What's New List Serve Post Display

ARB Newsclips for May 16, 2013. 

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

Long Beach votes to sue L.A. over proposed rail yard at port. The
Long Beach City Council has authorized a lawsuit to challenge
plans by Los Angeles to build a rail yard in the harbor that
could impact low-income neighborhoods in West Long Beach. Council
members voted 9 to 0 Tuesday to sue over the Southern California
International Gateway -- a 153-acre project in the Port of Los
Angeles capable of handling more than 8,000 trucks a day and the
equivalent of 2.8 million 20-foot shipping containers annually.
Posted.
http://www.latimes.com/local/lanow/la-me-ln-long-beach-rail-yard-lawsuit-20130515,0,3590660.story


Tests show Calif beach bonfires hurt air quality.  Preliminary
testing released Wednesday by regional air quality officials
found that smoke from the beach bonfires that dot the Southern
California coastline pollutes the air in nearby neighborhoods and
on the beaches themselves.  The data will be a critical part of
the ongoing debate over a proposal before the South Coast Air
Quality Management District to ban nearly 850 beach bonfires
along miles of coastline in Los Angeles and Orange counties due
to health concerns about wood smoke.  Posted. 
http://www.mercurynews.com/breaking-news/ci_23251590/tests-show-calif-beach-bonfires-hurt-air-quality
  
http://www.fresnobee.com/2013/05/15/3300860/tests-show-calif-beach-bonfires.html#storylink=misearch

The 10 most polluted cities in the U.S.  There is no doubt that
great strides have been made in air pollution in the U.S.
Awareness, stricter legislation and improved technology have all
contributed to improved air, land and water conditions. Despite
the improvements, four in 10 Americans still live where pollution
levels are often dangerous to breathe. Since the American Lung
Association began studying particle pollution, almost all of the
most polluted cities have consistently remained among the worst.
Posted. 
http://www.marketwatch.com/story/the-10-most-polluted-cities-in-the-us-2013-05-16


CLIMATE CHANGE

E.U. Considers Emission Fines on Chinese and Indian Airlines. 
The European Commission said Thursday that Air China and Air
India were among 10 Chinese and Indian airlines facing the
prospect of fines and exclusion from airports in the European
Union for refusing to comply with rules aimed at regulating
greenhouse emissions.  The carriers are accused of not providing
emissions data, as required by the European rules, and not
participating in a permit system that entitles airlines to emit
greenhouse gases in European airspace.  Posted. 
http://www.nytimes.com/2013/05/17/business/global/17iht-emit17.html?ref=global-home&_r=0
 

Could Supreme Court stall climate change regulations?  With a
barrage of legal briefs, a coalition of business groups and
Republican-leaning states are taking their fight against Obama
administration climate change regulations to the U.S. Supreme
Court.  The U.S. Chamber of Commerce and other industry groups,
along with states such as Texas and Virginia, have filed nine
petitions in recent weeks asking the justices to review four U.S.
Environmental Protection Agency regulations that are designed to
cut greenhouse-gas emissions.  Posted. 
http://www.insidebayarea.com/ci_23255979/could-supreme-court-stall-climate-change-regulations?IADID=Search-www.insidebayarea.com-www.insidebayarea.com


State lays out long-term plans to combat climate change, air
pollution. California is looking to a new road marker in its
pathbreaking efforts to address climate change, but it's not sure
yet what to look for when it gets there. The Golden State has
plans to reduce greenhouse gas emissions to specific levels by
2020 and again by 2050, but nothing yet in between. Policymakers
are talking about the 2030 timeframe as a good meeting place to
mesh plans to address climate change and other environmental
issues, including transportation, land use and housing plans.
Posted.
http://www.eenews.net/climatewire/stories/1059981279/print BY
SUBSCRIPTION ONLY

Toll of 2012 disasters means higher cost of climate change –
studies. If ever proof was needed to justify comprehensive action
on climate change in the United States, experts at the American
Security Project (ASP) say, one only has to look to the
climate-fueled disasters of last year. "Climate scientists don't
like to point to one single event and say that it's directly
caused by climate change. But climate change will make events
like the ones in 2012 more likely…Posted.
http://www.eenews.net/climatewire/stories/1059981261/print BY
SUBSCRIPTION ONLY

