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newsclips -- CARB Newsclips for May 8, 2017.
Posted: 08 May 2017 14:12:06
CARB Newsclips for May 8, 2017. 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 Presentation is available for downloading!. David Rapson, Ph.D. University of California, Davis Tuesday, May 9, 2017 at 1:30 p.m., PDT (WEBCAST) Sierra Hearing Room, 2nd Floor, CalEPA Building 1001 I Street, Sacramento, California California has committed to reducing overall statewide GHG emissions by 40% below the 1990 levels by 2030 through Senate Bill 32 (SB 32, the California Global Warming Solutions Act of 2006). In order to achieve this goal, significant changes in household transportation choices must be made. This study analyzed multi-year statewide household vehicle-level data to explore the entire process of household vehicle choice, holding, and usage. For more go to the announcement at: http://www.arb.ca.gov/research/seminars/rapson/rapson.htm Staff from the California Department of Transportation, the California Air Resources Board, the California Energy Commission, and the Governor’s Office of Business and Economic Development invite you to participate in workshops to discuss implementation of the California Sustainable Freight Action Plan (Action Plan). The workshops will be held at the locations and on the dates noted below. The agencies will follow the same format and show the same presentation at each of the workshop locations. OAKLAND: May 9, 2017 LOS ANGELES: May 30, 2017 SAN DIEGO: May 31, 2017 For more information on the California Sustainable Freight Action Plan including _________________________ David Cocker, PhD University of California, Riverside. Tuesday, May 16, 2017 at 10:00 a.m., PDT (WEBCAST) Sierra Hearing Room, 2nd Floor, CalEPA Building 1001 I Street, Sacramento, California Low vapor pressure-volatile organic compounds (LVP-VOCs) are a set of VOCs currently exempted for VOC content based on a combination of boiling point, vapor pressure, and/or elution time from a GC-column. This work explores evaporation rates and secondary pollutant formation from a series of individual LVP-VOCs associated with consumer products, select generic consumer products that include these LVP-VOCs, and several hydrocarbon solvents. For more go to the announcement at: http://www.arb.ca.gov/research/seminars/cocker/cocker.htm Air Resources Board staff have posted a white paper on the health benefits of physical activity and air pollution exposure while walking and bicycling for transportation. Download the White Paper: https://www.arb.ca.gov/research/vprp/physical_activity_and_health_final_161216.pdf For more information, including the White Paper and other resources, visit our Built Environment webpage: https://www.arb.ca.gov/research/vprp/vprp.htm A fact sheet summarizing this document can be found here: https://www.arb.ca.gov/html/fact_sheets/physical_activity_fact_sheet.pdf CAP AND TRADE Sacramento public housing residents just got free Zipcars. Residents at three public housing areas now have a mini-fleet of free Zipcars to make their way around Sacramento. On Friday, Sacramento launched a pilot program that put eight shared electric Kia Souls at public housing sites. Up to 300 residents can apply for on-demand access to the vehicles, with no charge for maintenance, insurance or juicing up the battery. http://www.sacbee.com/news/local/transportation/article148948619.html#storylink=cpy Stability For Calif. Cap-And-Trade Program, For Now. The future of California’s cap-and-trade program looks a little brighter, thanks to a 2-1 vote of the Court of Appeal for the Third Appellate District on April 6. The decision, which held that the cap-and-trade program is within the California Air Resources Board’s (CARB) legislative delegation and that its auction sales program is not a tax… https://www.law360.com/articles/920842/stability-for-calif-cap-and-trade-program-for-now Chamber of Commerce calls for suspension of cap and trade in Ontario. The Windsor region’s Chamber of Commerce has joined forces with others from across Ontario to demand the province kill its cap and trade program, saying it is having a devastating economic impact on local business. Matt Marchand, president and CEO of the Windsor-Essex Regional Chamber of Commerce… http://www.canadanews.press/2017/05/08/chamber-of-commerce-calls-for-suspension-of-cap-and-trade-in-ontario-ontario-news/ AIR POLLUTION EU Pollutant Limits Threaten Large Coal Power