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newsclips -- ARB Newsclips for August 20, 2013.

Posted: 20 Aug 2013 14:17:46
ARB Newsclips for August 20, 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.

CAP AND TRADE

Alberta report recommends stronger carbon-capture rules. Alberta
government is investing heavily in carbon capture storage
technology to bolster green credentials ahead of pipeline
projects. Stronger and more specific safety and environmental
rules need to be in place before carbon capture and storage (CCS)
technology is brought into widespread use, says an Alberta
government report. Posted.
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/report-on-business/industry-news/energy-and-resources/report-recommends-more-carbon-rules/article13859453/


State regulators consider offsets from coal mines, delay
consideration of rice emissions. California is preparing to
expand its supply of offsets for use in its cap-and-trade program
by tapping greenhouse gas emissions reductions made by coal mines
around the country. The California Air Resources Board released a
discussion draft last week of regulations that would allow owners
of coal mines to get credit for destroying methane…Posted.
http://www.eenews.net/climatewire/stories/1059986194/print BY
SUBSCRIPTION ONLY

AIR POLLUTION 

Large coal power plants getting life extensions. The nation's big
coal-burning power plants are not ready to become dinosaurs.
Utilities are making substantial investments to keep their
largest coal generating stations operating for decades - and
emitting millions of tons of carbon dioxide annually. Upgrades
planned or underway at more than 100 Midwestern coal power plants
will reduce emissions of mercury or other air pollutants. Posted.
http://www.sacbee.com/2013/08/20/5665386/large-coal-power-plants-getting.html#storylink=cpy


Fed appeals court revives Pa. plant pollution suit. A federal
appeals court has revived a lawsuit against a western
Pennsylvania power plant, ruling that two women who live nearby
can sue over alleged fly ash pollution even though the plant —
now owned by NRG Energy Inc. — meets state and federal air
pollution standards. Posted.
http://www.sfgate.com/default/article/Fed-appeals-court-revives-Pa-plant-pollution-suit-4745722.php


China Is Going To Embark On An Epic Attempt To Reduce Pollution,
And The Business Opportunity Is Massive (FXI, EWH). China is set
to launch a program to tackle its air pollution problem. And this
is expected to require an investment of 1.7 trillion yuan over
the next five years, according to the National Development and
Reform Commission (NDRC). Morgan Stanley's Simon H.Y. Lee and his
team think there are huge investment opportunities here. Posted.
http://www.sfgate.com/default/article/China-Is-Going-To-Embark-On-An-Epic-Attempt-To-4745641.php


Air pollution warning issued for Chicago area. The Illinois
Environmental Protection Agency is warning Chicago-area residents
about high levels of air pollution. The EPA says air quality on
Tuesday is expected to be unhealthy for people who have breathing
problems, active children and the elderly. Officials expect
elevated levels of ground-level ozone because of hot temperatures
and sunny weather. Ozone is an unstable gas created when volatile
chemicals and exhaust from smokestacks and tailpipes "cook" in
the heat and sun. Posted.
http://www.sfgate.com/default/article/Air-pollution-warning-issued-for-Chicago-area-4745241.php


Start of school in Fresno and Clovis Unified prompts air alert. 
Ozone, one of the most dangerous forms of air pollution rises at
the start of the school year, especially when it is hot. It is a
big reason why an air alert was issued Monday.  "Air alerts
happen when we get dangerously close to exceeding Ozone levels in
the San Joaquin Valley."  Posted.
http://abclocal.go.com/kfsn/story?section=news/education&id=9211892
 
http://www.modbee.com/2013/08/19/2873180/air-warning.html  
http://www.tracypress.com/view/full_story/23404357/article-First-Air-Alert-of-season-declared?instance=home_news_lead_story
 

Orange air quality day forecast as temps to rise Tuesday.  The
DEP has issued an orange air quality alert for Tuesday in Chester
and Montgomery counties as temperatures are expected to rise
again near 90 degrees.  According to the Department of
Environmental Protection and its regional air quality
partnerships, there will be an unhealthy level of air pollution
Tuesday for those with respiratory ailments such as asthma,
emphysema and bronchitis. Posted. 
http://www.pottsmerc.com/article/20130819/NEWS01/130819293/orange-air-quality-day-forecast-as-temps-to-rise-tuesday
 

