What's New List Serve Post Display

ARB Newsclips for June 25, 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.

CLIMATE CHANGE

Global Warming Seen Lifting California Sea Level a Foot by 2030.
Global warming may push sea levels as much as a foot higher in
California in the next two decades, threatening airports,
freeways, ports and houses, according to a report examining risks
along the U.S. West Coast. Increases are forecast to be greatest
south of Cape Mendocino, with levels rising 12 inches (30
centimeters) by 2030 and as much as two feet by 2050, according
to a report today by the National Research Council. In Oregon and
Washington, increases may be more modest, because land also is
rising. Posted.
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-06-22/global-warming-seen-lifting-california-sea-level-a-foot-by-2030.html
http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-adv-sea-level-20120625,0,7840116.story
http://www.greencarcongress.com/2012/06/nrc-ca-20120623.html 

Climate change activists scale the gates of Buckingham Palace in
protest. London — Four climate change activists scaled gates at
Queen Elizabeth II’s Buckingham Palace home on Saturday and
locked themselves to railings in a protest demanding more urgent
action to cut greenhouse gas emissions. The group, from the
Climate Siren environmentalist movement, wore T-shirts with the
slogan “Climate emergency. 10 percent annual emission cuts” and
chanted through a loud hailer. Posted.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/europe/climate-change-activists-scale-the-gates-of-buckingham-palace-in-protest/2012/06/23/gJQAlLroxV_story.html

Sea rise faster on East Coast than rest of globe. From Cape
Hatteras, N.C., to just north of Boston, sea levels are rising
much faster than they are around the globe, putting one of the
world's most costly coasts in danger of flooding, government
researchers report. U.S. Geological Survey scientists call the
600-mile swath a "hot spot" for climbing sea levels caused by
global warming. Along the region, the Atlantic Ocean is rising at
an annual rate three times to four times faster than the global
average since 1990, according to the study published Sunday in
the journal Nature Climate Change. Posted.
http://www.sfgate.com/news/article/Sea-rise-faster-on-East-Coast-than-rest-of-globe-3658967.php
http://money.msn.com/business-news/article.aspx?feed=AP&date=20120625&id=15260466
 
http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2012/jun/24/sea-rise-faster-on-east-coast-than-rest-of-globe/
 
http://www.insidebayarea.com/nation-world/ci_20930995/sea-rise-faster-east-coast-than-rest-globe?IADID=Search-www.insidebayarea.com-www.insidebayarea.com
 
http://www.contracostatimes.com/nation-world/ci_20930995/sea-rise-faster-east-coast-than-rest-globe?IADID=Search-www.contracostatimes.com-www.contracostatimes.com&IADID=Search-www.contracostatimes.com-www.contracostatimes.com
 
http://www.nctimes.com/news/science/sea-rise-faster-on-east-coast-than-rest-of-globe/image_9c020034-1e45-557b-8727-c808c61f7612.html

http://www.csmonitor.com/Science/2012/0625/Sea-levels-rising-on-US-East-Coast-faster-than-anywhere-else

U.S. cuts greenhouse gases despite do-nothing Congress. A curious
thing is happening to the air in the United States. It's getting
cleaner. Despite there being no real effort by Congress to
address global warming and America's longstanding reputation as
an energy hog, U.S. carbon dioxide emissions are falling. The
lackluster economy has something to do with it. But it doesn't
fully explain what's happening. Consider that even factoring in a
stronger economy, forecasters see greenhouse gas emissions
continuing to fall. It's possible the country may meet its pledge
to reduce emissions 17% by 2020. Posted.
http://money.cnn.com/2012/06/21/news/economy/greenhouse-gases-cut/index.htm


Senate poised to vote on global warming as a consideration in
flood insurance. The nation's sprawling flood insurance program
would begin considering the impacts of climate change under a
Senate bill that is expected to be voted on this week. The
legislation instructs the 44-year-old program with 5.6 million
policyholders to incorporate science's best estimates about
future flooding changes into the map-making process that
identifies floodplains across the country. Posted.
http://www.eenews.net/climatewire/print/2012/06/25/4 BY
SUBSCRIPTION ONLY