Plants-Research. Stricter European Union pollutant limits could lead to costly upgrades or the closure of one third of Europe's large-scale coal power plant capacity, a report by the Institute for Energy Economics and Financial Analysis (IEEFA) showed on Monday. On April 28, EU member states approved stricter limits on pollutants… https://www.nytimes.com/reuters/2017/05/08/business/08reuters-europe-coal-closure.html Local Assemblyman’s air quality bill advances. Assembly Bill (AB) 615, a bill designed to improve air quality in disadvantaged communities, moved one step closer to becoming a law. Authored by Assembly Member Jim Cooper (D-Elk Grove), the bill was unanimously approved by the Assembly Appropriations Committee on April 26. In the event that this bill becomes law, improvements would be made to the Clean Vehicle Rebate Project (CVRP)… http://www.egcitizen.com/news/local-assemblyman-s-air-quality-bill-advances/article_526ab0e8-31cb-11e7-b4e2-9713b49e229c.html New device turns dirty air into energy. A team of Belgian scientists have developed a new device capable of generating power while cleaning polluted air. The device, which must be exposed to sunlight to function, features two chambers separated by a single membrane. The air is cleaned on one side, while contaminants are converted into hydrogen gas on the other. http://www.upi.com/Science_News/2017/05/08/New-device-turns-dirty-air-into-energy/5331494248022/ Climate Activists Greet UK Air Pollution Proposals With Derision. The UK government is twisting and turning like a worm on a hook, desperately trying to avoid taking any significant action to clean up the skies over its domain. Last November, the highest court in the land found the government’s air pollution proposals to be legally insufficient and gave ministers until April 24 to draw up new ones that would pass judicial scrutiny. https://cleantechnica.com/2017/05/08/climate-activists-greet-uk-air-pollution-proposals-derision/ CLIMATE CHANGE UN Climate Talks Begin Amid Uncertainty Over US Position. Despite uncertainties about whether the United States will remain committed to the Paris climate accord under President Donald Trump, envoys convened talks Monday in Germany on implementing the details of the deal to combat global warming. During ten days of talks in the western city of Bonn, officials will try to agree on how to implement the 2015 Paris Agreement to cut carbon emissions… https://www.apnews.com/1226ca89fa0d49448bfd349f2185abdb/UN-climate-talks-begin-amid-uncertainty-over-US-position OTHER RELATED STORIES https://www.nytimes.com/aponline/2017/05/08/world/europe/ap-eu-united-nations-climate-talks.html http://www.sacbee.com/news/business/article149220269.html#storylink=cpy http://newsinfo.inquirer.net/895292/un-climate-talks-begin-amid-uncertainty-over-us-position#ixzz4gVBCyYVC http://english.aawsat.com/asharq-al-awsat-english/world-news/un-climate-talks-kick-off-us-mulls-withdrawal-paris-deal http://www.timesnow.tv/international/article/climate-talks-open-in-bonn-with-all-eyes-on-washington/60680 A Parable From Down Under for U.S. Climate Scientists. John A. Church, a climate scientist, did not look or sound like a man who had recently been shoved out of a job. Speaking softly and downing coffee at an outdoor cafe in this old port city, he sounded more like a fellow fresh off a jousting match. “I think we had a win — a bigger win than I ever anticipated,” Dr. Church said in an interview last month. https://www.nytimes.com/2017/05/08/climate/a-parable-from-down-under-for-us-climate-scientists.html?ref=energy-environment&_r=0 E.P.A. Dismisses Members of Major Scientific Review Board. The Environmental Protection Agency has dismissed at least five members of a major scientific review board, the latest signal of what critics call a campaign by the Trump administration to shrink the agency’s regulatory reach by reducing the role of academic research. https://www.nytimes.com/2017/05/07/us/politics/epa-dismisses-members-of-major-scientific-review-board.html https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/energy-environment/wp/2017/05/07/epa-dismisses-half-of-its-scientific-advisers-on-key-board-citing-clean-break-with-obama-administration/?utm_term=.557909ff81d1 http://www.sacbee.com/news/politics-government/article149247364.html http://www.sfgate.com/nation/article/EPA-dismisses-5-scientists-from-key-review-panel-11128395.php Big Investors Urge Trump to Stick With Paris Climate Accord. Investors with more than $15 trillion