CARB Awareness Group Newsletter
(CARB = California Air Resources Board)  
Third Newsletter - SPECIAL EDITION 

   8/28/2010  Issue #3
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This is the third newsletter of the CARB Awareness Group.  The purpose of this group is to provide information on CARB and how you can help to reduce the over-regulation of this entity. 

DR. JAMES ENSTROM - FIRED FROM UCLA - RETALIATION??  

Enstrom
CARB Awareness Group
Dr. James Enstrom
, a 34-year professor and researcher with UCLA's Environmental Health Sciences Department, was notified in June that he would be fired from UCLA Aug. 30 because his "research is not aligned with the academic mission of the Department," according to a letter from that department.

Enstrom had appealed the decision, interested parties also helped him appeal the decision, but he was told in a cold and calculated manor that he was out. After 21 state legislators pointed out in a joint letter to UCLA's chancellor that Enstrom's appeal was not given due process, UCLA's administrators finally got the message. The legislators also threatened to hold public hearings in Sacramento if Enstrom was fired before the appeal process ran its course.

In fact, Enstrom was forced into filing a "whistleblower" action against his department and school, finally his appeal made the university reconsider.

We believe along with Dr. Enstrom, that many within the UC system health science departments were committed to retaliating against his scientific integrity.

Mary Nichols, a UCLA Law Professor, is the Chair of CARBJohn Froines Ph.D. of UCLA was a long time member on the CARB Scientific Review Panel.  Other UCLA faculty have benefited from generous funding from CARB and CARB allied sources.  Enstrom is the target of a reprehensible effort to vilify and discredit an opponent of CARB policy making and overreach.
 
Dr. Enstrom insisted on public health research that is honest and reliable and it is time to demand that UCLA and the University of California live up to their public responsibilities to provide research and public information that is borne of honest academic research guided by integrity and adherence to the scientific method. 
 
Enstrom is one of a growing number of scientists who have found that diesel emissions related to PM2.5 (air-borne particles smaller than 2.5 micros) have little to no effect on premature deaths, at least in California where over 90% of the PM2.5 is caused by fires, road dust, wind and industrial and energy production. However, his research and politically incorrect conclusions has made him a pariah in his own department.

Rather than considering Enstrom's work (a 2005 study that has been published, peer-reviewed and stood up under environmentalism activist criticism over the years), CARB and now the EPA have instead misquoted and even manipulated his research and ultimately deleted it from important scientific reports justifying their regulations.

The first time was in a report written by disgraced CARB researcher and employee Hien Tran who, it was discovered by Enstrom and others, had lied about having a Ph.D from UC Davis - he bought it online for $1,000. The Tran report clams that 3,500 Californians supposedly die prematurely each year from exposure to diesel PM2.5 emissions. This report was used to justify stringent new regulations for the trucking industry by CARB that would decimate the trucking industry and the loss of tens of thousands of jobs. (Tran still has his $95K/year CARB job)

After Tran's deception was revealed, as well as an attempted cover up by CARB Chairwoman Mary Nichols and CARB's management, the board vowed to have the Tran report properly "redone". Instead, they've now decided to use a new even more suspicious EPA health effects assessment that lowers the allowable levels for fine PM (2.5 microns) and large PM (10 micros) and has even thrown in a new health effect "light extinction". Clearly, in an attempt to redirect attention and criticism away from CARB, the EPA and (USC's Jonathan Samet) was politically forced to focus the fraud on EPA's newly proposed PM health effects report. A classical bait-and-switch paradigm.
Even The California Legislature Smells a Rat with Enstrom's Firing
Letter from Legislature
legislatureenstrom
 
21 California Legislaters wrote a letter to UCLA Chancellor Block demanding that proper procedures be followed regarding Dr. Enstrom's dismissal.  They also want to be assured that he be given his full rights including his right to appeal his firing.  The legislators warn that if he is not provided his rights that they will hold a hearing in Sacramento on this matter. 
 
Click here or on the image to load and read the letter.
What if I Want to Read More on Dr. Enstrom's "untimely" Firing?
Click on any of the links below to read articles on this subject. 
 
 
I WANT TO HELP, BUT WHAT CAN I DO?
There is a great deal you can do!  This list goes to over 3,700 people and if everyone does a bit, it makes a HUGE difference.  First of all, each of you should email UCLA Chancellor Gene Block that you expect a full investigation into Dr. Enstom's firing.  Chancellor Block's contact information can be found here. His email address is [email protected]
 
You can also contact Mark Yudoff, the President of the University of California. Click for contact information. His email address is [email protected]
 
Almost more important, email the John and Ken show with your concern about Dr. Enstrom's firing.  John and Ken host a syndicated talk show in Los Angeles that has the largest listenership base in California.  If they cover this, it will have a huge impact.  Email John and Ken at [email protected]
 
Also send letters to CARB and the Governor letting them know how you feel and what you expect.
 
Many more CARB documents can be found at www.box.net/carb    
 
UPDATE: As a result of the political pressure so far, Dr. Enstrom has been allowed a short reprieve on his firing until his appeal is heard.  This is why we need all of you to insist the proper process is followed. 
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Sincerely,
CARB Awareness Group