DIESEL EMISSIONS

North American Emission Rules for Ships to Enter Force. On 1
August 2012, enforcement of the North American Emissions Control
Area (ECA) is due to commence.  This third and largest ECA (the
other two encompass the North Sea and the Baltic Sea areas) was
first proposed by Canada and the United States on 27 March 2009. 
France quickly joined in on behalf of Saint Pierre and Miquelon,
its territory off the Atlantic coast of Canada.  The proposal was
approved by the IMO on 26 March 2010 by means of an amendment to
Annex VI (Regulations for Prevention of Air Pollution from Ships)
to the MARPOL Convention.  Posted.
http://www.marinelink.com/news/american-emission-north345746.aspx

University to Design Fossil Fuel-Free Cargo Ship.  Developments
are underway at the University of Southampton to design the
modern world’s first 100% fossil fuel free sailing cargo ships,
in a project which aims to provide efficient and affordable
low-carbon shipping in the face of rising fossil fuel prices and
the global challenge of reducing greenhouse gas emissions.  The
project combines proven technology and a state of the art
dyna-rig sail propulsion system with an off the shelf Rolls-Royce
engine powered by waste derived liquid biomethane (liquid gas). 
Posted. 
http://www.marinelink.com/news/university-fuelfree345697.aspx 

FUELS

No hearing for shipping industry's bid to sink Calif. fuel rule.
The Supreme Court announced today it would not hear a shipping
industry challenge to a California air rule that requires vessels
to use low-sulfur fuels within 24 miles of the coast. The legal
question in Pacific Merchant Shipping Association v. Goldstene
was whether state regulators have the authority to issue such an
order or whether it was pre-empted by federal law. The Submerged
Lands Act generally limits state authority to 3 miles from the
coast. In a March 2011 ruling, the San Francisco-based 9th U.S.
Circuit Court of Appeals said federal law did not pre-empt the
California Air Resources Board rule. That ruling now stands.
Posted. http://www.eenews.net/Greenwire/print/2012/06/25/5  BY
SUBSCRIPTION ONLY

Coal companies routinely win “competitive bids” against no
competition.   There are two senses in which coal is artificially
cheap.  The more sophisticated reason is the idea that coal has
negative impacts on the economy and on public health which are
not incorporated into its price. There’s also a practical sense
in which coal is too cheap: coal producers pay far too little for
it.  A report in today’s Washington Post provides a clear example
of this latter sense, focused on the Powder River Basin
overlapping Montana and Wyoming.  Posted. 
http://grist.org/news/coal-companies-routinely-win-competitive-bids-against-no-competition/


VEHICLES

Tesla Motors Delivers World's First Premium Electric Sedan to.
Tesla Motors (NASDAQ: TSLA) delivered Model S, the world's first
premium electric sedan, to its first customers at an
invitation-only event at the Tesla Factory in Fremont, California
today. These deliveries put Model S on the road approximately one
month earlier than previously announced and places the company in
a good position to build 5,000 cars by the end of 2012, followed
by 20,000 cars in 2013. "In 2009, we set out to build the most
innovative car of the 21st century, and since then have dedicated
ourselves to developing and testing Model S to ensure that under
any situation." Posted.
http://www.bloomberg.com/article/2012-06-22/agq5Z7v_U3Zc.html
http://www.eenews.net/Greenwire/print/2012/06/25/19  BY
SUBSCRIPTION ONLY

Porsche Looks at Energy to Ready for Post-911 Role: Cars. Porsche
SE, the holding company controlling a majority stake in
Volkswagen AG (VOW) after a botched takeover attempt four years
ago, will probably soon be investing more in energy than in
sports cars like the iconic 911. Porsche SE shareholders voted
today in favor of changes in the Stuttgart, Germany-based
company’s charter as it closes in on finalizing the sale of the
Porsche car-making unit to VW. The vote allows the holding
company to invest in materials for the auto industry, real estate
and energy trading. Posted.
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/print/2012-06-24/porsche-mulls-energy-trading-to-prepare-for-life-after-911-cars.html

