SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) – California and other states with aggressive environmental agendas said on Wednesday they fear a federal climate bill may unacceptably weaken their power, in a new sign of uncertainty over compromise legislation being crafted by Senator John Kerry and his allies.

Democrat Kerry, independent Senator Joseph Lieberman and Republican Senator Lindsey Graham are expected to unveil a bill next week to cut greenhouse gas emissions that navigates among competing interests groups, after a previous effort failed.

SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) – California labor unions want to level the playing field of campaign funding with billionaire Republican candidate for governor Meg Whitman who has already spent tens of millions of dollars — but so far they have kept their ammunition dry.

Democrat Jerry Brown has also avoided expensive TV advertising early in a race that is likely to hit a spending record for non-presidential elections. The primaries, which will decide the party nominees, are in June and the election itself in November.

SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) – The ‘cloud’ of data that is becoming the heart of the Internet is creating an all-too-real cloud of pollution as Facebook, Apple and others build data centers powered by coal, Greenpeace said in a new report to be released on Tuesday.

A Facebook facility being built in Oregon will rely on a utility whose main fuel is coal, while Apple Inc is building a data warehouse in a North Carolina region that relies mostly on coal, the environmental organization said in the study.

OAKLAND, California (Reuters) – Jerry Brown wants to be the insider’s outsider, and he is using Meg Whitman to help him make the case in the race to be governor of California — for a third term.

With $14 million in the bank, well-funded allies, two terms as governor starting in 1975, and no serious rivals for the June Democratic primary, his credentials shout establishment.

SAN FRANCISCO, March 24 (Reuters) – California’s economy
will not be damaged by the state’s 2006 climate change law, a
state agency said in a report on Wednesday that counters the
business community’s arguments that the economically troubled
state will lose more jobs and businesses.

The analysis by the state Air Resources Board, the chief
regulator of the law, forecast higher energy prices from new
regulations and a cap-and-trade system for greenhouse gases,
but said greater energy efficiency would keep costs manageable
in the trend-setting environmental state.

SACRAMENTO (Reuters) – California aims to avoid major economic shocks with its carbon cap-and-trade system slated to start in 2012, the state’s chief climate change regulator said on Monday, adding that the most populous U.S. state would try to harmonize its system with any federal plan.

California vaulted to the vanguard of U.S. climate change in 2006 with an aggressive law that aimed to cut greenhouse gas emissions to 1990 levels by 2020 and make it the trend-setter in clean energy and technology.

SAN FRANCISCO, March 21 (Reuters) – The California
governor’s race is on track to be the most expensive
nonpresidential election in U.S. history, sparking a debate
over money and influence that could become the campaign’s
defining issue.

Republican front-runner Meg Whitman, the billionaire former
CEO of online auction house eBay Inc <EBAY.O>, will likely face
off in November against Democrat Jerry Brown, a former governor
and career politician backed by labor unions with many millions
of dollars in potential contributions at their disposal.

SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) – Democratic stalwart Barbara Boxer risks losing her U.S. Senate seat in the November election, a California poll showed on Thursday, in a sign that voter backlash is spreading to a reliably liberal state.

President Barack Obama is defending strong Democratic majorities in Congress at a time when dissatisfaction is high and the controlling party has failed to pass two high priority bills, on health care and climate change.

SAN FRANCISCO, March 18 (Reuters) – Democratic stalwart
Barbara Boxer risks losing her U.S. Senate seat in the November
election, a California poll showed on Thursday, in a sign that
voter backlash is spreading to a reliably liberal state.

President Barack Obama is defending strong Democratic
majorities in Congress at a time when dissatisfaction is high
and the controlling party has failed to pass two high priority
bills, on health care and climate change.

SAN FRANCISCO, March 11 (Reuters) – As U.S. prospects for a
national climate change bill fade, five U.S. states and
Canadian provinces are on track to start a cap-and-trade market
for carbon dioxide in 2012, say officials who see fading
federal momentum boosting regional efforts.

California, the keystone market with the eighth-largest
economy in the world, New Mexico, and the Canadian provinces of
Ontario, British Columbia and Quebec all plan to join the
system meant to combat climate change and boost economies by
creating green jobs such as for workers who build alternative
energy equipment.