The East is grey. China is the world’s worst polluter but largest
investor in green energy. Its rise will have as big an impact on
the environment as on the world economy or politics. ALL
industrial nations one day hit an environmental turning-point, an
event that dramatises to the population the ecological
consequences of growth. In America that event occurred in 1969
when the Cuyahoga river in Ohio, thick with pollutants and bereft
of fish, caught fire. Posted.
http://www.economist.com/news/briefing/21583245-china-worlds-worst-polluter-largest-investor-green-energy-its-rise-will-have


CLIMATE CHANGE

Panel Implores Region to Heed Rising Seas. A presidential task
force convened to learn lessons from superstorm Sandy urged
communities to take rising sea levels and climate change as a
given—and plan to shore up their buildings and power grids
accordingly. The report released Monday by the Hurricane Sandy
Rebuilding Task Force is in keeping with President Barack Obama's
emphasis that climate change is real and must be addressed.
Posted.
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424127887323608504579023183533218404.html?KEYWORDS=climate+change

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/08/20/science/earth/extremely-likely-that-human-activity-is-driving-climate-change-panel-finds.html?_r=2&&pagewanted=print

http://www.sacbee.com/2013/08/20/5664679/climate-report-warns-on-seas.html
http://www.sfgate.com/default/article/Scientists-say-sea-level-may-rise-3-feet-by-2100-4744922.php
 

Gore: Lake Tahoe climate-change cooperation a model. Former Vice
President Al Gore brought his warnings of climate change to the
shores of Lake Tahoe on Monday, saying the cooperation that is
helping to protect the alpine lake's famed clear waters is a
model for what can be accomplished in battling global warming.
Gore returned to Lake Tahoe 16 years after he and former
President Bill Clinton ushered in a new awareness…Posted.
http://www.sfgate.com/default/article/Gore-Lake-Tahoe-climate-change-cooperation-a-4744921.php

http://www.vcstar.com/news/2013/aug/19/tahoe-in-spotlight-as-hundreds-gather-for-summit/#ixzz2cWpgsGjb


DIESEL EMISSIONS

Port Eliminates 81% of Diesel Air Pollution.  The Port of Long
Beach has cut diesel particulates by 81 percent since 2005,
according to an analysis just released.  The results for 2012
mark six straight years of improving air quality in the harbor
area thanks to the Port's focused efforts to reduce air pollution
caused by goods movement.  The reasons for air quality
improvements include bigger ships carrying cargo more
efficiently, newer ships with cleaner engines…Posted. 
http://www.marinelink.com/news/eliminates%C2%A0-pollution357794.aspx


FUELS

Keystone XL project could harm wildlife, Interior Department
says. A letter contradicts the State Department's draft
environmental assessment of the pipeline, saying animals could
suffer lasting damage. The Interior Department has warned that
the proposed Keystone XL pipeline could have long-term, damaging
effects on wildlife near its route, contradicting the State
Department's March draft environmental assessment…Posted.
http://www.latimes.com/nation/la-na-keystone-pipeline-20130820,0,4897997.story

Cuomo won't join Obama at fracking hotbed sites. Gov. Andrew
Cuomo will avoid a potentially dicey political conflict by not
accompanying President Barack Obama to parts of upstate New York
roiled over the state's ban on hydraulic fracturing for natural
gas. 
Obama supports the technology as an economic windfall that helps
make the country more energy independent. Posted.
http://www.sacbee.com/2013/08/19/v-print/5663386/cuomo-wont-join-obama-at-fracking.html


Viable exhaust-driven on-board ethanol reforming for improvements
in fuel economy and emissions.  A team at Monsanto and colleagues
at AVL Powertrain have successfully designed and demonstrated an
onboard low-temperature ethanol reformer that can be driven by
exhaust heat. A paper on their work is published in the ACS
journal Energy & Fuels.  Posted. 
http://www.greencarcongress.com/2013/08/20130820-sall.html   