DIESEL EMISSIONS

New trucking rules have wide-ranging effects.  Two new trucking
rules — one from California and the other federal — could have
wide-ranging effects on the fresh produce industry from the
shipper all the way to the retailer.  A panel of industry experts
outlined the two regulations and their implications during the
Expert Council Workshop Series, May 15, at United Fresh 2013.  Of
the two, the California Air Resources Board’s Transportation
Refrigeration Unit, is the more challenging, said Kenny Lund,
vice president, support services…Posted. 
http://www.thepacker.com/fruit-vegetable-news/New-trucking-rules-have-wide-ranging-effects-207712381.html?ref=381


FUELS

Tech institute predicts rapid rise in natural gas vehicles. Major
changes are in store for the nation's natural gas industry in the
next five to 10 years, an official with the Chicago-based Gas
Technology Institute said during an industry gathering here
yesterday. GTI sees a rapid rise in the use of natural gas as a
fuel for vehicles and gas continuing to overtake coal in power
generation. Oil and gas companies also are expected to embark on
a major pipeline-building campaign, but mainly to replace aging
lines. Posted.
http://www.eenews.net/energywire/stories/1059981252/print BY
SUBSCRIPTION ONLY

Hydrogen fuel makes progress in California public transit. 
Residents of Marin, California, now have an opportunity to
experience hydrogen fuel themselves. A new hydrogen-powered bus
has made its way to the city and will be operated by Golden Gate
Transit. The bus will remain active for the next two years as
city officials determine the viability of hydrogen fuel in public
transportation. Golden Gate Transit has teamed with other public
transportation agencies to manage the hydrogen fuel
transportation project over the next two years.  Posted. 
http://www.hydrogenfuelnews.com/hydrogen-fuel-makes-progress-in-california-public-transit/8510579/


After 'frank discussion' with Jewell, greens call for tougher
fracking regs. A dozen environmental groups yesterday urged
Interior Secretary Sally Jewell to strengthen forthcoming Bureau
of Land Management rules governing hydraulic fracturing on public
lands in addition to tightening oversight of roads and well pads,
waste storage and site reclamation. Modern hydraulic fracturing,
or fracking, has changed significantly since Jewell first fracked
a well in the 1970s as an engineer for Mobil Oil Corp., the
groups wrote. Posted.
http://www.eenews.net/greenwire/stories/1059981295/print BY
SUBSCRIPTION ONLY

VEHICLES

Lease plans and battery rental - solutions to the EV market
uptake?  Electric vehicles have required OEMs to come up with new
business models in order to increase sales. Battery rental, EV
leasing or EVs available in multiple battery sizes, are some of
the innovative schemes that have been launched to reduce the
initial cost of the car, thus helping to raise consumer interest
in Europe, and also in the US. cars21.com summarizes below the
current and upcoming options available.  Posted. 
http://www.cars21.com/news/view/5397 

HIGH-SPEED RAIL

Kings County fights to keep rail lawsuits separate.  Kings County
opponents of high-speed rail are battling the California
High-Speed Rail Authority to keep their legal fight on track. 
Hanford farmer John Tos, Hanford homeowner Aaron Fukuda and the
Kings County Board of Supervisors have a court date May 31 in
Sacramento for the suit they filed against the rail agency in
2011. They say that the high-speed rail project doesn't square
with Proposition 1A, the $9.9 billion bond measure approved by
California voters in 2008 to help finance high-speed rail. 
Posted. 
http://www.fresnobee.com/2013/05/15/3301201/kings-co-keep-rail-suits-separate.html


GREEN ENERGY

A powerful use for spoiled food.  Kroger Co.'s anaerobic digester
in Compton takes unsold food from Ralphs and Food 4 Less and
converts it into 13 million kilowatt-hours of electricity a year.
What happens to the 40% of food produced but never eaten in the
U.S. each year, the mounds of perfect fruit passed over by
grocery store shoppers, the tons of meat and milk left to expire?
At Ralphs, one of the oldest and largest supermarket chains on
the West Coast, it helps keep the power on. In a sprawling
Compton distribution center that the company shares…Posted.
http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-ralphs-energy-20130516,0,7330815.story


