java.lang.NoSuchMethodError: org.apache.xerces.impl.xs.XMLSchemaLoader.loadGrammar

When i try to build my first project using maven, i get the following exceptions

SEVERE: Critical error during deployment: 
java.lang.NoSuchMethodError: org.apache.xerces.impl.xs.XMLSchemaLoader.loadGrammar([Lorg/apache/xerces/xni/parser/XMLInputSource;)V
    at org.apache.xerces.jaxp.validation.XMLSchemaFactory.newSchema(Unknown Source)
    at javax.xml.validation.SchemaFactory.newSchema(SchemaFactory.java:594)
    at com.sun.faces.config.DbfFactory.initStatics(DbfFactory.java:248)
    at com.sun.faces.config.DbfFactory.<clinit>(DbfFactory.java:208)
    at com.sun.faces.config.ConfigManager$ParseTask.<init>(ConfigManager.java:893)
    at com.sun.faces.config.ConfigManager.getConfigDocuments(ConfigManager.java:653)
    at com.sun.faces.config.ConfigManager.initialize(ConfigManager.java:322)
    at com.sun.faces.config.ConfigureListener.contextInitialized(ConfigureListener.java:225)
    at org.apache.catalina.core.StandardContext.listenerStart(StandardContext.java:3972)
    at org.apache.catalina.core.StandardContext.start(StandardContext.java:4467)
    at org.apache.catalina.core.ContainerBase.start(ContainerBase.java:1045)
    at org.apache.catalina.core.StandardHost.start(StandardHost.java:785)
    at org.apache.catalina.core.ContainerBase.start(ContainerBase.java:1045)
    at org.apache.catalina.core.StandardEngine.start(StandardEngine.java:443)
    at org.apache.catalina.core.StandardService.start(StandardService.java:519)
    at org.apache.catalina.core.StandardServer.start(StandardServer.java:710)
    at org.apache.catalina.startup.Catalina.start(Catalina.java:581)
    at sun.reflect.NativeMethodAccessorImpl.invoke0(Native Method)
    at sun.reflect.NativeMethodAccessorImpl.invoke(NativeMethodAccessorImpl.java:39)
    at sun.reflect开发者_开发技巧.DelegatingMethodAccessorImpl.invoke(DelegatingMethodAccessorImpl.java:25)
    at java.lang.reflect.Method.invoke(Method.java:597)
    at org.apache.catalina.startup.Bootstrap.start(Bootstrap.java:289)
    at org.apache.catalina.startup.Bootstrap.main(Bootstrap.java:414)
25/09/2011 02:40:15 م org.apache.catalina.core.StandardContext listenerStart
SEVERE: Exception sending context initialized event to listener instance of class com.sun.faces.config.ConfigureListener
java.lang.RuntimeException: java.lang.NoSuchMethodError: org.apache.xerces.impl.xs.XMLSchemaLoader.loadGrammar([Lorg/apache/xerces/xni/parser/XMLInputSource;)V
    at com.sun.faces.config.ConfigureListener.contextInitialized(ConfigureListener.java:292)
    at org.apache.catalina.core.StandardContext.listenerStart(StandardContext.java:3972)
    at org.apache.catalina.core.StandardContext.start(StandardContext.java:4467)
    at org.apache.catalina.core.ContainerBase.start(ContainerBase.java:1045)
    at org.apache.catalina.core.StandardHost.start(StandardHost.java:785)
    at org.apache.catalina.core.ContainerBase.start(ContainerBase.java:1045)
    at org.apache.catalina.core.StandardEngine.start(StandardEngine.java:443)
    at org.apache.catalina.core.StandardService.start(StandardService.java:519)
    at org.apache.catalina.core.StandardServer.start(StandardServer.java:710)
    at org.apache.catalina.startup.Catalina.start(Catalina.java:581)
    at sun.reflect.NativeMethodAccessorImpl.invoke0(Native Method)
    at sun.reflect.NativeMethodAccessorImpl.invoke(NativeMethodAccessorImpl.java:39)
    at sun.reflect.DelegatingMethodAccessorImpl.invoke(DelegatingMethodAccessorImpl.java:25)
    at java.lang.reflect.Method.invoke(Method.java:597)
    at org.apache.catalina.startup.Bootstrap.start(Bootstrap.java:289)
    at org.apache.catalina.startup.Bootstrap.main(Bootstrap.java:414)
Caused by: java.lang.NoSuchMethodError: org.apache.xerces.impl.xs.XMLSchemaLoader.loadGrammar([Lorg/apache/xerces/xni/parser/XMLInputSource;)V
    at org.apache.xerces.jaxp.validation.XMLSchemaFactory.newSchema(Unknown Source)
    at javax.xml.validation.SchemaFactory.newSchema(SchemaFactory.java:594)
    at com.sun.faces.config.DbfFactory.initStatics(DbfFactory.java:248)
