What's New List Serve Post Display
Below is the List Serve Post you selected to display.
newsclips -- ARB Newsclips for February 28, 2012
Posted: 28 Feb 2012 11:09:08
ARB Newsclips for February 28, 2012. 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. AIR POLLUTION Chico's indoor wood fire regulation period ends Wednesday. CHICO — The first winter enforcement period when indoor wood fires were banned in Chico on poor air quality days comes to an end Wednesday, with no one fined by the city for repeat violations. This winter, the Butte County Air Quality Management District issued 25 of the "Check Before You Light" advisories that trigger the city of Chico's mandatory ban. Federal air quality standards were violated 23 times. Posted. http://www.chicoer.com/news/ci_20059801 Energy Efficiency, Air Quality Remain Top Concerns Driving Regional Green Industry. Many of those who work and live in the Greater Long Beach area know that two of the top environmental concerns for the region are air quality and energy efficiency. In addition to addressing these concerns, going “green” may help facilitate economic growth and job creation in the sustainability sector. With its close proximity to the 710 and 405 freeways, and to the neighboring twin port complex, Long Beach is impacted daily by ozone and fine particulate matter pollution. Posted. http://lbbusinessjournal.com/long-beach-business-journal-newswatch/94-lof-scroller-features-12-02-28/379-energy-efficiency-air-quality-remain-top-concerns-driving-regional-green-industry.html CLIMATE CHANGE U.S. greenhouse gas emissions rebound 3.3 percent. Higher energy consumption and warmer weather drove up total U.S. greenhouse gas emissions 3.3 percent to 6.866 billion tonnes between 2009 and 2010, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) said in its latest emissions inventory report released Monday. After declining in both 2008 and 2009, greenhouse gas emissions from fossil fuel consumption rose 3.6 percent in 2010, according to the report. Posted. http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/02/28/us-carbon-us-idUSTRE81R0E920120228?feedType=RSS Oil Drilling Finds Friends Among Greens Embracing Carbon Capture. Oil drilling, long opposed by environmentalists worried about climate change, gained a friend among green groups that say old wells may offer a low-cost way to keep a gas linked to global warming out of the atmosphere. At an event today in Washington, Southern Co. (SO) and Arch Coal Inc. (ACI) will join their usual green foes to push tax breaks for so- called enhanced oil recovery, which advocates say will boost domestic production and curb emissions of carbon dioxide, a greenhouse gas scientists blame for rising temperatures. Posted. http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-02-28/oil-drilling-finds-friends-among-greens-embracing-carbon-capture.html Caribbean to use loans to ready for climate change. International lenders will give $65 million in concessionary loans to 18 Caribbean nations to help the islands defend their coasts and fragile economies from the impact of climate change. The European Investment Bank will channel its lending through the Barbados-based Caribbean Development Bank, which announced the initiative Monday. The program will provide low-cost funds for public and private sector projects that deal with climate change adaptation or help reduce carbon emissions. Posted. http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/n/a/2012/02/27/international/i135742S83.DTL http://www.insidebayarea.com/ci_20055716?IADID=Search-www.insidebayarea.com-www.insidebayarea.com http://www.contracostatimes.com/ci_20055716?IADID=Search-www.contracostatimes.com-www.contracostatimes.com Conn. Shoreline task force holds first meeting. The newly formed Climate Change and Shoreline Preservation task force is planning how it can best investigate the ways Connecticut can adapt to rising sea levels and guard against future storms. The task force met for the first time Monday afternoon to discuss objectives to guide their work. At the meeting some members said they would like to explore legislation that can be adjusted based on an area's need and other conditions. Posted. http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/n/a/2012/02/28/financial/f065915S08.DTL Global warming, oceans, top green headlines in February. Global warming is very real. Our oceans are changing and with them, our way of life. Earth depends on a balanced Eco-system. Current news illustrates how far out of balance things have become. Gas prices are rising steadily. February's headlines brought us news of Lucy Lawless fighting back against big oil. Rick Santorum continues to refute global warming. According to Wired Science, Americans are more likely to listen to politicians than scientists. Meanwhile, BBC News tells us colder temperatures in the UK are the direct result of melting ice caps. Posted. http://www.examiner.com/green-culture-in-denver/global-warming-oceans-top-green-headlines-february DIESEL EMISSIONS RAILYARDS: Judge throws out contempt attempt. Railroad officials failed to have Southern California’s air quality chief Barry Wallerstein and other air district officials declared in contempt of court. U.S. District Judge John F. Walter in Los Angeles harshly admonished the railroads for seeking a contempt finding in the first place. Attorneys representing Union Pacific, BNSF Railway and the American Railroad Association had wanted Walter to find Wallerstein, his planning officer and top attorney in violation of his 2007 court order for including rules that limit locomotive idling in a recent regional air clean-up plan. Posted. http://www.pe.com/local-news/topics/topics-environment-headlines/20120227-railyards-judge-throws-out-contempt-attempt.ece FUELS Canadian firm to proceed with southern leg of Keystone pipeline. Blocked for now in the northern U.S., TransCanada aims to start on a stretch from Oklahoma to the Texas coast. Environmentalists vow to fight. Reporting from Seattle— The Keystone XL battle isn't over. The Canadian company behind the controversial pipeline announced Monday that it would proceed immediately with a shorter version of the project south of Oklahoma — even as it seeks a new permit for the segment through the