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newsclips -- ARB Newsclips for October 22, 2012.
Posted: 22 Oct 2012 14:52:51
ARB Newsclips for October 22, 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 Obama’s record: Environmental agenda pushes sweeping attack on air pollution. The day after the November 2010 elections made clear President Obama’s greenhouse-gas legislation was doomed, he vowed to keep trying to curb emissions linked to global warming. There’s more than one way of “skinning the cat,” he told reporters. Since then, Obama has used his executive powers — including his authority under the 1970 Clean Air Act — to press the most sweeping attack on air pollution in U.S. history. Posted. http://www.washingtonpost.com/national/health-science/obamas-record-environmental-agenda-pushes-sweeping-attack-on-air-pollution/2012/10/21/44173f74-f603-11e1-8398-0327ab83ab91_story.html Pollution drop from building rail yard near L.A. harbor disputed. Public health and environmental experts dispute predictions that air pollution will be significantly cut if a giant rail yard is built in the L.A. harbor area. Public health and environmental experts are disputing predictions that air pollution would be significantly reduced if a giant rail yard is built next to schools, parks and hundreds of homes in the Los Angeles harbor area. Posted. http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-rail-yard-20121020,0,7931999.story Air-monitor spat could cost Valley millions. People in the San Joaquin Valley are paying a $30 million annual penalty for air pollution until the air clears up. At least, that was the deal until the state's spat with a landowner got in the way. No matter how clean the air gets, the penalty might remain until the state can smooth things over with the miffed landowner -- Arvin-Edison Water Storage District, which booted a key air-monitoring site off its land. The state and the Valley need an air monitor back on that land. Posted. http://www.fresnobee.com/2012/10/21/3037749/air-monitor-spat-could-cost-valley.html#storylink=cpy California Groups Sue EPA Over Vehicle Fees For Smog. California environmental groups have filed a lawsuit protesting a decision to combat San Joaquin Valley smog by increasing automobile registration fees instead of fining industrial polluters. The lawsuit filed Friday in the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals accuses the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency of violating federal environmental laws by waiving the fines. The EPA adopted the region’s air district plan to charge an additional $12 on each auto registration to replace the money lost by waiving the fines in August, though motorists have been paying the new fee since last year. Posted. http://www.vcstar.com/news/2012/oct/19/calif-groups-sue-epa-over-vehicle-fees-for-smog/ http://www.insurancejournal.com/news/west/2012/10/22/267433.htm CLIMATE CHANGE Carbon Plan Hurts EU Credibility as Regulator, Traders Say. A plan by the European Commission to prevent emitters from using some Emission Reduction Units issued after the end of this year damages the regulator’s credibility, said a lobby group representing traders. The proposal does not follow due process and the commission should have proposed a change to the emissions trading system law instead of the carbon registry regulation, Jeff Swartz, Geneva-based international policy director at the International Emissions Trading Association, said today. Posted. http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-10-22/carbon-plan-hurts-eu-credibility-as-regulator-traders-say-1-.html SKorea picked to host $100B global climate fund. South Korea says it has been chosen to host a new U.N. climate fund that aims to channel $100 billion a year in aid to developing nations. Seoul's Finance Ministry says the decision was made Saturday in a vote by the fund's 24-member board in Songdo, South Korea. The Green Climate Fund is envisioned as the world's biggest financier for helping developing nations adapt to climate change and move toward low-carbon economic growth. It would draw and distribute $100 billion that rich nations have pledged annually by 2020. Posted. http://www.contracostatimes.com/ci_21815214/skorea-picked-host-100b-global-climate-fund More Americans believe in global warming. For the first time since the United States entered a deep recession five years ago, 70 percent of Americans now say they believe