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newsclips -- ARB Newsclips for May 24, 2012.

Posted: 24 May 2012 12:55:11
ARB Newsclips for May 24, 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

BP agrees to cut air pollution at refinery, pay $8-million fine.
The Obama administration announced that BP North America Inc. has
agreed to pay an $8-million fine and install more than $400
million in equipment to cut air pollution from an oil refinery in
Whiting, Ind., as part of a settlement over alleged violations of
the Clean Air Act. The Environmental Protection Agency and the
Justice Department said in a statement that the pollution
reduction plan, when fully implemented…Posted.
http://www.latimes.com/news/nation/nationnow/la-na-nn-bp-refinery-clean-air-fine-20120523,0,5179489.story
http://www.contracostatimes.com/ci_20691824/us-reaches-pollution-agreement-at-bp-indiana-plant?IADID=Search-www.contracostatimes.com-www.contracostatimes.com

Dusty wind prompts San Joaquin Valley air alert.  Gusty winds
have prompted air officials in the San Joaquin Valley to warn of
a potential health hazard from blowing dust.  The San Joaquin
Valley Air Pollution Control District issued the warning on
Wednesday for San Joaquin, Stanislaus, Merced, Madera, Fresno,
Kings and Tulare counties and parts of Kern County.  Winds there
may produce areas of localized blowing dust that could trigger
asthma attacks and acute bronchitis, aggravate lung disease and
increase the risk of respiratory infections.  Posted. 
http://www.contracostatimes.com/ci_20690967/dusty-wind-prompts-san-joaquin-valley-air-alert?IADID=Search-www.contracostatimes.com-www.contracostatimes.com

CLIMATE CHANGE

Rich-poor divide reopens at UN climate talks.  The advances made
in U.N. climate talks last year appeared at risk Thursday as a
rift between rich and poor countries reopened in negotiations
aimed at crafting a global pact to stop the planet from
overheating.  The session in Bonn was meant to build on a deal
struck in Durban, South Africa, in December, but the talks were
faltering heading into the penultimate day amid disputes over
what, exactly, was agreed on last year.  Posted. 
http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5hr9p5dm_KF0H5t8LWHD9PbFWqfHQ?docId=e7f6ff0aa485418190eaf0beabbb8fe6

AP Newsbreak:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/europe/un-climate-talks-deadlocked-in-bonn-as-divisions-between-rich-and-poor-reopen/2012/05/24/gJQACbEhmU_story.html
http://www.fresnobee.com/2012/05/24/2848742/rich-poor-divide-reopens-at-un.html#storylink=misearch
http://www.nctimes.com/news/world/rich-poor-divide-reopens-at-un-climate-talks/article_adb75990-cfc6-5fd0-8f9d-fd7a72e3d382.html

Greenhouse Gas Gap Grows as Climate Pledges Fall Short. The gap
between the emissions cuts needed to contain global warming and
actual reductions by 2020 is at risk of widening as countries
including the U.S., Brazil and Mexico fail to meet pledges,
Climate Action Tracker said. At best, commitments would lead to
emissions 9 gigatons (9 billion tons) higher than the 44 gigatons
needed in 2020 to stop the planet warming more than 2 degrees
Celsius (3.6 Fahrenheit) since industrialization, the project
said in Bonn, where two weeks of United Nations talks end
tomorrow. Posted.
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-05-24/greenhouse-gas-emissions-gap-grows-as-climate-pledges-founder.html

Analysis: U.N. Doha climate talks risk sinking "like Titanic".
Hopes are fading that climate talks in Qatar late this year will
make even modest progress towards getting a new globally binding
climate deal signed by 2015, as preliminary negotiations in
Germany this week have left much work to be done. The fear is
that if work plans and agendas are not set by the end of this
year at the latest it could have a knock-on effect, holding up
the entire effort to avert potentially devastating global
warming. Posted.
http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/05/24/us-un-climate-idUSBRE84N1AQ20120524

Calif. subpanel blocks linking cap-and-trade plans, funding
high-speed rail. A California budget subcommittee yesterday voted
to bar California from linking its cap-and-trade market to
Quebec's, with the panel's chairman saying he wants more
legislative scrutiny of the state's greenhouse gas activities.
The same panel also voted to delay until 2014 the use of the
cap-and-trade market's auction revenue to build the state's
high-speed rail system. Gov. Jerry Brown (D) has proposed using
that money to fill funding gaps for the bullet train. Posted.
http://www.eenews.net/climatewire/print/2012/05/24/8  BY
SUBSCRIPTION ONLY

Report: 150,000 U.S. heat deaths possible by 2099 as climate
change continues. Ahead of National Heat Awareness Day, a new
report released by the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC)
on Wednesday says tens of thousands could die from increasing
heat as a result of climate change by 2099 in the United States.
The New York-based advocacy group projects more than 150,000
Americans will be stressed to the point of death as carbon
pollution continues to rise, resulting in a steady increase in
dangerously hot summer days with global temperatures rising some
four to 11 degrees Posted.
http://www.examiner.com/article/report-150-000-u-s-heat-deaths-possible-by-2099-as-climate-change-continues

The carbon consequences of Northwest coal exports.  There are at
present six proposals to export coal from Northwest ports. If all
of these proposals are built, and if all of them operate at full
capacity, the Northwest would be shipping 145 million tons of per
coal year.  When burned, that coal will produce roughly 262
million tons of carbon dioxide per year. It’s such a staggering
figure that it’s a little hard to grasp. So here’s some
context…Posted. 
http://grist.org/coal/the-carbon-consequences-of-northwest-coal-exports/