of assets under management urged governments led by the United States to implement the Paris climate accord to fight climate change despite U.S. President Donald Trump's threats to pull out. "As long-term institutional investors, we believe that the mitigation of climate change is essential for the… https://www.nytimes.com/reuters/2017/05/07/business/07reuters-climatechange-investors.html Tibet's permafrost is playing a surprise role in climate change. Carbon has accumulated in the upper layers of the soil in the Tibetan Plateau in the space of a decade. In the Tibetan Plateau, climate change is increasing the carbon concentrations within the upper layers of permafrost soils, a study has shown. This represents a negative feedback to rising atmospheric CO2 concentrations… http://www.ibtimes.co.uk/tibets-permafrost-playing-surprise-role-climate-change-1620559 Why tornado destruction will only get worse, regardless of climate change. The nation has experienced a stunning increase in federal disaster declarations for tornadoes in the 21st Century. In the 30 years from 1953 — when the Federal Emergency Management Agency began keeping score — through 1982, FEMA issued an average of 27 tornado-related disaster declarations annually, according to FEMA figures. http://www.philly.com/philly/blogs/weather/tornado-destruction-global-warming.html Obama to discuss climate change in Italy. Former President Barack Obama is traveling to Italy, where he will speak this week about food security and climate change. On Monday, the former president is scheduled to meet with former Prime Minister Matteo Renzi. That evening, he will attend a private dinner held by the Institute for International Political Studies. http://thehill.com/homenews/news/332328-obama-to-discuss-climate-change-in-italy http://www.washingtonexaminer.com/obama-to-speak-about-climate-change-in-italy/article/2622394 Emmanuel Macron vows climate action as French president. Centrist candidate supports a coal phase-out by 2022, carbon price rise and trade sanctions on polluting countries, but needs a parliamentary mandate to deliver. Emmanuel Macron promised to promote international cooperation on climate change in his victory speech on Sunday, after being elected president of France. http://www.climatechangenews.com/2017/05/08/emmanuel-macron-vows-climate-action-french-president/ Chevron: A carbon-constrained future is 'certainly manageable' It's a Goldilocks world to Chevron Corp. No matter how demand for oil and gas ebbs and flows, or how meekly or firmly international governments clamp down on greenhouse emissions by passing climate regulations, Chevron will be able to adapt, the company said in a new report. In response to climate regulation, "the industry in general… https://www.eenews.net/climatewire/2017/05/08/stories/1060054165 DIESEL ACTIVITIES IAV develops new close-coupled diesel exhaust gas aftertreatment system for improved emissions reduction. IAV has developed a particularly closed-coupled diesel exhaust gas aftertreatment (EAT) system. The design allows the diesel oxidation catalyst (DOC) and particular filter/selective catalytic reduction (DPF/SCR) units to reach optimum working temperature more quickly which, even when driving in the low-load range, significantly cuts emissions. http://www.greencarcongress.com/2017/05/20170508-iav.html Rapid advancements boost momentum for electric cargo vehicles. Investments by OEMs are bringing costs lower, while increasing distances these vehicles can travel. Among of the many alternative fuels and power systems discussed throughout the Advanced Clean Transportation (ACT) Expo, the strongest buzz may have surround electricity. “There is light at the end of the tunnel with [electric vehicles],”… http://fleetowner.com/running-green/rapid-advancements-boost-momentum-electric-cargo-vehicles EPA asks to delay oral arguments in Calif. diesel case. Diesel-powered bulldozers U.S. EPA last week filed a motion asking the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals to delay oral arguments in an industry lawsuit against California’s regulations for diesel-powered equipment like bulldozers. Photo by U.S. Department of Agriculture, courtesy of Flickr. The Trump administration has asked a federal appeals court to delay… https://www.eenews.net/greenwire/2017/05/08/stories/1060054203 DROUGHT SLO County farmers got creative to survive this drought. Are they ready for the next one? As winter rains replenished wells and coaxed hills into displays