global warming is a reality, according to researchers. In a report released Thursday by the Yale Project on Climate Change Communication, authors wrote that America's concern about global warming is now at its highest level since 2008, and that 58 percent of Americans expressed worries about it. "Historically Americans have viewed climate change as a distant problem…Posted. http://www.dailybulletin.com/california/ci_21821873/more-americans-believe-global-warming NGOs Square Off Over REDD in California. Indigenous groups across Latin America are exploring the use of carbon finance to save their forests and provide income. Some NGOs, however, fear mechanisms like REDD will backfire – resulting in higher rates of both deforestation and poverty. The two opposing views are converging this week in California, and each side accuses the other of not playing fair. Posted. http://www.ecosystemmarketplace.com/pages/dynamic/article.page.php?page_id=9375§ion=news_articles&eod=1#.UIGG9YuyFLw.facebook Rice agriculture accelerates global warming, new research finds. Plant scientist Chris van Kessel says without additional measures, the total methane emissions from rice agriculture will strongly increase. (International Rice Research Institute/photo ) More carbon dioxide in the atmosphere, coupled with rising temperatures, is making rice agriculture a larger source of the potent greenhouse gas methane, according to a study published today in Nature Climate Change by a research team that includes a University of California, Davis, plant scientist. Posted. http://www.news.ucdavis.edu/search/news_detail.lasso?id=10382 FUELS Study: 20 million acres of federal oil, gas leases in Gulf of Mexico idle. Oil and natural gas companies are not exploring, developing or producing on more than 20 million acres of federal leases in the Gulf of Mexico, 40 percent of them owned by the five biggest private oil giants, according to a study by the office of Rep. Edward J. Markey (D-Mass.), the ranking member of the House Natural Resources Committee. Posted. http://www.washingtonpost.com/business/economy/study-20-million-acres-of-federal-oil-gas-leases-in-gulf-of-mexico-idle/2012/10/22/d764031a-1c47-11e2-9cd5-b55c38388962_story.html After the Boom in Natural Gas. THE crew of workers fought off the blistering Louisiana sun, jerking their wrenches to tighten the fat hoses that would connect their cement trucks to the Chesapeake Energy drill rig — one of the last two rigs the company is still using to drill for natural gas here in the Haynesville Shale. Posted. http://www.nytimes.com/2012/10/21/business/energy-environment/in-a-natural-gas-glut-big-winners-and-losers.html?ref=earth&_r=0 California gasoline consumers hurt by few suppliers, outages. California has about half the number of refiners it had in the early 1980s. Gasoline price spikes, such as the one this month, hurt independent stations too. For nearly two decades, Santosh Arya has pumped some of the San Diego area's cheapest gas at his three Homeland Petroleum stations. But his streak ended early this month, when wholesale prices started rising sharply, then shot up 40 cents a gallon overnight. Posted. http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-california-gas-prices-20121022,0,7205542.story Building gas stations with flair. Carson-based gas station operator United Oil Co. is aiming to stand out from the pack with its eye-catching architecture. Remember when gas stations were cool? In the decades after World War II, gas was cheap and operators competed on service. Every time a car rolled in, a bell would ring and uniformed pump jockeys dashed out to fill the tank, wash the windshield and check the oil level. Sagging tires got a whoosh of air. Posted. http://www.latimes.com/business/realestate/la-fi-commre-gas-stations-20121021,0,2484748.story Canada blocks Petronas' bid for Progress Energy. Canada has blocked the Malaysian state-owned oil firm Petronas' US$5.2 billion (CA$5.17 billion) bid for gas producer Progress Energy Resources, saying the proposed investment would not provide a net benefit to Canada. Federal Industry Minister Christian Paradis did not explain his decision in a statement released just before midnight Friday, saying only that it was made after a careful and thorough review of the proposed transaction. http://www.vcstar.com/news/2012/oct/20/canada-blocks-petronas-bid-for-progress-energy/ GREEN ENERGY Colton looks to green energy to cut electric costs. Utility