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newsclips -- CARB Newsclips for March 14, 2017

Posted: 14 Mar 2017 16:41:50
This is a service of the California Air Resources Board’s Office
of Communications.  You may need to sign in or register with
individual websites to view some of the following news articles.



CARB BUSINESS

The 2017 Annual Report to the Legislature on California Climate
Investments Using Cap-and-Trade Auction Proceeds is now
available. The Air Resources Board has also updated the
interactive map and list of each California Climate Investment
project in the State.  The report, map, and project list can be
found at:  caclimateinvestments.ca.gov .

The California Air Resources Board (CARB) is hosting a public
workshop to present the 2017 Climate Change Scoping Plan Update:
The Proposed Strategy for Achieving California’s 2030 Greenhouse
Gas Target (Proposed Plan) and solicit stakeholder input on the
Proposed Plan. CARB staff will present an overview of the
Proposed Plan and present refinements to the plan as part of the
development of the final Scoping Plan.  These refinements include
updates to emissions modeling and economic analyses. 

The workshop is open to the public and full participation by all
parties is encouraged:

DATE: Tuesday, March 28, 2017
TIME: 10:00 am to 3:00 pm
PLACE: 
California Environmental Protection Agency (CalEPA) Byron Sher
Auditorium
1001 I Street, 2nd Floor
Sacramento, California 95814

A live webcast of the workshop will be available at:
https://video.calepa.ca.gov/


Please consider the following news release from the California
Air Resources Board:
https://www.arb.ca.gov/newsrel/newsrelease.php?id=903

The California Air Resources Board (CARB) invites you to
participate in a public workshop on the Fiscal Year (FY) 2017-18
Funding Plan for Low Carbon Transportation Investments, Air
Quality Improvement Program (AQIP), and the potential $25 million
Volkswagen settlement funds for zero-emission vehicle (ZEV)
aspects of vehicle replacement programs. The meeting will be held
at the following time and place:

Date:                     Thursday, April 6, 2017
Time:                     9:30 a.m. to 4 p.m.
Place:                    Cal/EPA Headquarters Building
                              Coastal Hearing Room, Second Floor
                              1001 I Street
                              Sacramento, California 95814

A meeting notice for the workshop is posted at: 
https://www.arb.ca.gov/msprog/aqip/meetings/meetings.htm    

The California Air Resources Board (ARB) staff has posted the
staff presentation for the Low Carbon Fuel Standard Working
Meeting on March 17, 2017, that will focus on potentially
including alternative jet fuel in the LCFS. The presentation can
be found at:
http://www.arb.ca.gov/fuels/lcfs/lcfs_meetings/lcfs_meetings.htm.

                                                                 
                                           
The California Air Resource Board has posted an updated Notice of
Upcoming Low Carbon Fuel Standard Credits Release for Non-Metered
Residential Electric Vehicle Charging. 
http://www.arb.ca.gov/fuels/lcfs/workgroups/elect/022217notice.pdf
        

Request for Proposal (RFP):  Data Monitoring, Collection, and
Analysis for Projects Granted under Fiscal Year (FY) 2014-15 Air
Quality Improvement Program (AQIP) and Low Carbon Transportation
Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund (GGRF) Investments. 

The California Air Resources Board is seeking a contractor to
monitor, collect, and analyze data for heavy-duty vehicle,
off-road equipment, and bulk ship projects granted under AQIP and
Low Carbon Transportation GGRF Investments, as identified in the
fiscal year (FY) 14-15 Funding Plan approved by the Board in June
2014.  The contractor shall collect and monitor vehicle and
facility data, as applicable, such as vehicle specifications and
performance data, as well as capital costs and operation and
maintenance data for vehicles and facilities. 