VEHICLES

Tesla claims NHTSA crash tests prove Model S is safest car on
road. Tesla Motors already claims to have the electric car that
can go the longest between charges, and now it is claiming
another automotive superlative -- the safest car on the road. The
Palo Alto electric car company said that during recent testing by
the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration “the Model S
set a new record for the lowest likelihood of injury to
occupants.”  Posted.
http://www.latimes.com/business/autos/la-fi-hy-tesla-nhtsa-safety-rating-20130820,0,2050024.story


Toyota is racing forward with alternative energy.  Toyota, aiming
to maintain its notoriety as an innovator in the hybrid vehicle
field, will present a new concept car, the Yaris Hybrid-R, at the
Frankfurt Motor Show this September. The vehicle is based on the
same technology as the Toyota TS030 prototype, which raced in
this year's Le Mans 24 Hours competition. The manufacturer will
also show off its latest strides in the field of zero-emissions
fuel cell vehicles.  Posted. 
http://www.insidebayarea.com/business/ci_23899767/toyota-is-racing-forward-alternative-energy?IADID=Search-www.insidebayarea.com-www.insidebayarea.com


Prius once again tops California new car market. California
new-car sales continued to hum along in the first half of the
year, with the Toyota Prius leading the way. In the latest
quarterly report from the Sacramento-based California New Car
Dealers Association, new motor vehicle sales totaled 850,712 in
the first half of this year, a 12.5 percent increase over 756,324
in the year-ago period. Posted.
http://www.sacbee.com/2013/08/20/5664471/prius-once-again-tops-california.html#storylink=cpy


GREEN ENERGY

Capitol Alert: AM Alert: California examines renewable energy
industry.  With California on a timeline to steadily reduce
carbon emissions -- a push buttressed by measures like last
year's energy-efficiency boosting Proposition 39 -- the renewable
energy industry is looking to expand its market share. An event
today hosted by the trade organization Advanced Energy Economy
will examine what lies ahead. Posted.
http://www.modbee.com/2013/08/20/2873678/capitol-alert-am-alert-california.html#storylink=cpy


MISCELLANEOUS

Environmentalists object to bill that would change Tahoe rules.
Measure before California Legislature would codify an agreement
reached last year with Nevada over development at Lake Tahoe. As
political leaders from California and Nevada gathered on the
eastern shore of Lake Tahoe to discuss ways to protect it,
environmentalists protested that a bill in California could
reverse nearly two decades of environmental improvements. Posted.
http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-lake-tahoe-20130820,0,2209700.story?track=rss
 http://www.sacbee.com/2013/08/20/5664541/brown-blasts-environmentalist.html


Recovery is slow in rural China’s ‘cancer villages’ In this small
village about 25 miles from Shanghai, the smell of paint and
gasoline hangs heavy in the stagnant afternoon air. Small dogs
run in streets wide enough for only a small car. Children with
worn Disney backpacks walk home from school, avoiding the trash
tossed into the street gutters. Posted.
http://www.sacbee.com/2013/08/19/5663453/recovery-is-slow-in-rural-chinas.html#storylink=cpy


Sonoma County delays landfill deal. Sonoma County today is set to
extend interim deals with its two main solid waste contractors, a
move meant to buy more time to hammer out a side agreement with
cities that has stalled the long-term reopening of the county's
central landfill. Operation of the Mecham Road site west of
Cotati was to be permanently privatized this summer under a
20-year deal worth an estimated $547 million. Posted.
http://www.pressdemocrat.com/article/20130819/articles/130819486?title=Sonoma-County-delays-landfill-deal


OPINIONS

'Perverse Effects' How green subsidies often increase carbon
emissions. Anticarbon central planning was bound to distort
markets, but it turns out that the planners often increase
emissions as they try to engineer President Obama's "new energy
economy." So concludes the National Academies, whose major report
on energy subsidies deserves more attention than it has received
since its June release. By some miracle, Congress in 2008 created
a National Research Council special committee to comb the tax
code to figure out how specific provisions increase or decrease
greenhouse gases. Posted.
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424127887324783204578621631632912450.html?KEYWORDS=carbon