rates remain a sore subject from living rooms to City Hall as election season heats up and candidates promise to reduce energy costs. Monthly bills totalling in the hundreds are commonplace, despite a 10 percent rate reduction passed by the City Council last year, one that affects roughly 70 percent of Colton residents. Add in the Global Warming Solutions Act of 2006, or AB 32, which aims to reduce the state's greenhouse gas emissions to 1990 levels…Posted. http://www.dailybulletin.com/breakingnews/ci_21823410/colton-looks-green-energy-cut-electric-costs#ixzz2A3PwQX3Y http://www.sbsun.com/ci_21823410/colton-looks-green-energy-cut-electric-costs $60 million to rehab Don Pedro plant. Hydroelectric plants are like athletes. After 40, their parts can get creaky.So it is at Don Pedro Reservoir, completed in 1971 to provide power and water for the Modesto and Turlock irrigation districts. The districts face estimated costs of up to $60 million over the next few years to upgrade or replace generators and related equipment. Posted. http://www.modbee.com/2012/10/21/2423306/60m-to-rehab-don-pedro-plant.html# Without buyer, Dominion to close Wis. power plant. Dominion Resources Inc. said Monday that it plans to close and decommission its Kewaunee Power Station in Wisconsin after it was unable to find a buyer for the nuclear power plant. The Richmond, Va.-based energy provider said that the 556-megawatt facility in Carlton, Wis., is expected to stop producing power in the second quarter of 2013 and move to safe shutdown status. Dominion plans to record an after-tax $281 million charge in the third quarter related to the closing and decommissioning of the station. Posted. http://www.modbee.com/2012/10/22/2423712/without-buyer-dominion-to-close.html# Calif. measure to defund major clean energy lobby sparks money battle. Environmental groups are teaming with labor unions to fight a California ballot measure that they fear could undermine the Golden State's push for clean energy. The Golden State's Proposition 32 would ban political contributions that come directly from workers' pay and would block using that money for political activities. Labor and environmental organizations argue that the measure is a direct attack on unions. Posted. http://www.eenews.net/climatewire/print/2012/10/22/7 BY SUBSCRIPTION ONLY Arizona coal-fired power emissions ignored? The Arizona Electric Power Cooperative will receive $34 million in guaranteed loans from the US Department of Agriculture’s Rural Development’s Rural Utilities Service (RUS) according to a USDA announcement made Friday, October 19, 2012. Of course, providing reliable, affordable electricity is essential to the economic well-being of the nation’s rural residents, and this is a primary goal of the RUS electric program. There are approximately 700,000 people living in rural areas in Arizona. Posted. http://www.examiner.com/article/arizona-coal-fired-power-emissions-ignored MISCELLANEOUS California to start new smog check program. Few drivers may realize it, but their car’s onboard computer is busily collecting all sorts of data as they drive. And soon, the state of California will be picking those little under-the-hood brains. The California Air Resources Board is readying plans for a new smog check program that eliminates sticking a probe up the tailpipe to measure emissions while simulating driving conditions in a shop. Instead, for 2000 model-year and newer vehicles, the new test siphons off the data stored in the on-board diagnostic systems that are standard equipment on all newer vehicles. Posted. http://www.centralvalleybusinesstimes.com/stories/001/?ID=22124 Scientists convicted of manslaughter for failing to warn of earthquake. A court in L'Aquila, Italy, has sentenced defendants to six years in prison despite lack of any reliable way to predict quakes. An Italian court convicted seven scientists and experts of manslaughter on Monday for failing to adequately warn citizens before an earthquake struck L'Aquila in central Italy in 2009, killing more than 300 people. The court in L'Aquila sentenced the defendants to six years in prison. Each is a member of the country's Grand Commission on High Risks. Posted. http://www.guardian.co.uk/science/2012/oct/22/scientists-convicted-manslaughter-earthquake OPINIONS Dianne Feinstein: U.S. can't halt progress on fuel economy. While economic and foreign policy issues have rightly dominated this year's presidential contest, one