RFP Information: The Data Monitoring, Collection, and Analysis
for Projects Granted under FY 14-15 AQIP and Low Carbon
Transportation GGRF Investments RFP advertisement is available
at: 
https://caleprocure.ca.gov/pages/Events-BS3/event-search.aspx    
  
(Event ID 0000004538).  In order to submit a response, please
register on the Cal eProcure website at:
https://caleprocure.ca.gov/pages/      

The final date for the proposal submission is Friday, March 24,
2017, 3:00 p.m., Pacific Standard Time.


AIR POLLUTION

B vitamins may have 'protective effect' against air pollution.
Researchers in the US found that high doses of these supplements
may "completely offset" the damage caused by very fine
particulate matter. The scientists involved say the effect is
real but stress the limitations of their work. Follow up studies
are urgently needed, they say, in heavily polluted cities like
Beijing or Mexico.
http://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-39231896 

Madrid to Ban Old Cars by 2025 in Crackdown on Air Pollution.
Madrid's city government announced plans on Monday to ban the
oldest and most polluting vehicles from the city center by 2025
in a bid to crackdown on air pollution. The local government will
prohibit the use within the city's limits of gasoline cars
registered before 2000 and diesel-powered cars registered before
2006, which at the moment account for 20 percent of all those
registered.
http://www.voanews.com/a/madrid-to-ban-old-cars-by-2025-in-crackdown-on-air-pollution/3764162.html


CLIMATE CHANGE

Trump’s defense chief cites climate change as national security
challenge.
Secretary of Defense James Mattis has asserted that climate
change is real, and a threat to American interests abroad and the
Pentagon’s assets everywhere, a position that appears at odds
with the views of the president who appointed him and many in the
administration in which he serves. In unpublished written
testimony provided to the Senate Armed Services Committee after
his confirmation hearing in January, Mattis said it was incumbent
on the U.S. military to consider how changes like open-water
routes in the thawing Arctic and drought in global trouble spots
can pose challenges for troops and defense planners. He also
stressed this is a real-time issue, not some distant what-if.
http://www.sciencemag.org/news/2017/03/trump-s-defense-chief-cites-climate-change-national-security-challenge


Climate Change Complicates the Whole Dam Debate.
With California now on track to have the rainiest year in its
history—on the heels of its worst drought in 500 years—the state
has become a daily reminder that extreme weather events are on
the rise. And the recent near-collapse of the spillway at
California’s massive Oroville Dam put an exclamation point on the
potentially catastrophic risks. More than 4,000 dams in the U.S.
are now rated unsafe because of structural or other deficiencies.
Bringing the entire system of 90,000 dams up to current standards
would cost about $79 billion, according to the Association of
State Dam Safety Officials.
https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/climate-change-complicates-the-whole-dam-debate/


Depression, anxiety, PTSD: The mental impact of climate change.
It's a dream many city-dwellers long for: moving to a spacious
house surrounded by greenery in the countryside, where they plan
to raise their family. In 1996, Heather Shepherd, now 50, and her
family did just that. Moving away from the congestion and noise
of their north London home, they migrated to a 17th-century
farmhouse that they would renovate and make their sanctuary.
http://www.cnn.com/2017/03/14/health/climate-change-mental-health-eprise/


Meteorologists refute EPA head on climate change.
The nation’s top organization for meteorology is refuting
Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Administrator Scott
Pruitt’s recent comments on the role of carbon dioxide in climate
change. Pruitt questioned mainstream climate science last week,
saying in a CNBC interview, “I would not agree that [carbon
dioxide is] a primary contributor to the global warming that we
see.” The American Meteorological Society wrote a letter to
Pruitt Monday saying he is wrong.
http://thehill.com/policy/energy-environment/323654-meteorologists-refute-epa-head-on-climate-change


A Spark Of Hope For Climate Change Reality.
When it comes to facing the reality of climate change, the
Republican Party, now led by the Trump Administration, has been
slipping ever farther from its roots as a champion of American
science. Last week brought further evidence of this disconnect —
but it also held out a glimmer of hope that the party's turn away
from the U.S. effort in science is not universal.
http://www.npr.org/sections/13.7/2017/03/14/520022064/a-spark-of-hope-for-climate-change-reality


