Gas station owners in California have had FOUR YEARS to change over their pumps to comply with a new state law controlling toxic vapor emissions that leak from car fueling.  They waited and waited and found themselves, at the last minute, staring into a deep recession without the ability to get credit to pay for the new capital expense.  So they’ve done the sensible move by engaging in civil disobedience.

James Hosmanek, an ex-Marine, has operated his San Bernardino Chevron station for 21 years, patiently installing equipment to control gasoline emissions, even as the region’s air grew smoggier.

Now he says he can’t, and won’t, obey the latest mandate: a state order to buy sophisticated nozzles and hoses to capture more of the vapors that cause respiratory disease and cancer. “It may be necessary to protect public health,” he says. “But it’s unaffordable.”

I find it hard to weep for these owners who knew exactly when this deadline was coming for years and failed to make the necessary investment.  But Arnold Schwarzenegger, of course, feels their pain.  The so-called “green governor” wants the legislature to delay implementation of the rules.

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger wants California’s air-pollution fighters to delay a new rule that requires thousands of gas stations to beef up their pump nozzles so that less fuel vapor escapes into the atmosphere when drivers fill their tanks.  The governor also asked the Legislature for a “one-year enforcement holiday” for the stations.

The new rule, scheduled to take effect Wednesday, requires the nozzles to block 98 percent of fuel vapor, up from the current regulation of 95 percent.

But the Republican governor late Friday asked Air Resources Board Chairwoman Mary Nichols – an appointee of the governor — to postpone the regulation by six months or a year because “significantly more time is needed before it can be successfully enforced without significant negative effects on our state economy.”

Contrary to what the article says, the Governor has engaged in slow-walking and blocking environmental legislation for years, as long as the Chamber of Commerce calls for it.  He forced the last Air Resources Board Chairman to resign due to meddling in the agency’s affairs.  And in February, he rammed into the budget a provision allowing construction firms to delay a changeover from diesel bulldozers into more energy-efficient equipment.  He has always been terrible on the environment, and nobody should let the greenwashing fool them.

Meanwhile, Dave Cox (Yacht Party – Fair Oaks) seems to be taking the sober tack:

In the Legislature, Assemblyman Martin Garrick (R-Solana Beach) and Sen. Dave Cox (R-Fair Oaks) are leading the charge to delay enforcement. On Monday, Cox called for the resignation of state Air Resources Board Chairwoman Mary D. Nichols for being “recalcitrant” in refusing Schwarzenegger’s request for a delay.

Mary Nichols should definitely resign for having the temerity to schedule a deadline four years in advance when she knew full well there would be a recession, thanks to her time machine.

Asm. Ira Ruskin (D-Redwood City) is carrying a bill that would offer $8 million dollars in grants to gas station owners who have not ordered the new equipment.  That’s kind of pitiful, but Californians could at least breathe a sigh of relief.  And when I say that, I mean they could breathe.

KQED Radio has more.

The day before she was announced as John McCain’s vice presidential pick, Alaska Governor Sarah Palin called on Arnold Schwarzenegger to veto a landmark bill that would levy fees on cargo containers at state ports to raise money for pollution mitigation standards. The air around California ports, especially LA-Long Beach, is among the worst in the nation with major negative health impacts on nearby residents. But Palin doesn’t care:

“Enactment of Senate Bill 974 will have negative impacts on both Alaska and California,” Palin wrote. “For Alaskans, a very large percentage of goods [90% or more] shipped to Alaska arrive as marine cargo in a container.”

Palin said many Alaskan communities lack road access and depend entirely on goods shipped by container, something that has significantly increased in cost in recent years. Many of those containers pass through the Los Angeles and Long Beach ports before arriving in Alaska, and Palin argues that the fee will add even more to the cost of goods shipped to her state.

“This tax makes the situation worse,” Palin wrote. “Similarly, the tax may harm California by driving port business away from its ports.”

The letter concludes by requesting that “due consideration be given to our state and that you not sign Senate Bill 974.”

State Sen. Alan Lowenthal, author of SB 974, had a devastating response to Palin’s interference:

On Thursday, with the Palin letter hitting the Internet, Lowenthal invited the Alaskan governor to travel to the Southern California ports to see first-hand why the fee is needed.

“We are losing about 3,400 Californians each year because of pollution,” Lowenthal said. “No matter what Gov. Palin would like to see happen, the impact is killing Californians. I don’t think Gov. Palin truly understands the impacts going on here.”

Two mothers who live near the port of LA-Long Beach would probably like Palin to understand what some of those impacts are:

Oti Nungaray

RUMBLE, RUMBLE. That’s the hum of my community, so close to the nation’s largest port complex. The air tickles your throat, but my daughter and I are not laughing. We’ve been living in Long Beach for ten years. The doctor first diagnosed her with asthma when she was six. It’s been traumatizing to watch my child suffer. Through my involvement with the Long Beach Alliance for Children with Asthma, I’ve learned about managing my child’s asthma, including controlling triggers inside the home. Unfortunately, it’s impossible to control the environment outside, when you live next to the largest fixed source of air pollution in greater Los Angeles. I believe there are solutions to these problems. I don’t believe industry’s claim that reducing pollution will hurt our economy. These companies make a lot of money while I spend money on medicine and miss work and my daughter misses school.

Adriana Hernandez

I LIVE NEAR I-710: a parking lot of nearly 50,000 cargo trucks daily. Next door is Wilmington, an area pockmarked with refineries. We get hit with pollution from all sides. My youngest son was born with a closed trachea and his left vocal cord paralyzed; he still takes speech classes. He also suffered from severe asthma attacks. I had to medicate him and connect him to a breathing machine, feeling desperate that my child couldn’t breathe.

This is what Palin, for whom motherhood is such a central part of her message and appeal, is enabling with her effort to squelch California’s clean air laws – Palin is supporting pollution that is hurting working families.

Her interference in California’s lawmaking process is bad enough, but it’s a harbinger of what we can expect from a McCain-Palin Administration. As we saw with the EPA waiver the federal government has the power to preempt California clean air rules, and Palin is signaling that if she and McCain win they will likely use that power to undermine our efforts to provide healthy lives for our families.

California may not have the same role to play in the election that swing states like Nevada and Ohio do, but we can help Americans understand exactly what they’ll be getting from McCain-Palin – more of the same attacks on our health, our environmental laws, and our states rights.

Gov. Schwarzenegger suggests that immigrants avoid Spanish language media if they want to learn English and, presumably, assimilate into U.S. society.  Didn’t stop him from running tons of ads on Spanish television during last year’s reelection campaign of course.  edit: Apologies to Roger Salazar, who beat me to this point, and in much better form.

A new emergency room opened today inside San Quentin prison, a result of a federal receiver controlling medical services inside California prisons.

As California fights to keep its tough gas emissions standards safe from federal meddling, state air regulators voted today to request an 11-year extension to bring San Joaquin’s air up to federal standards.  California is a rich tapestry of contradictions.

The Beastie Boys have an instrumental album hitting stores later this month.  The last time they had an album with lyrics, they weren’t much for George Bush: Beastie Boys – Right Right Now Now

“I’m getting kind of tired of the situation
The US attacking other nations
And narration, on every station
False election’s got me losing my patience”