023, to keep its viability with the Federal Highway Authority.
"Rooftops bring retail," goes the mantrum of local planners. "And we pray to the Lord they also bring highway funds," they whisper. Meanwhile, rooftops bring increases in air pollution in our valley with its inversion layer.
The Hun wants to make the history books for being environmentally sensitive and has done some work to that end. But, Valley residents were making themselves heard that the state and regional air quality boards are a disgrace to government and a blemish on the Hun's immaculate image.
He reacted. He tossed out the head of the state air board and hired Mary Nichols, always described as a veteran environmental lawyer and state and federal environmental "leader." Now, we find that Nichols is invested up to her neck in energy stocks, beginning with the largest private coal company in the world and the largest petroleum company in the state. It made a good press release last month. "The Hun does something..."
Now, his hometown newspaper has done some digging and found Nichols' portfolio and its a doozy, if you're into conflicts of interest and perception of corruption.
Environmental lawyer? Whose side was she on?
Environmental leader? As Gov. Gray Davis' resources secretary, she fast-tracked the largest public development at the time in the state, UC Merced, past every mere legal hurdle in its way, and the mess she made has not yet been sorted out. Evidently she knew the law, as a "veteran environmental lawyer," and she clearly broke it in a number of instances surrounding UC Merced. So, whose side was she on?
But the Hun looked down from his cigar porch at the Capitol and said: "Democrat, woman, environmentalist!" nodded once and it was done. It makes him look like a dolt, and he isn't quite that.
So, who on his staff recommended Nichols? Who on his staff knew Nichols, recommended Nichols and either ignored her investments or felt it would be just too tacky to check?
The Hun ought to look down from his porch and give that one the thumb, because whoever that was made a monkey out of him.
There are issues in California that boggle the mind and the term-limited state Legislature has made them all worse. But, this one was relatively simple. The Hun blew it like the political rookie he remains.
He can dump Nichols or stonewall, denying that the mere public perception of conflict of interest really doesn't matter because all state officials maintain the highest ethical standards.
A mere member of the public might imagine the officials meet at their designated watering holes, distressed, and wonder why the public does not trust them. In fact, some will snigger at the Hun's political distress; others will say he must remain strong against the venal press "exaggerating" Nichols' portfolio; some will talk about descending real estate values; and most will talk about the trips they are going to take, because they've all got aces down in the hole.
Bill Hatch
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9-05-07
Los Angeles Times
A cloud around the state's air chief...Richard Nemec
http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/la-oe-nemec5sep05,1,2137460.story
...Mary Nichols, a veteran environmental lawyer and federal and state environmental leader, with financial ties that may raise more than a few eyebrows. She holds considerable stock in companies -- such as Chevron Corp. and coal giant Peabody Energy Corp. -- that historically have sat at opposite sides of the table from environmentalists....doubly troubling because Nichols has been appointed by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger to head the California Air Resources Board... investments in such corporations raise questions about possible conflicts of interest and also about her credibility as a state official who often must make tough decisions against those industries. With a mandate to implement the state's precedent-setting global warming solutions legislation, the Air Resources Board deals with many of the companies in which Nichols holds large chunks of stock. The friendly Democrat-controlled state Senate should not shrink from asking her about these holdings during her confirmation hearing this month. ...the 84-company portfolio that she and her husband hold includes 13 energy-related firms, one of which is Peabody, the world's largest private-sector coal provider. The Air Resources Board's major focus for the future will be on global warming. The burning of coal is considered to be a major source of the problem. So how can the board's chairwoman hold stock in a huge coal company without giving, at minimum, the perception of a conflict of interest? Nichols's financial report also noted that she holds from $100,000 to $1 million in stock in Chevron, an oil and gas company that has substantial dealings with the Air Resources Board and other parts of state government. ...state senators need to find out how long Nichols has had financial ties to major companies that fall under her new regulatory jurisdiction. In addition, the extensiveness of her portfolio -- particularly among global energy firms -- raises some questions about her priorities at this stage of her career. Nichols' defenders say she has "balanced" her portfolio with green investments, but the commission's documentation doesn't support this contention. Would we typically expect the head of the Air Resources Board to hold interests worth from $10,000 to $100,000 each in Peabody, or Edison International, Southwest Gas Corp., BP,Suncor Energy, Royal Dutch Shell, Northern Border Partners, a natural gas pipeline or Chevron? Together with huge chemical and mining companies in her portfolio, it is the breadth and depth of Nichols' financial interests that is troubling.