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ARB News Clips for June 6, 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

Earth Log: Air pollution control district defends bad-air alert
system.  Remember all the fuss last year about the $29 million
annual dirty-air fine -- $12 a year in your vehicle registration
fees? A local activist and the Valley air district's leaders
again are debating the dirty air part of the equation.  Last
Friday, an intense ozone episode triggered a one-hour violation
in Parlier. One more of these peak violations in Parlier this
summer would extend the annual fine through 2014.  Violations at
the Fresno and Clovis monitors also would do the same thing, so
it will be a nervous summer.  Posted. 
http://www.fresnobee.com/2012/06/05/2862997/earth-log-air-pollution-control.html#storylink=misearch
 
EPA, enviros strike deal on soot; final standard due in December.
U.S. EPA will issue final air standards for soot that comes from
automobiles, smokestacks and various industrial sources by
mid-December, according to a legal settlement reached between the
agency and environmental groups last night. The settlement is a
victory for public health advocacy groups such as the American
Lung Association, which sued the agency for dragging its feet on
new national ambient air quality standards for fine particles.
Posted. http://www.eenews.net/Greenwire/print/2012/06/06/1  By
SUBSCRIPTION ONLY

CLIMATE CHANGE

U.S. cities trail Latin America in climate change efforts. Major
U.S. cities are among the world's wealthiest and technologically
advanced, but they lag behind their counterparts in Latin America
in preparing for climate change, a survey finds. Nearly all, or
95%, of major cities in Latin America are making plans to deal
with the adverse impact of climate change, compared to 59% of
such cities in the United States. According to a survey of 468
cities worldwide released this week by the Massachusetts
Institute of Technology. Posted.
http://content.usatoday.com/communities/greenhouse/post/2012/06/us-cities-trail-latin-america-in-climate-change-preps/1
http://www.eenews.net/climatewire/print/2012/06/06/5 BY
SUBSCRIPTION ONLY

Climate change will create severe power and food shortages for
Latin America and the Caribbean. Disappearing glaciers, rising
sea levels, crop losses and hydropower plant problems brought
about by climate change will cost the Latin American and
Caribbean region $100 billion by 2050, a new Inter-American
Development Bank (IDB) study finds. Hardest hit will be the
region's agricultural sector, which stands to lose between $26
billion and $44 billion annually in yields of staple crops like
wheat and soy. A close second is the hydropower industry, which
faces $18 billion in losses as precipitation cycles intensify and
rainfall exceeds hydropower's storage capacity. Posted.
http://www.eenews.net/climatewire/print/2012/06/06/4 BY
SUBSCRIPTION ONLY

Quebec announces $2.6B climate change plan. Quebec has announced
the first part of a two-phase plan to lower greenhouse gas
emissions to 20 percent below 1990 levels by the end of the
decade. The C$2.7 billion ($2.6 billion) plan was presented by
Premier Jean Charest on Sunday, and it will primarily focus on
the transportation sector -- which accounts for nearly half the
province's emissions -- by improving public transit, carpooling,
taxi sharing, walking and bicycling. Posted.
http://www.eenews.net/climatewire/print/2012/06/06/9 BY
SUBSCRIPTION ONLY

Regional cap-and-trade system announces first-period results.
Carbon dioxide emissions from power plants in nine East Coast
states fell by almost a quarter during the first three years of a
pioneering cap-and-trade system called the Regional Greenhouse
Gas Initiative (RGGI), the program announced this week. The
program sets a ceiling on carbon dioxide emissions from electric
power providers and requires the companies to pay for their
emissions by buying allowances in four annual auctions. As an
incentive to cut emissions, companies that pollute less can sell
their unused allowances to other companies during the auctioning
events. Posted.
http://www.eenews.net/climatewire/print/2012/06/06/10 BY
SUBSCRIPTION ONLY

Pollution, Poverty, People of Color: The factory on the hill.
From the house where he was born, Henry Clark can stand in his
back yard and see plumes pouring out of one of the biggest oil
refineries in the United States. As a child, he was fascinated by
the factory on the hill, all lit up at night. In the morning,
he'd go out to play and find the leaves on the trees burned to a
crisp. "Sometimes I'd find the air so foul, I'd have to grab my
nose and run back into the house until it cleared up," he said.
During World War II, Posted.
http://www.environmentalhealthnews.org/ehs/news/2012/pollution-poverty-and-people-of-color-richmond-day-1
http://www.environmentalhealthnews.org/ehs/news/2012/pollution-poverty-and-people-of-color-richmond-day-2
http://www.environmentalhealthnews.org/ehs/news/2012/pollution-poverty-people-of-color-series-summary

FUELS

Greener US Navy dealt a setback. Milwaukee -- The U.S. Navy's
energy security plan for a greener fleet that relies less on
imported oil and more on domestic renewable biofuels has been
dealt a setback in Congress, as Republican senators voiced
concern about the price of biofuels not being competitive with
petroleum. The move doesn't stall the program completely but
could delay efforts to speed development of commercial-scale
biorefineries.  Posted.
http://www.sacbee.com/2012/06/05/4539339/greener-us-navy-dealt-a-setback.html