GREEN ENERGY

California energy officials plan for life without San Onofre. As
officials make short-term plans to cope while the San Onofre
plant is off line, they're also starting to think about the
possibility of a nuclear-free future. California energy officials
are beginning to plan for the possibility of a long-range future
without the San Onofre nuclear power plant. The plant's
unexpected, nearly five-month outage has had officials scrambling
to replace its power this summer and has become a wild card in
already complicated discussions about the state's energy future.
Posted.
http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-san-onofre-20120624,0,5823630,print.story

New 'digesters' will turn Sacramento food waste into energy and
natural gas. Two new projects in Sacramento are proving that one
person's trash is another's big business. With the nation's
largest commercial solid waste digester about to be built in
Sacramento, the area could soon be a leader in creating value out
of garbage. Clean World Partners and Atlas Disposal Industries,
both of Sacramento, recently broke ground on a $13 million
anaerobic digester and renewable natural gas fueling station in
south Sacramento.  Posted.
http://www.sacbee.com/2012/06/24/4583102/new-digesters-will-turn-sacramento.html

Biodigester's appetite is fed by the ton. Crates filled to the
brim with watermelon rinds, bushy pineapple tops, lettuce scraps
and grass clippings each weigh in at nearly a ton. One might be
inclined to call this "organic waste." But not Clean World
Partners: This is biodigester food. It's feeding day for the four
huge cylindrical tanks of the biodigester on the grounds of the
American River Packaging plant in North Natomas. Nearly 10 tons
of leftover plant matter are being dumped into the mouth of the
digester and stuffed in with a garden fork. Without breathing any
greenhouse gases into the atmosphere…Posted.
http://www.sacbee.com/2012/06/24/v-print/4583100/biodigesters-appetite-is-fed-by.html

New efficiency standards for clothes washers, dishwashers. New
energy-efficiency standards for residential clothes washers and
dishwashers were announced by the U.S. Energy Department.  Under
the new rules, announced in May, front-loading clothes washers
will use 15 percent less energy and 35 percent less water.
Top-loading clothes washers will use 33 percent less energy and
19 percent less water. For dishwashers, the savings will be about
15 percent on energy and more than 20 percent on water. Posted.
http://www.sacbee.com/2012/06/25/v-print/4586651/new-efficiency-standards-for-clothes.html


Firm moves to deploy new ocean energy systems. The sea's heaving,
rolling waters are an often overlooked source of renewable
energy, but companies are now harnessing the motion of the ocean
to feed electricity into the grid. The potential is enormous,
experts say. "The predictions are that oceans could generate at
least 10 percent of the world's energy usage," said Belinda
Batten, director of the Northwest National Marine Renewable
Energy Center at Oregon State University. Posted.
http://www.eenews.net/climatewire/print/2012/06/25/5  BY
SUBSCRIPTION ONLY

San Francisco Bay tidal power project resurfaces. A bid to
harvest tidal power from the San Francisco Bay has re-emerged
with a new plan to satisfy potential customers and water users.
Golden Gate Energy, a subsidiary of Washington, D.C.-based Oceana
Energy, last week received a six-month extension from the Federal
Energy Regulatory Commission to file its draft license
application by December. It is planning to submerge 30-foot
turbines near the Golden Gate Bridge as early as 2014. The FERC
permit would allow the company to test smaller turbines in water
closer to the surface in preparation for the full-scale project,
which will sink turbines 150 feet underwater. Posted.
http://www.eenews.net/Greenwire/print/2012/06/25/16  BY
SUBSCRIPTION ONLY

State green bank chief: entrepreneurial spirit in a government
suit. Bryan T. Garcia, the president of the Clean Energy Finance
and Investment Authority, calls himself a believer in the
philosophy of hockey superstar Wayne Gretzky. "You miss 100
percent of the shots you never take," Garcia quotes Gretzky as
famously saying -- and quotes him often. Garcia has always taken
the shots -- starting as a 10-year-old outside Los Angeles,
scorekeeping for softball leagues at $3 a game, six games a
weekend, to pay for his first Apple computer. Posted.
http://www.ctmirror.org/story/16726/state-green-bank-chief-entrepreneurial-spirit-government-suit