northern U.S. Opponents immediately vowed to fight on both fronts. Posted. http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-keystone-20120228,0,2584770.story Sacramento's Pacific Ethanol sees strong sales gains. Robust year-over-year sales increases helped boost 2011 financial results for Sacramento's Pacific Ethanol Inc. PEI, which spent much of 2010 repairing its finances after a 2009 Chapter 11 bankruptcy filing by its production subsidiaries, on Monday reported sales of $241.7 million in last year's fourth quarter, up from $134.2 million in the same period of 2010. Sales for all of 2011 totaled $901.1 million, up from $328.3 million in 2010. Posted. http://www.sacbee.com/2012/02/28/v-print/4296102/sacramentos-pacific-ethanol-sees.html VEHICLES Obama's Green-Car Plan Runs Into Alternative-Fuel Limits: Cars. President Barack Obama's administration is buying fewer hybrid and electric cars and more vehicles that can consume both ethanol and gasoline to meet 2015 environmental goals, favoring older technology over new. Obama gave speeches across the U.S. last year touting his twin goals of buying only alternative-fuel vehicles for the U.S. fleet by 2015 and getting 1 million electric vehicles on the country's roads by that year. Posted. http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/g/a/2012/02/24/bloomberg_articlesLZUPO01A74E901-LZWR9.DTL Appeals court upholds plan for cleaner air in Utah. A federal appeals court upheld an Environmental Protection Agency mandate Friday for air pollution reductions along a wide area of northern Utah. The U.S. Court of Appeals in Washington, D.C., ruled the EPA can force Utah to crack down on industrial and car emissions that blow into the Great Salt Lake basin from Tooele County on the west and Box Elder County on the north. Officials for the largely rural counties filed the lawsuit against the EPA, asserting they shouldn't be forced to control or reduce emissions that drift toward more populated areas along the 120-mile Wasatch Front urban corridor. Posted. http://www.vcstar.com/news/2012/feb/27/appeals-court-upholds-plan-for-cleaner-air-in/ http://www.examiner.com/political-buzz-in-salt-lake-city/legislature-moves-forward-to-stop-slc-idling-ordinance MISCELLANEOUS Toxic chemical found under O.C. building. Levels of tetrachloroethylene exceeding safety standards are found beneath offices used by Orange County agencies, including the Sheriff's Department and Social Services Agency. The building is already the subject of two lawsuits. A toxic chemical used in dry cleaning and for degreasing equipment has been found underneath an Orange County building that is already the subject of two lawsuits, officials said Monday. Posted. http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-toxic-building-20120228,0,5121225,print.story OPINIONS How to Extract Gas Responsibly. Fracking isn’t going away. To put it another way, the technique of hydraulic fracturing, used to extract natural gas from once-impossible-to-get-at reservoirs like the Marcellus Shale that lies beneath New York and Pennsylvania, has more than proved its value. At this point, shale gas, as it’s called, makes up more than 30 percent of the country’s natural gas supply, up from 2 percent in 2001 — a figure that is sure to keep rising. Fracking’s enemies can stamp their feet all they want, but that gas is too important to leave it in the ground. Posted. http://www.nytimes.com/2012/02/28/opinion/nocera-how-to-frack-responsibly.html?_r=1&pagewanted=print Empty suggestions. Re "What to do about $4 gas," Editorial, Feb. 23. Who wrote this editorial? Not someone who lives in Upland but works in Irvine. Not someone who is an outside sales representative and needs to visits clients. Not someone who is keeping his old car because he cannot afford a car payment. How could someone live in Los Angeles and say that if you are not able to afford an expensive electric car, you can ride public transportation? Posted. http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/letters/la-le-0227-monday-20120227,0,7921727.story GOP drills for votes. Republicans claim to be the champions of the free market. Yet they say that more domestic oil production can lower gasoline prices. They purposely or naively ignore the global nature of the oil market. U.S. domestic production is at its highest level since 2003. But world demand is such that it is impossible for us to produce enough oil to lower the world price. Posted. http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2012/02/28/ED311ND252.DTL To Newt, cheap gas is good. Newt Gingrich presented a stark contrast between Republicans and Democrats on gasoline prices Saturday at the California GOP convention in Burlingame. Gingrich promised, if elected, to bring gasoline prices below $2.50 per gallon. A day earlier, in a signature speech on energy, President Obama told the University of Miami that there "are no silver bullets short term when it comes to gas prices." Posted. http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2012/02/28/ED4U1ND21R.DTL&type=printable Other views: New clean air rule creates jobs. After 20 years of delay and litigation by polluters, the Obama administration approved in December one of the most important rules in the history of the Clean Air Act. It will require power plants to reduce emissions of mercury and other toxic pollutants by more than 90 percent in the next five years and is expected to prevent as many as 11,000 premature deaths annually from asthma, other respiratory diseases and heart attacks. The technology to control the pollutants is readily available. Posted. http://www.montereyherald.com/opinion/ci_20049592/new-clean-air-rule-creates-jobs Diane Harkey: The new California currency. The state's carbon cap-and-trade scheme involves monetizing pollution. You can't accuse California of not being creative. You know we have reached the pinnacle in regulation when we cannot manufacture goods and services, but can manufacture a "market" for pollution. Thanks to all the unemployed investment bankers that fled Wall Street after the housing bubble burst, landing in San Francisco to assist us with our debt needs, we will be monetizing pollution. Posted. http://www.ocregister.com/opinion/state-342107-pollution-certificates.html