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


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

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.

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