of brilliant green, the drought’s impact has begun to ease for many local farmers and ranchers — brightening their long-term picture. “We are seeing reservoir levels rise, groundwater recharge, increased soil moisture and… http://www.sanluisobispo.com/news/business/article149218149.html FUELS Bill would ban state pension investments in fossil fuels. Legislation introduced in the New York state Senate and Assembly would prohibit the state’s pension fund from investing in big oil, gas or coal companies. The Fossil Fuels Divestment Act would end any investments in the 200 largest publicly traded companies that deal in coal, oil or natural gas. https://www.apnews.com/964cc3b99b884eaca0f8abfcacaa98ce/Bill-would-ban-state-pension-investments-in-fossil-fuels VEHICLES RPT--India's green car plan prioritises electric vehicles over hybrids. India's most influential government think-tank has recommended lowering taxes and interest rates for loans on electric vehicles, while capping sales of conventional cars, signalling a dramatic shift in policy in one of the world's fastest growing auto markets. A draft of the 90-page blueprint… http://www.reuters.com/article/india-autos-policy-idUSL4N1I8080 IG to assess vehicle emissions programs. U.S. EPA's inspector general will examine the effectiveness of the agency's oversight of vehicle inspection and maintenance programs in curbing emissions, according to a notification memo posted online Friday. The planned review will focus on EPA's Office of Transportation and Air Quality, with work to be conducted at agency headquarters and regional offices… https://www.eenews.net/greenwire/2017/05/08/stories/1060054202 GREEN ENERGY Is Pakistan's solar power poised to take off amid energy crisis? Solar energy production in Pakistan is poised to take off - just as the South Asian country is ramping up coal production to help plug a crippling power crisis, energy experts say. New high quality solar maps - essential to securing financing for major solar projects - show Pakistan is one of the world's best countries for producing solar energy because of its arid climate and latitude. http://www.reuters.com/article/pakistan-solar-idUSL8N1I528F Germany Breaks A Solar Record — Gets 85% Of Electricity From Renewables. On April 3o, Germany established a new national record for renewable energy use. On that day and throughout the long May 1 weekend, 85% of all the electricity consumed in Germany was produced from renewables such as wind, solar, biomass, and hydroelectric power. https://cleantechnica.com/2017/05/08/germany-breaks-solar-record-gets-85-electricity-renewables/ Suniva trade case throws industry into doubt. Until two weeks ago, the solar industry was in a generally celebratory mood, flush with good job numbers and installations doubling year over year. Then the Suniva news hit. That morning, Suniva Inc., a solar manufacturer based outside Atlanta, filed a petition with the U.S. International Trade Commission (ITC). https://www.eenews.net/energywire/2017/05/08/stories/1060054176 VW RECALL Inside VW’s Campaign of Trickery. New details emerge in Volkswagen’s broad conspiracy to cover up a campaign aimed at deceiving pollution regulators. Volkswagen was a little more than a month away from the biggest crisis in its history when Oliver Schmidt, a high-ranking engineer for the carmaker who dealt with regulators in the United States, wrote a reassuring email to his superiors. Mr. Schmidt had just met with Alberto Ayala, a deputy executive officer of the California Air Resources Board, the state’s air quality enforcer. https://www.nytimes.com/2017/05/06/business/inside-vws-campaign-of-trickery.html Employees who caught Volkswagen finalists for award. Employees at U.S. EPA and the Justice Department who helped win the record settlement against Volkswagen for its emission-cheating scheme are under consideration for a top federal award. Phillip Brooks, director of EPA's air enforcement division; Byron Bunker, compliance division director for EPA's Office of Transportation and Air Quality; and Josh Van Eaton… https://www.eenews.net/greenwire/2017/05/08/stories/1060054212 MISCELLANEOUS States move to roll back environmental rules in Trump's wake. Emboldened by the environmental rollbacks of President Donald Trump, state legislatures are following suit, taking aim at items as varied as solar incentives, chemical spill protections and even anti-pipeline protesters. The legislation in states from Florida to Wisconsin comes as the