VEHICLES

Honda Fit EV gets highest EPA fuel economy rating.  Honda says
its 2013 Fit EV has received the highest fuel efficiency rating
ever from the Environmental Protection Agency.  The Japanese
automaker says the subcompact electric car received a combined
adjusted mile-per-gallon-equivalency rating of 118 mpg.  The Fit
consumes 29 kilowatt hours of electricity per 100 miles and has
an EPA rated annual fuel cost of $500. Honda says the EPA
estimates its combined city and highway driving range rating at
82 miles on a single charge.  Posted. 
http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5iB5OaYESE7wucWOEnOhyQScyuWtg?docId=3554c68bd9194d91857a6ec25578a73d

AP Newsbreak: 
http://www.washingtonpost.com/business/economy/hondas-fit-ev-receives-fuel-economy-rating-equating-to-118-mpg-highest-rating-ever/2012/06/06/gJQASWOMIV_story.html
http://www.contracostatimes.com/ci_20794215/honda-fit-ev-gets-highest-epa-fuel-economy?IADID=Search-www.contracostatimes.com-www.contracostatimes.com
http://www.insidebayarea.com/ci_20794215/honda-fit-ev-gets-highest-epa-fuel-economy?IADID=Search-www.insidebayarea.com-www.insidebayarea.com
http://www.modbee.com/2012/06/06/2230224/honda-fit-ev-gets-highest-epa.html
http://www.eenews.net/Greenwire/print/2012/06/06/21 BY
SUBSCRIPTION ONLY

HIGH-SPEED RAIL

Calif. governor floats plan for letting bullet train roar past
enviro lawsuits. Environmental lawsuits should not halt
California's high-speed rail line unless it's proved to cause far
more harm than good, the governor's office proposed yesterday.
Gov. Jerry Brown's (D) administration floated draft legislation
that would curb the state's environmental law as it applies to
initial construction of the train. The language, circulated among
green groups, would require judges before they stop development
to weigh the project's impact on the state. Posted.
http://www.eenews.net/Greenwire/print/2012/06/06/4 BY SUBSCRIPTON
ONLY

GREEN ENERGY

Morocco promotes solar energy with plane landing.  It was no
coincidence that Morocco was chosen as the destination for the
first intercontinental flight by a solar-powered aircraft, the
pilot said early Wednesday after stepping out of the fragile
craft following a 20-hour flight from Madrid.  Bertrand Piccard
told reporters and government officials who came to meet him at
the runway of the Rabat airport in the middle of the night that
it was Morocco’s ambitious solar energy plans that brought him
here.  Posted. 
http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2012/jun/6/morocco-promotes-solar-energy-with-plane-landing/

Solar Panel Payments Set Off a Fairness Debate. In California’s
sun-scorched Central Valley, the monthly electric bill can easily
top $200. But that’s just about what George Burman spent on
electricity for all of last year. When the sun is shining, the
solar panels on his Fresno condominium produce more than enough
power for his needs, and the local utility is required to buy the
excess power from him at full retail prices. Those credits mostly
offset his purchases from the electric company during cloudy days
and at night. Posted.
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/06/05/business/solar-payments-set-off-a-fairness-debate.html?_r=1&src=rechp&pagewanted=print

OPINIONS

PULLMANN: Teaching global warming in kindergarten.  The Public
Broadcast Service recently reported that increasing numbers of
educators are teaching about the controversy over climate change.
This has the scientific establishment doubling down on efforts to
feed children their mantra: There is no debate.  There is no man
behind the curtain, Dorothy. The “consensus” has spoken.  Except
not among the hoi polloi. Eighty-two percent of science teachers
report they have faced skepticism about climate change from
students, according to the most recent poll from the National
Science Teachers Association. Posted. 
http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2012/jun/5/teaching-global-warming-in-kindergarten/?utm_source=RSS_Feed&utm_medium=RSS

BLOGS

Indian steel companies are getting away with causing grave damage
to the environment. They are not even adhering to the country’s
already lax environmental laws – despite using large amounts of
minerals, water and electricity. This was revealed in a report
recently released  by the Centre for Science and Environment, a
New Delhi-based research and advocacy group. CSE, which has in
the past assessed how environmentally-friendly sectors including
auto, cement and chemicals are, for the first time took a closer
look at the steel industry. Posted.
http://blogs.wsj.com/indiarealtime/2012/06/06/indian-steelmakers-breach-green-rules-report/

Tesla sells out top-of-the-line Model S Signature series. Tesla
Motors has sold out of the top-of-the-line version of its Model S
battery-electric luxury sedan and is taking deposits on its Model
X crossover vehicle, Edmunds.com's Inside Line reports. The Model
S Signature version, which starts at $92,400 and tops out at
$105,400, is no longer available for pre-order on Tesla's
website, Inside Line says. The company continues to take deposits
on the base Model S – starting price is $57,400 – and has started
taking orders for the Model X, which is set to arrive by the end
of next year. Posted. 
http://green.autoblog.com/2012/06/06/teslas-sells-out-top-of-the-line-model-s-signature-series/

Conflict in the Air: U.S. Will Keep Reporting on Pollution in
China. Since 2008, the U.S. Embassy in Beijing has issued hourly
pollution readings of small airborne particles known as PM 2.5 on
the Twitter feed @beijingair, a service has since spread to U.S.
consulates in Guangzhou and Shanghai. Now, after years of private
complaints, China has publicly demanded the U.S. stop the
practice. Vice Minister of Environmental Protection Wu Xiaoqing
told a press conference Tuesday that foreign embassies posting
information about Chinese air quality was a violation of Chinese
law and the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations. Posted.
http://globalspin.blogs.time.com/2012/06/06/conflict-in-the-air-u-s-will-keep-reporting-on-pollution-in-china/#ixzz1x2ArGaVR