British scientists face a ‘huge hit’ if the US cuts climate
change research.
UK scientists are warning they may be unable to carry out crucial
research on climate change if Donald Trump cuts climate science
funding in the US. Trump tweeted in 2014 that research on global
warming is “very expensive bullshit” that “has to stop”.
Scientists are braced to find out whether his administration will
put these words into practice. The early signs are not good. Last
month Scott Pruitt, one of the US Environmental Protection
Agency’s fiercest critics, was named as its new head. There are
rumours that the budget of its office for research could be cut
by more than 40% as part of extensive overall cuts.
https://www.theguardian.com/education/2017/mar/14/british-scientists-us-climate-change-research-trump


‘This … follows from the basic laws of physics’: Scientists
rebuke Scott Pruitt on climate change.
The controversy continues over Environmental Protection Agency
Administrator Scott Pruitt’s statement Thursday questioning the
most important scientific conclusion about climate change —
namely, that it is driven by human beings. “I think that
measuring with precision human activity on the climate is
something very challenging to do, and there’s tremendous
disagreement about the degree of impact, so no, I would not agree
that it’s a primary contributor to the global warming that we
see,” Pruitt said on CNBC — triggering a wide range of rebukes in
the process.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/energy-environment/wp/2017/03/13/this-follows-from-the-basic-laws-of-physics-scientists-rebuke-scott-pruitt-on-climate/?utm_term=.6baae2c14ad2

Trump is poised to issue a sweeping order dismantling Obama's
climate plan this week.
President Donald Trump could issue a sweeping executive order
aimed at reversing his predecessor's climate policies any day
this week, a measure that energy industry officials and
environmentalists have been anticipating for weeks. The directive
will instruct members of the Cabinet to rewrite regulation
restricting carbon emissions from both new and existing power
plants, lift a moratorium on federal coal leasing and revise the
way climate change is factored into federal decision-making - all
key elements of the Obama administration's effort to address
climate change.
http://www.stltoday.com/news/local/govt-and-politics/trump-is-poised-to-issue-a-sweeping-order-dismantling-obama/article_eb8ec175-00ac-5301-a13b-ebd22777356a.html


U.S. Bishops indicate to Sec of State Tillerson Global Warming is
their top foreign-policy priority.
March 13, 2017 (Population Research Institute) – Shortly after
Rex Tillerson was confirmed as Secretary of State, senior
officials of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops and
Catholic Relief Services wrote him an impassioned plea. It was
their way of introducing themselves to the foreign policy
community of the new administration, so the Secretary undoubtedly
considered their letter to be a statement describing the highest
foreign-policy priorities of Catholics in America. 
https://www.lifesitenews.com/opinion/u.s.-bishops-indicate-to-sec-of-state-tillerson-that-global-warming-is-thei
 

Atmospheric carbon dioxide hits record levels.
The amount of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere has increased at
an unprecedented pace in the last two years, even as Trump
administration officials discount the relevance of a number that
many climate scientists find deeply disturbing. The CO2 measured
at the Mauna Loa Baseline Atmospheric Observatory in Hawaii hit
405.1 parts per million last year, the National Oceanic and
Atmospheric Administration announced. 
http://www.eenews.net/climatewire/2017/03/14/stories/1060051412 

Louisiana wetlands struggling with sea-level rise four times the
global average.
Without major efforts to rebuild Louisiana's wetlands,
particularly in the westernmost part of the state, there is
little chance that the coast will be able to withstand the
accelerating rate of sea-level rise, a new Tulane University
study concludes. The study by researchers in Tulane's Department
of Earth and Environmental Sciences and published in the
open-access journal Nature Communications shows that the rate of
sea-level rise in the region over the past six to 10 years
amounts to half an inch per year on average.
https://phys.org/news/2017-03-louisiana-wetlands-struggling-sea-level-global.html


