The big news from the California Air Resources Board in recent weeks was the decision to cut the ZEV mandate by 70 percent. Following a speech at the National Hydrogen Association conference in Sacramento recently, CARB chairperson Mary Nichols sat down with Carlist's Lou Ann Hammond for an interview about the decision and related topics. Hammond has broken the interview into four short video segments, some of which feature segments of the speech (and Q&A).

• What Californians can do to reduce emissions
• The status of CARB's waiver request from the EPA
• In detail about the ZEV conference
• Taking questions from the audience about the ZEV mandate
• Current state bills and regulations for cleaner cars

If you're interested in where California, America's leader in green car legislation, stands these days with state rules and how CARB is managing to "piss everyone off" (as someone told Hammond, something that Hammond figures means that everyone is compromising) while trying to make progress, give these videos a viewing. They're each around 3-5 minutes long.

[Source: Carlist]

Well, it happened. The California Air Resources Board decided that electric vehicles and similar zero-emission autos are not ready for prime time. CARB voted to cut the number of zero-emission vehicles that automakers will need to sell in the state by 70 percent. This isn't as bad as the 90 percent cut many had feared, but it's still a massive reduction in pressure on the big auto companies to produce clean rides. CARB chair Mary Nichols called the reduced requirement (7,500 cars between 2012 and 2014 instead of 25,000 as a 2003 revision had called for) was "realistic" and that the pressure would still be brought to bear to get hydrogen fuel cell and electric vehicles onto California roads. The definition of "zero emission" and "partial zero emission" has always been slightly confusing (I mean, really, what is a partial zero?), and it just got murkier. According to Reuters, Nichols said, "All we've done is change the definition of a ZEV to allow an electric vehicle to have a little supplemental gasoline that goes with it. I don't think that it's a step backward in the real world." No, but it's not really a step forward, either.

[Source: Nichola Groom / Reuters]

At the Transportation Planning Session panel on Friday morning, the Santa Monica Alt Car Expo gave space for a variety of speakers to expound on the broad challenges confronting transportation planners in the region. While the discussion focuses on how LA can improve, there are a lot of areas in the world that face similar problems, so I thought this would be of interest to quite a few readers.

The panelists included Mary Nichols, chairperson of the California Air Resources Board; Pam O'Connor chairperson of Metro; Mark Pisano, executive director of SCAG; John Boesel, executive director of WestStart/CalStart; Stephanie Negriff from Big Blue Bus; Barry Wallerstein from AQMD; and assemblymember Lloyd Levine. The event was moderated by Craig Perkins, director of environmental and public works for the City of Santa Monica.

In the MP3 file of the talk, I've included each speaker's answer to the "one wish" question (i.e., if you had one wish, how would you fix the transportation here?). It was announced that rest of the presentation will be posted online (I'm not sure where, possibly on the AltCar site), and there should be video up at theautochannel.com. Unlike the other panels, this one did not use amplified sound, so I thank you in advance for putting up with the only OK recording quality. Give it a listen (22 min).

Mary Nichols, chairperson of the California Air Resources Board, gave what was billed as a keynots address at the Santa Monica Alt Car Expo yesterday. Big name for a half-hour talk on the future of green vehicles in California. Nichols said that the forseeable end points for CARB are two powertrain types: pure electric and hydrogen fuel cell vehicles. The reason that what CARB sees as the future is important beyond the borders of California is that so many other states look to the Golden State for not only inspiration but also laws. We know about the handful of states that have already adopted California's clean car laws, but Nichols said that even more states (Utah, anyone?) are looking to join the parade.

One of Nichols' big campaigns right now is the Drive Clean California campaign, part of CARB's expanded mission to get people to drive cleaner. Working with manufacturers, even as they fight with CARB over some issues in the courts, Drive Clean California is an expanded public outreach program. CARB will be going to health events in California and debuting an "environmental performance" label, starting with the 2008 model year vehicles. This label, in addition to the PZEV or ZEV badges, will rate each vehicle on a score of one to 10 on that vehicle's smog and global warming impact on that vehicle.

Nichols herself admits that her talk wasn't the most exciting part of the Alt Car Expo, but if you're interested in a peek into the future of green car legislation and implementation in the US, this talk is well worth your 25 minutes. Listen to the MP3 here.