MISCELLANEOUS

Court: Can EPA regulate mud from logging roads? Washington -- The
Supreme Court is getting down in the mud. The justices said
Monday they will hear an appeal of a federal court ruling that
declared mud washing off logging roads is pollution. The federal
appeals court in San Francisco ordered the Environmental
Protection Agency to write regulations to reduce the amount of
runoff from logging roads that reaches salmon streams. Oregon and
the timber industry filed separate appeals challenging the court
ruling. Posted.
http://www.sacbee.com/2012/06/25/4587107/court-can-epa-regulate-mud-from.html
http://www.sfgate.com/news/article/Court-Can-EPA-regulate-mud-from-logging-roads-3660520.php

Supercomputer to study weather 'butterfly effect' Cheyenne, Wyo.
-- Here in the shortgrass prairie, where being stuck in the ways
of the Old West is a point of civic pride, scientists are
building a machine that will, in effect, look into the future.
This month, on a barren Wyoming landscape dotted with gopher
holes and hay bales, the federal government is assembling a
supercomputer 10 years in the making, one of the fastest
computers ever built and the largest ever devoted to the study of
atmospheric science. Posted.
http://www.sfgate.com/science/article/Supercomputer-to-study-weather-butterfly-effect-3658439.php

Sneakers-maker Puma tracks its carbon footprint.  How big is a
sneaker's carbon footprint?  In a quest to find out, sportswear
giant Puma's chairman, Jochem Zeitz, helped develop the
Environmental Profit & Loss Account, or EP&L, a balance sheet
that assigns a dollar figure to the environmental costs inflicted
at every step of the manufacturing process that transforms
rubber, cotton, leather and other materials into the brand's
iconic soccer shoes, track suits and jerseys.  Posted. 
http://www.fresnobee.com/2012/06/23/2884982/sneakers-maker-puma-tracks-its.html#storylink=misearch
 
http://www.nctimes.com/business/sneakers-maker-puma-tracks-its-carbon-footprint/article_4a604dbe-ffac-510d-9615-7cad75e0a658.html


OPINIONS

Tesla rollout is showtime for electric cars. With a hum, not a
roar, Tesla Motors is heading closer to the middle of the road.
The electric-car maker, best known for its $110,000 sports car,
began delivering a $50,000-and-up sedan to a handful of eager
buyers Friday. It's a healthy start buoyed by Tesla's ambitious
leader Elon Musk, who believes that within 20 years, a majority
of new autos will be running on electrons, not fossil fuels.
Other plug-in vehicles are also hitting the market. But doubts
remain. Posted.
http://www.sfgate.com/opinion/editorials/article/Tesla-rollout-is-showtime-for-electric-cars-3657008.php

Reader Rebuttal (McEldowney & Schiller): California energy
prices. California's electricity bills are among the lowest in
the nation, and it's because of our state's innovative energy
policies that we pay less for power. The Register's editorial
"California: also land of pricey energy" [June 8] gets it exactly
wrong on both these points. Far from being a competitive
disadvantage, California's leading-edge energy efforts –
including Assembly Bill 32 – help California consumers and our
state's economy as a whole. Posted.
http://www.ocregister.com/opinion/energy-360297-california-businesses.html

BLOGS

Cooking the Planet or the Self, an Uneasy Choice. In a recent
article in The New York Times, Elisabeth Rosenthal and Andrew W.
Lehren warned of the role of air-conditioning gases in worsening
global warming. The story described the increased sales of
air-conditioners in countries like India and China, which it said
are rising 20 percent a year “as middle classes grow, units
become more affordable and temperatures rise with climate
change.” It added that “the potential cooling demands of upwardly
mobile Mumbai, India, alone have been estimated to be a quarter
of those of the United States.” Posted.
http://india.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/06/25/cooking-the-planet-or-cooling-ourselves-an-uneasy-choice/