Air quality regulators reach out to business community
| Tuesday, Feb 16 2010 07:06 PM
Last Updated Tuesday, Feb 16 2010 07:06 PM
Winners of the Greater Bakersfield Green Business Awards were announced Tuesday. They are:
* State Farm Insurance - Bakersfield Operations Center
State Farm's California Green Space Program is an expanded recycling and sustainability program that has greatly reduced waste streams by methods such as donating used eyeglasses to senior citizens.
* Crimson Renewable Energy - Biodiesel Plant
Last year Crimson finished work on the state's largest biodiesel plant, capable of producing up to 30 million gallons of biodiesel from multiple sources.
* Kern Wind Energy Association - Wind Corridor Mapping Program
The association spearheaded an effort to map eastern Kern's wind corridor for the benefit of future wind power development.
* Kern County Airports & Regenesis Power LLC - Meadows Field Solar Array
The county Airports Department contracted Regenesis to finance, build and maintain a six-acre solar field that provides two-thirds of the Bill Thomas Terminal's electricity needs.
Source: Greater Bakersfield Chamber of Commerce
An olive branch went out to Bakersfield's business community Tuesday as state air quality regulators took an opportunity to quiet suspicions that they're bent on quashing profits and costing people their jobs.
At the annual Energy & Clean Air Business Exposition, high-ranking officials from Sacramento and Fresno staked out the disputed assertion that recent legislation won't necessarily hurt business, let alone reduce California's competitive advantage against other states without aggressive air quality rules.
Mary Nichols, chairwoman of the state Air Resources Board, said far-reaching rules expected to result from AB 32 -- the 2006 law that aims to reduce greenhouse gas emissions -- presents the "potential for prosperity here if we do it right."
That was no easy sell, even for an audience that spent much of Tuesday morning hearing how environmentally responsible measures such as ridesharing and energy efficiency improvements can lower business costs and improve employee productivity.
Joe MacIlvaine, president of Paramount Farming Co., and Bruce Freeman, president of Castle & Cooke California, Inc., spoke as panelists following Nichols' luncheon speech. Although they proudly shared their various voluntary efforts to conserve energy and reduce air pollution, neither offered much of an endorsement of the state's regulatory activities.
For MacIlvaine, pruning trees was an apt analogy: You have to do it, but it doesn't increase productivity no matter how it's done.
"We just have to be careful how you do it," he said.
Freeman said energy-efficient amenities often have no effect on a home's market value, and that punitive fees on residential development -- from traffic impacts to endangered species protection -- tend to make housing more expensive and drive jobs out of state.
Nichols' claim that regulation can enhance business efficiency was not the only tactic taken by regulators at Tuesday's event. Representatives of the San Joaquin Valley Air Pollution Control District took a softer approach, acknowledging that they don't have all the answers and inviting businesses to share their ideas for meeting regulatory goals.
This strategy came up mostly with regard to new rules requiring that businesses with 100 or more full-time workers register with the district to take part in an employee trip reduction plan. Although registration is mandatory, employee participation is voluntary.
District spokeswoman Jaime Holt said that, contrary to common perception, the district does not look for ways to regulate business. In fact, she added, the agency wants to know about new ways to meet the state's goals.
Unfortunately, she said, businesses tend to react with skepticism.
"Their first response is, 'What am I going to have to do, and what is it going to cost me?'" she said.
Overcoming that kind of suspicion was a big part of the reason for the event, said Debra Moreno, CEO of the Greater Bakersfield Chamber of Commerce, which hosted the expo.
Not only does better communication between business and regulators help companies comply with new laws, Moreno said, it also helps state agencies understand what private industry goes through.
"Who knows better how to run a business than a business person?" she asked.