FUELS

E15 attack renews PR feud between fuel industry's 'Hatfields and
McCoys' .The biofuels industry promised a swift response
yesterday to petroleum producers' attack on E15. Tom Buis, CEO of
ethanol trade group Growth Energy, said his industry would not
let the debate over E15 to get away from it as the "food versus
fuel" argument did a few years ago. The final straw on E15, he
said, was the oil industry's promotion of a report showing E15 --
gasoline blended with 15 percent ethanol -- damaged car engines.
Posted. http://www.eenews.net/Greenwire/print/2012/05/24/1 BY
SUBSCRIPTION ONLY

GREEN ENERGY

Are biomass accounting problems beyond simple solutions?
Uncertainty and complexity in how to account for carbon emissions
from power plant-based energy have some worried they will hurt
chances for the industry and undermine climate goals, interest
groups and scientists say. For the next two years, U.S. EPA will
mull over how to account for carbon emissions from burning
biomass for energy. Its Scientific Advisory Board on Biogenic
Carbon Emissions, a panel of 18 experts from universities, the
federal government and private research groups, will help it
wrestle with this complex issue. Posted.
http://www.eenews.net/climatewire/print/2012/05/24/3  BY
SUBSCRIPTION ONLY

MISCELLANEOUS

Calif. desert project gets big assist from governor. California
Gov. Jerry Brown yesterday signed legislation clearing major
obstacles in the path of a controversial project slated for the
desert home of rare animals. The Democrat endorsed A.B. 1073,
which allows K Road Power to go directly to the California Energy
Commission (CEC) for clearance to build its 663-megawatt Calico
Solar plant. The company will no longer need to obtain permits
from local agencies. Posted.
http://www.eenews.net/Greenwire/print/2012/05/24/3  BY
SUBSCRIPTION ONLY

OPINIONS

Tell the EPA You Support Carbon Pollution Protections. At public
hearings in Chicago and Washington, D.C. yesterday, supporters,
public health officials, and scientists are testifying in favor
of the Environmental Protection Agency's Carbon Pollution
Standard, the first-ever limit on life-threatening carbon
pollution from power plants. Thousands of Americans have already
spoken out via email in support of these standards to protect our
health and clean our air, and now hundreds more have done it in
person at these hearings. Posted.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/mary-anne-hitt/tell-epa-you-support-carb_b_1542379.html?ref=green

BLOGS

Protesters ask Edison to decommission San Onofre nuclear plant.
Environmental and anti-nuclear activists gathered at Southern
California Edison headquarters in Irvine on Wednesday calling for
the San Onofre nuclear plant to be decommissioned and for the
utility to implement more extensive conservation programs. The
plant has been shut down for nearly four months due to safety
concerns over excessive wear on tubes in the plant's newly
installed steam generators. Posted.
http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/lanow/2012/05/san-onofre-edison-protest-irvine.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+lanowblog+%28L.A.+Now%29

Parlez-Vous Cap-and-Trade?  To some observers, Arnold
Schwarzenegger only became an action hero on July 31, 2006. On
that day, with Tony Blair by his side, then-Governor
Schwarzenegger declared, "California is a great part of the
United States, but we happen to be a leading state with a huge
economy, and we are, like I say, a nation state." Two weeks ago
California moved one step closer to this "nation state" status,
as the California Air Resources Board, or CARB…Posted. 
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/douglas-a-kysar/parlezvous-capandtrade_b_1540799.html

California leads nation in climate change preparation.  With
climate change continuing to create a myriad of new and uncertain
weather and water-related issues, no state in America is better
at getting ready for our environmental future than California. 
As reported by the Hermosa Beach Patch, a recent study by the
National Resources Defense Council found that California is one
of only nine states (including Alaska and Wisconsin) that has
created strategies to deal with the host of predicted situations
like water shortages and droughts.  Posted. 
http://www.scpr.org/blogs/environment/2012/05/23/6281/california-leads-nation-climate-change-preparation/

How a Cookstove Becomes a Carbon Credit.  To make a cookstove
into a carbon credit is one serious abstraction, isn’t it?  Take
a region where charcoal is the cooking fuel of choice, switch it
out for a cleaner burning fuel that doesn’t contribute to global
warming quite so dramatically, then, somehow, track the whole
thing accurately enough that it’s possible to measure the tons of
emissions the switch represents.    Posted. 
http://www.triplepundit.com/2012/05/cookstove-becomes-carbon-credit/

Americans Save $4.6 Billion Every Year Just By Biking.  There are
obvious environmental and health benefits to cycling, however the
financial rewards of cycling are coming to light with a new
report from the League of American Bicyclists, Sierra Club, and
National Council of La Raza (NCLR). According to them, cyclists
in the U.S. save a whopping $4.6 billion every year on gas and
transportation costs.  Posted. 
http://www.triplepundit.com/2012/05/americans-save-46-billion-every-year-biking/

Global Greenhouse Gas Emissions Rose 3.6%, Hit New High in 2011.
The International Energy Agency has released some preliminary
data on global greenhouse gas emissions for 2011 and the news
isn't good. IEA says emissions rose 3.2% last year, with a 9.3%
increase in China offsetting declines in the US and EU (Reuters).
The news comes as Climate Action Tracker reports that current
emissions cut pledges are well short of what is needed to keep
temperature rise below the critical 2°C threshold. Posted.
http://www.treehugger.com/climate-change/global-greenhouse-gas-emissions-hit-new-high-2011.html

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