Stepping up to do right by the environment: More than 1,000 sign
up for 'Sustainability Challenge'.  If one Contra Costa County
home gardener fights "peach curl" with enviro-safe fungicide once
a year, a tree is saved. And if one Alameda County resident
chooses reusable beverage containers over throwaway plastic
bottles, cash piles up and garbage in landfills doesn't. Posted. 
http://www.insidebayarea.com/ci_23242110/stepping-up-do-right-by-environment-more-than?IADID=Search-www.insidebayarea.com-www.insidebayarea.com


OPINIONS 

Edison, Mitsubishi hit roadblock on San Onofre's future. A flurry
of letters that went back and forth between Southern California
Edison and Mitsubishi Heavy Industries late last year reveal the
serious hurdles that stand in the way of the San Onofre nuclear
power plant's long-term future. The plant had been offline at
that point for nearly a year because of unusual wear on tubes
that carry radioactive water in the plant’s newly replaced steam
generators, which were designed and manufactured by Mitsubishi.
Posted.
http://www.latimes.com/local/lanow/la-me-ln-san-onofre-repair-20130515,0,6868664.story?track=rss&utm_source=feedly&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+lanowblog+%28L.A.+Now%29


Increase in greenhouse gases reaches ominous milestone. The
following editorial appeared in the Miami Herald on Wednesday,
May 15: Milestones are usually to be cheered, but not the one the
world reached at 8 p.m. on Thursday, May 9. For the first time in
millions of years the level of carbon dioxide in the Earth's
atmosphere reached above 400 parts per million. So what, you say?
It's just a bunch of scientific numbers. Not really. What these
numbers tell us is that within 25 years, if we continue to
produce CO2 at our present rate, we can expect significant
alterations in our climate. Posted.
http://www.sacbee.com/2013/05/16/5425292/increase-in-greenhouse-gases-reaches.html#storylink=cpy

http://www.fresnobee.com/2013/05/16/3301612/increase-in-greenhouse-gases-reaches.html


BLOGS

A “boring” look at the California carbon market. Last month,
carbon market practitioners and observers gathered in San
Francisco for the annual Navigating the American Carbon World
(NACW) conference. NACW began in California over a decade ago as
a regional meet-up for the nascent community of practice working
on voluntary carbon management initiatives. Now, in step with
California’s climate leadership and the start of the second shift
in North American policy attention from top-down federal efforts
to bottom-up state/regional action, the conference’s relevance
far exceeds Golden State’s borders. Posted.
http://ghginstitute.org/2013/05/10/a-boring-look-at-the-california-carbon-market/?utm_source=May+2013+Newsletter&utm_campaign=Monthly+newsletter&utm_medium=email

 
Free "Etch and Catch" catalytic converter event in Elk Grove.
Motorists can have identification numbers etched onto the
catalytic converters on their vehicles for free in Elk Grove next
month. The Elk Grove Police Department is partnering with Jiffy
Lube to etch the license plate numbers onto catalytic converters
at the "Etch and Catch" event. The effort takes place from 10
a.m. to 5 p.m. June 4 at Jiffy Lube, 9611 Auto Center Drive in
Elk Grove. Posted.
http://blogs.sacbee.com/crime/archives/2013/05/free-etch-and-catch-catalytic-converter-event-in-elk-grove.html#storylink=cpy


2013 Nissan Leaf officially rated at 115 MPGe, with 75 miles* of
range.  The news keeps getting better for Nissan and its efforts
to boost sales of its all-electric Leaf: the Environmental
Protection Agency (EPA) ahs confirmed that the EV's range is
about 15 percent better than it used to be.  The EPA finalized
its 2013 Leaf numbers, confirming a miles per gallon-equivalent
rating of 115, up from 99 MPGe. And while the single-charge range
distance is only up two miles – to 75 – it's apples to oranges
because the current number stems from about a 90 percent charge
whereas the old number is from a full charge (details here).
Posted. 
http://green.autoblog.com/2013/05/15/2013-nissan-leaf-officially-rated-at-115-mpge-75-mile-range/