CA AIR BOARD COMROMISED BY POLLUTERS

To Chairwoman Nichols: California is watching and will not let CARB do to the emissions legislation what it did to the electric car.

Head of air board holds energy stocks; New chairwoman says she’ll put investments into blind trust to avoid conflicts of interest
August 19, 2007 (AP via Contra Costa Times)

WHO
Mary Nichols, new chairwoman, California Air Resources Board (CARB)

Newly appointed CARB chairwoman Mary D. Nichols.

WHAT
Nichols owns stock in 13 energy-related companies including Chevron, Royal Dutch Shell, BP PLC, a crude oil shipping company and Peabody Energy Corp., the world's largest coal company. CARB will be making decisions on greenhouse gas (GHG) reduction measures that will significantly impact these companies. Nichols admits the holdings represent a potential conflict of interest and will move them to a blind trust.

WHEN
- Nichols was appointed July 3.
- Nichols stock holdings were reported August 18. She says she will nove the holdings to the blind trust before the CARB September 27 meeting.

WHERE
- Holdings reported in the San Francisco Chronicle.
- CARB is based in Sacramento, California’s capital.

WHY
- Nichols was appointed by Governor Schwarzenegger.
- The $1 million+ holdings were revealed in Nichol’s recently filed financial disclosure.
Nichols has already presided over a 2-day CARB hearing on off-road diesel vehicle emissions regulations but claims there was no conflict there.
- Attorney John Daum, Nichols’ husband, represents ExxonMobil. (NewEnergyNews: She holds him in a sort of blind trust called marriage. But does California have to do so as well?)
- CARB lawyers are studying the situation. Environmentalists say Nichols should sell the stock.
- A neutral Sacramento academic (Barbara O'Connor, director, Sacramento State University's Institute for the Study of Politics and the Media) said the stock holdings were surprising.

Influenced, many believe, by pressure from the oil and auto industries, the California Air Resources Board cancelled its commitment to Zero Emissions Vehicles, dooming the electric car and California air quality. (click to enlarge)

QUOTES
- Nichols: "This is family money, and it's a joint decision (between my husband and me), and the decision is to invest it for the best long-term yield for us and our family…"
- Bill Magavern, lobbyist, Sierra Club: "I think it's a wise policy for regulators to divest themselves from holdings in companies that they regulate…It's important to avoid any conflict of interest, and it's important to avoid any appearance of conflict of interest."