VOLKSWAGEN

States Plan Ahead for Volkswagen Settlement.
States are about to get $2.7 billion under a settlement with
Volkswagen for its scandal involving diesel-engine cars sold with
defeat devices, which allowed the vehicles to sail through
emissions tests despite emitting way more pollution than allowed
under federal standards.   The 2016 settlement over Volkswagen’s
2.0-liter diesel engine cars established a $2.7 billion
mitigation trust fund, reports Bloomberg BNA reporter Patrick
Ambrosio. The EPA and California Air Resources Board announced in
September 2015 that Volkswagen and Audi sold about 480,000
vehicles fitted with these devices intended to bypass emissions
testing protocols.
https://www.bna.com/states-plan-ahead-b57982085138/ 

FUELS

EU Parliament 2020 Resolution on Biofuels Imports, Market
Reacts.
As published by Chain Reaction Research, the environment
committee of the European Parliament last week adopted a
resolution, in a 56 to 1 vote, urging the European Commission to
phase out the use of vegetable oils for biofuels by 2020.
Lawmakers also urged that all palm oil entering the EU by 2020 be
covered by a single certification mechanism. The next step occurs
next month, when the full House of the EU Parliament will vote on
the resolution.
http://www.valuewalk.com/2017/03/eu-parliament-2020-resolution-biofuels-imports-market-reacts/


More states consider boosting renewable fuel mandates.
If climate change was a nail, a renewable portfolio standard
would be policymakers' favorite hammer. No tool is more popular
in America for tackling a global rise in temperature. Today, 29
states require utilities to secure a certain percentage of their
electricity from sources like wind and solar. And with President
Trump rolling back federal climate initiatives in Washington,
states are considering their renewable energy requirements with
renewed vigor.
www.eenews.net/climatewire/2017/03/14/stories/1060051387 

GREEN ENERGY

Renewable energy targets already met by 11 EU Members.
Share of renewables in energy consumption in the European Union
(EU) reached almost 17 per cent in 2015, with eleven EU Member
States already achieving their 2020 targets. On Tuesday 14 March,
the European Commission announced that for 2015 the share of
energy from renewable sources in gross final consumption of
energy reached 16.7 per cent in the EU, almost double the 8.5 per
cent recorded in 2004.
http://www.climateactionprogramme.org/news/renewable_energy_targets_already_met_by_11_eu_members

Germany’s High-Priced Energy Revolution.
As many generations of Dieter Dürrmeier’s family as he can track
have grown vegetables and tended livestock here in Opfingen, a
hilly corner of southern Germany near the French and Swiss
borders. Over the decades the Dürrmeiers have adapted, ever on
the lookout for new ways to make money. In 1963, Dürrmeier’s
father exploited cheap government loans to move his 136-acre farm
from the crowded village to the outskirts of town.
https://fortune.com/2017/03/14/germany-renewable-clean-energy-solar/


How Morocco tapped into Africa's renewable energy potential.
Providing reliable, affordable and sustainable access to energy
has become a core focus of the international development
community and is the seventh goal of the 2015 United Nations
Sustainable Development Goals. Roughly 1.2 billion people, or 17
percent of the global population, are energy poor, meaning that
they have no access to electricity. Meanwhile, more than 2.7
billion people, primarily in developing Asia and sub-Saharan
Africa, rely on fuelwood and other traditional biomass sources
for cooking.
https://www.greenbiz.com/article/how-morocco-tapped-africas-renewable-energy-potential


BLOGS

Trump’s Business Council Is a Who’s Who of Renewable Energy
Investors and Climate Champions.
If Donald Trump asked the executives sitting on his business
advisory council for advice about energy policy, what kind of
answer would he get? Judging by the billions of dollars those
executives are pouring into renewables and carbon reduction
programs, they'd probably tell him to emphasize the clean stuff.
https://www.greentechmedia.com/articles/read/trumps-business-council-is-investing-billions-of-dollars-in-clean-energy




California is in a drought emergency.
Visit www.SaveOurH2O.org for water conservation tips.

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