area that deserves more scrutiny is where the candidates stand on a key energy security issue: vehicle fuel efficiency. In 2007, I joined Republican Sen. Olympia Snowe in authoring the Ten-in-Ten Fuel Economy Act, which will increase fleetwide fuel economy to 54.5 miles per gallon by 2025. This landmark bill was signed by President George W. Bush. Posted. http://www.mercurynews.com/opinion/ci_21810677/dianne-feinstein-u-s-cant-halt-progress-fuel Our View: Recycling program fraud. CalRecycle, the state's quarter-century-old beverage container recycling program, is in big trouble. While the number of bottles and cans diverted from landfills in California is up dramatically, rampant fraud and mismanagement is depleting the state's recycling fund. In recent years, the state has paid out $80 million to $100 million more to consumers and others who turn in used bottles and cans than it has taken in from beverage distributors. If something is not done soon to restructure the program, the fund could run out of money within two years. Posted. http://www.mercedsunstar.com/2012/10/20/2602770/our-view-recycling-program-fraud.html#storylink=cpy Come on, put that air monitor back. The Arvin-Edison Water Storage District should allow the California Air Resources Board to reinstall an air quality monitor on its land. Air quality is one of the biggest health issues facing the San Joaquin Valley and Arvin is ground zero for that battle, recording some of the highest levels of pollution in the nation over the years. Having reliable and long-running data from one location is critical to the health of the community and the region's challenge to meet clean air standards. Posted. http://www.bakersfieldcalifornian.com/opinion/our-view/x1250042818/Come-on-put-that-air-monitor-back BY SUBSCRIPTION ONLY Air quality funding needs to help Coachella Valley. Every once in a while, in the midst of a bureaucratic meeting, you get a sudden moment of clarity that refocuses the whole proceeding. That happened at Tuesday’s meeting of the South Coast Air Quality Management District’s Administrative Committee in Palm Desert, when Jim Rothblatt, a local bicyclist, got up to speak in favor of the Coachella Valley Association of Governments’ proposed cross-valley parkway. Posted. http://www.mydesert.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=2012310210032 BROOKS: Green technology in America: A sad story. The period around 2003 was the golden spring of green technology. John McCain and Joe Lieberman introduced a bipartisan bill to curb global warming. I got my first ride in a Prius from a conservative foreign policy hawk who said that these new technologies were going to help us end our dependence on Middle Eastern despots. You’d go to Silicon Valley and all the venture capitalists, it seemed, were rushing into clean tech. From that date on the story begins to get a little sadder. Posted. http://www.pressdemocrat.com/article/20121021/WIRE/121019473 Editorial: Brown asked to cool it on cap-and-trade. A group of employer and taxpayer organizations has formally asked Gov. Jerry Brown to delay the scheduled Nov. 14 auction of greenhouse gas allowances long enough to "fix" the state's cap-and-trade program. The auction would sell to regulated businesses the right to emit greenhouse gases in a scheme that would lower annually the permissible total emissions. The theory is that, over time, companies would switch to technology that emits less, reducing greenhouse gases emitted in California. Of course, ramped-up use of coal in China and other expanding industries worldwide would more than offset any savings, generated at great cost, in California. Posted. http://www.ocregister.com/opinion/brown-375171-ab32-auction.html They don't listen. Congratulations and thanks to Fresno County Supervisor Susan Anderson, whose courageous stance kept the Board of Supervisors' eligible voting members Phil Larson, Henry Perea and Debbie Poochigian from unanimously approving "giant" Gerawan Farms' rock mining application. Fresno County will now have increased air pollution, increased drain on our precious water, a serious and non-reversible impact on aquifers, a worsening of our two-lane county roads due to increased traffic, a potential of an annual $29 million in federal fines (air pollution violations), not to mention subsequent ugliness of the terrain. Posted. http://www.fresnobee.com/2012/10/21/3035586/they-dont-listen.html#storylink=misearch Nobody Mentions