Environmental Protection Agency under Trump argues that it can curtail federal regulations… http://www.sacbee.com/news/politics-government/national-politics/article149025439.html#storylink=cpy Another way humans are polluting the environment: Too much noise. Natural sounds are an integral, yet often overlooked, part of the way we experience national parks and other public lands. But human activities – such as roads, development, and mining and logging operations – are drowning out this soundscape in almost two-thirds of protected areas in the U.S., according to a new study published in Science. http://www.sacbee.com/news/nation-world/national/article149220094.html#storylink=cpy Here’s who spent the most lobbying California government this year. This year’s fight over the road-funding package that will raise fuel taxes and registration fees involved lobbying from dozens of labor, business and local government organizations. Yet the lobbyist employer that spent the most from January through March, the Western States Petroleum Association, largely had a hands-off approach to the measure that will increase taxes on its product. http://www.sacbee.com/news/politics-government/capitol-alert/article149176389.html OPINIONS Environmental Justice Must Be a National Priority. Too often missing in discussions on the challenges facing African Americans is any focus on environmental justice, the idea that all people should enjoy a clean, healthy environment while being treated equally with regard to environmental policies, regulations, and laws. African-American communities are disproportionately burdened by environmental degradation… http://www.dallasweekly.com/opinion/article_517fa058-31b7-11e7-b817-9f156425c4d3.html How to fix climate change: put cities, not countries, in charge. Climate change is the most urgent challenge facing humankind. Other issues make headlines: terrorism kills; inequality affects everyday life for billions around the globe. But climate is paramount, because in sustainability human survival itself is at stake. Why then have the nations governing the planet been so hopelessly ineffective in addressing the grave environmental crisis? https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2017/may/07/fix-climate-change-put-cities-not-countries-in-charge-oslo-seoul Environmental justice for all. Students across the UC Berkeley campus voice concerns on the issues of environmental justice as an inextricable piece of the larger movement for intersectional social justice on campus and beyond. http://www.dailycal.org/2017/05/08/environmental-racism http://www.dailycal.org/2017/05/08/trumps-energy-policy/ My Turn: Senators, protect Arizonans from toxic air pollution. President Trump recently took the first major steps towards undoing Obama’s climate legacy, issuing an executive order that would undo federal rules that limit greenhouse gas emissions, including the Clean Power Plan. Another federal rule regulating greenhouse gas emissions that’s on the chopping… http://www.azcentral.com/story/opinion/op-ed/2017/05/08/my-turn-senators-protect-arizonans-toxic-air-pollution/310465001/ Carbon Emissions: Disrupting the Status Quo, Thinking Out of the Box. A few days ago, I listened to a group of environmentalists on the evening news protesting a plan to build a new bridge that would solve traffic congestion and make it easier for people get in and out of a local large city. The protestors wanted the money spent instead on public transit, claiming that this had not even been examined… http://www.theenergycollective.com/mmetcalfe/2403938/carbon-emissions-disrupting-status-quo-thinking-box Reader View: EPA threatens farmworkers, consumer health and safety. Like so many others, I have been dismayed at actions coming from the Trump administration, especially regarding the Environmental Protection Agency. The EPA’s core mission is to protect our environment from pollutants and toxic conditions that can endanger the health and safety of our people. http://www.santafenewmexican.com/opinion/my_view/reader-view-epa-threatens-farmworkers-consumer-health-and-safety/article_1eeb8eae-13ff-5011-9b90-ed09a23d03c0.html Analysis: If Trump Bails On Paris Agreement, At Least He’ll Be Out Of The Way. Climate negotiators are meeting in Bonn, Germany, the next two weeks to move the Paris Climate Agreement forward – even as Republicans in the United States seem intent on moving it backward. Most countries say they want the US to stay in the agreement, but there’s reason