    at com.sun.faces.config.DbfFactory.<clinit>(DbfFactory.java:208)
    at com.sun.faces.config.ConfigManager$ParseTask.<init>(ConfigManager.java:893)
    at com.sun.faces.config.ConfigManager.getConfigDocuments(ConfigManager.java:653)
    at com.sun.faces.config.ConfigManager.initialize(ConfigManager.java:322)
    at com.sun.faces.config.ConfigureListener.contextInitialized(ConfigureListener.java:225)
    ... 15 more
25/09/2011 02:40:15 م org.apache.catalina.core.StandardContext start
SEVERE: Error listenerStart
25/09/2011 02:40:15 م org.apache.catalina.core.StandardContext start
SEVERE: Context [/spring_faces] startup failed due to previous errors
25/09/2011 02:40:16 م org.icefaces.impl.push.servlet.ICEpushResourceHandler notifyContextShutdown
INFO: MainServlet not found in application scope: java.lang.NullPointerException
25/09/2011 02:40:16 م com.sun.faces.config.ConfigureListener contextDestroyed
SEVERE: Unexpected exception when attempting to tear down the Mojarra runtime
java.lang.IllegalStateException: Application was not properly initialized at startup, could not find Factory: javax.faces.application.ApplicationFactory
    at javax.faces.FactoryFinder$FactoryManager.getFactory(FactoryFinder.java:894)
    at javax.faces.FactoryFinder.getFactory(FactoryFinder.java:319)
    at com.sun.faces.config.InitFacesContext.getApplication(InitFacesContext.java:112)
    at com.sun.faces.config.ConfigureListener.contextDestroyed(ConfigureListener.java:325)
    at org.apache.catalina.core.StandardContext.listenerStop(StandardContext.java:4011)
    at org.apache.catalina.core.StandardContext.stop(StandardContext.java:4615)
    at org.apache.catalina.core.StandardContext.start(StandardContext.java:4512)
    at org.apache.catalina.core.ContainerBase.start(ContainerBase.java:1045)
    at org.apache.catalina.core.StandardHost.start(StandardHost.java:785)
    at org.apache.catalina.core.ContainerBase.start(ContainerBase.java:1045)
    at org.apache.catalina.core.StandardEngine.start(StandardEngine.java:443)
    at org.apache.catalina.core.StandardService.start(StandardService.java:519)
    at org.apache.catalina.core.StandardServer.start(StandardServer.java:710)
    at org.apache.catalina.startup.Catalina.start(Catalina.java:581)
    at sun.reflect.NativeMethodAccessorImpl.invoke0(Native Method)
    at sun.reflect.NativeMethodAccessorImpl.invoke(NativeMethodAccessorImpl.java:39)
    at sun.reflect.DelegatingMethodAccessorImpl.invoke(DelegatingMethodAccessorImpl.java:25)
    at java.lang.reflect.Method.invoke(Method.java:597)
    at org.apache.catalina.startup.Bootstrap.start(Bootstrap.java:289)
    at org.apache.catalina.startup.Bootstrap.main(Bootstrap.java:414)
25/09/2011 02:40:16 م org.apache.catalina.core.ApplicationContext log
INFO: Closing Spring root WebApplicationContext
25/09/2011 02:40:16 م org.apache.catalina.loader.WebappClassLoader clearReferencesJdbc
SEVERE: A web application registered the JBDC driver [org.postgresql.Driver] but failed to unregister it when the web application was stopped. To prevent a memory leak, the JDBC Driver has been forcibly unregistered.
25/09/2011 02:40:16 م org.apache.catalina.loader.WebappClassLoader clearThreadLocalMap
SEVERE: A web application created a ThreadLocal with key of type [null] (value [javax.faces.context.FacesContext$1@678fb397]) and a value of type [com.sun.faces.config.InitFacesContext] (value [com.sun.faces.config.InitFacesContext@b57b39f]) but failed to remove it when the web application was stopped. To prevent a memory leak, the ThreadLocal has been forcibly removed.
log4j:ERROR LogMananger.repositorySelector was null likely due to error in class reloading, using NOPLoggerRepository.

Evidently, the stacktrace has nothing to do with maven. Instead it is the error deploying the web application.

Quoting from this possibly related discussion thread.

You're probably picking up an incompatible mix of classes from Xerces 2.8.1 and some old version of Xerces (something prior to 2.7.0) which is somewhere on your classpath or perhaps in the endorsed directory of your JDK 1.4 installation.