Climate Change. But Somebody Did Something About It. I constantly whine about the Beltway media, and I believe global warming is the most important issue facing humanity. So I was infuriated but not surprised to hear Candy Crowley explain after the last debate that she considered a question for “you climate change people,” but ditched it because “we knew the economy was still the main thing.” Actually, the technical term for people affected by climate change is “people. Posted. http://swampland.time.com/2012/10/22/nobody-mentions-climate-change-but-somebody-did-something-about-it/#ixzz2A3Iel5Bo BLOGS Valero Shopping Its Two California Refineries. Valero Energy Corp. is putting its two California refineries on the block, attempting to exit the state ahead of a ratcheting up of air-pollution regulations, people familiar with the matter said. San Antonio-based Valero has enlisted Citigroup Inc. to help find a buyer for the facilities, these people said, adding that the process is in the early stages. Valero, one of the largest refiners in the U.S., operates a 78,000-barrel-a-day refinery in Wilmington outside Los Angeles and a 132,000-barrel-a-day refinery in Benicia, in the San Francisco Bay area. Posted. http://blogs.wsj.com/deals/2012/10/19/valero-shopping-its-two-california-refineries/ Did Obama promise a ‘war on affordable energy’? “Under my plan of a cap-and-trade system, electricity rates would necessarily skyrocket.” “So, if somebody wants to build a coal-powered plant, it’ll bankrupt them.” -- Excerpts of Barack Obama interview featured in an American Energy Alliance ad. This ad uses cropped comments from a January 2008 interview between then-Sen. Barack Obama and the San Francisco Chronicle’s editorial board. The president’s critics have cited these same comments as proof that the current administration is bent on destroying the fossil-fuel industry and the jobs that go along with it. Posted. http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/fact-checker/post/did-obama-promise-a-war-on-affordable-energy/2012/10/19/d1fa0156-1975-11e2-aa6f-3b636fecb829_blog.html Q&A: Back to the Future With Environmental Bipartisanship. Last month a new conservation pledge , the American Eagle Compact, was propounded by the leaders of the National Audubon Society and ConservAmerica. Its purpose, like that of some earlier alliances, is to counter the political polarization that now characterizes most debates about clean air, clean water, habitats for plants and animals and, in particular, climate change. Posted. http://green.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/10/22/q-and-a-back-to-the-future-with-environmental-bipartisanship/ A Fresh Start on Global Warming. Next month, the curtain rises on the next round of international talks on global warming. Never before has diplomacy on this important topic been in a worse state. There are dozens of exciting new ideas for how governments could tackle the dangers of warming, but no idea and no government is clearly dominant. Outside of Europe, no major world economy is actually doing much to control its emissions. Posted. http://www.huffingtonpost.com/david-victor/fresh-start-global-warming_b_2000838.html?utm_hp_ref=world Global Warming At The Presidential Foreign Policy Debate: The Elephant In The Room. A quick quiz: Which presidential or vice presidential candidate said the following at one of the three previous debates? "Energy is essential to how we will power our economy and manage our environment in the 21st century. We therefore have an interest in promoting new technologies and sources of energy -- especially including renewables -- to reduce pollution, to diversify the energy supply, to create jobs and to address the very real threat of climate change." Posted. http://www.huffingtonpost.com/tom-zeller-jr/global-warming-presidential-debate_b_2001532.html?utm_hp_ref=green The Attack on Green Energy. Conservative critics of the Obama administration's move to promote renewable energy typically make the argument that government is ill-equipped to "pick winners" and invest in or subsidize new businesses. In his recent New York Times column, David Brooks acknowledges the climate problem and advocates a carbon tax, but devotes most of his piece to an attack on Obama's renewable energy program and the difficulties faced by this emerging industry. Posted. http://www.huffingtonpost.com/steven-cohen/the-attack-on-green-energ_b_2000268.html?utm_hp_ref=green