to believe it will be better off without us. http://www.ecosystemmarketplace.com/articles/analysis-trump-bails-paris-agreement-least-hell-way/ BLOGS California bill to make cap and trade similar to Carbon Fee and Dividend. California state Senators Bob Wieckowski and Kevin De León introduced a bill this week that would update the state’s 5-year-old cap and trade system to have some remarkable similarities to CCL’s Carbon Fee and Dividend. The bill would shift cap and trade starting in 2021 to include a steadily rising carbon price… http://citizensclimatelobby.org/california-bill-make-cap-trade-similar-carbon-fee-dividend/ Ten Years of California Climate Dividends Advocacy Leading to SB775. Climate dividends are about to get serious consideration in California. California’s Cap & Trade system to reduce greenhouse gas emissions could potentially expire in 2020, and must be extended by the State Legislature. http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/ten-years-of-california-climate-dividends-advocacy_us_590fcd4be4b056aa2363d68a California tables tougher cap-and-trade rules, pressuring Quebec, Ontario. Ontario plans to link its carbon market with Quebec and California next year, but the U.S. state is already getting more aggressive about cutting emissions. California’s Senate proposed a new and more ambitious carbon credit cap-and-trade system this week, challenging Ontario and Quebec to do the same or get left behind. http://www.canadianmanufacturing.com/regulation/california-tables-tougher-cap-trade-rules-pressuring-quebec-ontario-192271/ Trump time: Trucking interests challenge GHG regs. Even as truck makers and some of their biggest customers gathered to review—and praise—the latest and greatest in environmentally friendly technologies last week, others in trucking were petitioning the Trump administration to reconsider the fundamental premise that allowed the Obama EPA to regulate greenhouse gases (GHG) in heavy-duty vehicles. http://trucker.com/blog/trump-time-trucking-interests-challenge-ghg-regs Climate change could slow down warming by destroying biocrust. In the high desert of Castle Valley outside of Moab, Utah, famous redrock spires and mesas tower against bright blue sky. Not everyone notices another set of strange formations stretching up from the desert floor: biological soil crusts, or “biocrusts,” tangled masses of mosses, lichens and cyanobacteria. https://durangoherald.com/articles/156482-climate-change-could-slow-down-warming-by-destroying-biocrust Carbon pollution is suffocating ocean life and speeding up the next mass extinction. Oxygen levels ‘falling 2 to 3 times faster than predicted’ in our warming oceans, study finds. Depletion of dissolved oxygen in our oceans, which can cause dead zones, is occurring much faster than expected, a new study finds. And by combining oxygen loss with ever-worsening ocean warming and acidification… https://thinkprogress.org/oxygen-levels-falling-2-to-3-times-faster-than-predicted-in-our-warming-oceans-7c1e9b48cd42 The US Environmental Protection Agency is slowly turning its back on everything it was set up to protect. In a move sure to enrage environmentalists, the newly installed head of the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), Scott Pruitt, dismissed 12 scientists from a major scientific review board, and is looking to replace them with members who come from industries whose pollution the agency is supposed to regulate. https://qz.com/978138/epa-chief-scott-pruitt-dismissed-12-scientists-from-a-review-board-and-wants-to-replace-them-with-corporate-members/ Trump threat to Paris climate pact casts shadow over Bonn talks. Negotiators from almost 200 countries are meeting in Bonn to hammer out a "rule book" for putting the Paris Climate Agreement into practice. Trump's threat to pull out of the accord is putting a damper on the UN talks. Around 3,000 delegates have converged on the western German city of Bonn on Monday… http://www.dw.com/en/trump-threat-to-paris-climate-pact-casts-shadow-over-bonn-talks/a-38749922 Is methane slowing global warming in the Arctic? Good news about climate change is especially rare in the Arctic. But now comes news that increases in one greenhouse gas—methane—lead to the dramatic decline of another. Research off the coast of Norway’s Svalbard archipelago suggests that where methane gas bubbles up from seafloor seeps, surface waters directly above absorb twice… https://www.eenews.net/climatewire/2017/05/08/stories/1060054165