The climate change debate is far from over. Re "Boxer stirs up
fight on climate science" (Capitol & California, Aug. 17): Sen.
Barbar Boxer wants Republicans to get on board with scientists'
assessments of the dangers of climate change. But the most recent
studies by Russian scientists maintain that a 200-year period of
global cooling (an ice age) will soon result. I wonder which
scientists the senator is referring to? Posted.
http://www.sacbee.com/2013/08/20/5658811/boxer-stirs-up-fight-on-climate.html#storylink=cpy


Dan Walters: Court case may derail California's bullet train.
When former Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and legislators asked
voters for a north-south bullet train five years ago, they knew
it would be a hard sell. Therefore, they included safeguards to
persuade voters that it was a well- reasoned project that would
not become a money pit, including: • The state's exposure would
be limited to the $9.95 billion bond issue, about a fourth of the
estimated cost. Posted.
http://www.sacbee.com/2013/08/20/5664539/dan-walters-court-case-may-derail.html#mi_rss=Dan%20Walters#storylink=cpy


Ethanol mandates creating an economic car-wreck.  There are two
iron laws of energy policy in the United States. Iron Law No. 1:
A higher federal excise tax on fuel would efficiently reduce
gasoline consumption and its negative side effects (air
pollution, traffic congestion, carbon emissions, dependence on
foreign oil).  Iron Law No. 2: Although economically rational,
gas taxes are politically unpopular, so Congress will go to
almost any length to avoid raising them, even if that means
resorting to far less transparent policies.  Posted. 
http://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/charles-lane-ethanol-mandates-creating-an-economic-pileup/2013/08/19/17346b08-08ef-11e3-8974-f97ab3b3c677_story.html
  

Contra Costa Times editorial: Judge should halt California's
high-speed rail.  Finally, a judge officially recognizes what has
been obvious for years: The bullet train empress has no clothes
-- or, in this case, money.  Sacramento County Superior Court
Judge Michael Kenny's 16-page ruling issued Friday exposes the
fraud perpetuated by the California High-Speed Rail Authority. 
Posted. 
http://www.contracostatimes.com/editorial/ci_23894050/contra-costa-times-editorial-judge-should-halt-californias
 
http://www.insidebayarea.com/news/ci_23894024/oakland-tribune-editorial-judge-should-halt-californias-high
 

Can a city's layout promote residents' health? You bet.  Our
lungs know all too well that Kern County is home to some of the
most polluted air in America. The recent American Lung
Association State of the Air report placed Kern among the top
three most polluted counties in the nation for ozone and first
overall for particulate pollution. Not only can we can see it,
but we can feel it in our chests and eyes. Kids and the elderly
suffer the most…Posted. 
http://www.bakersfieldcalifornian.com/opinion/hot-topics/x740579897/Can-a-citys-layout-promote-residents-health-You-bet
 

Opinion: Can we please get the facts right? A recent critique of
the province’s carbon tax was rife with errors. A Sustainable
Prosperity study by Stewart Elgie and Jessica McClay that
reported fuel consumption in British Columbia has declined by
18.8 per cent more than in the rest of Canada since adoption of
the carbon tax has prompted howls of disbelief from predictable
quarters. Posted.
http://www.vancouversun.com/life/Opinion+please+facts+right/8808269/story.html


BLOGS

Could Climate Campaigners’ Focus on Current Events be
Counterproductive?  This graph is from “Climate Risks: Linking
Narratives to Action,” an important new essay in the Stanford
Social Innovation Review on the gap between major environmental
groups’ messaging on human-driven global warming and the focus of
their programs and spending. The message these days has become
all about extreme events, from the Frankenstorm to intense
droughts, Posted.
http://dotearth.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/08/20/could-climate-campaigners-focus-on-current-events-be-counterproductive/


Jerry Brown says high-speed rail ruling won't stop project. Gov.
Jerry Brown said Monday that California's high-speed rail project
will not be stopped by a judge's ruling that project officials
failed to comply with provisions of Proposition 1A, the
initiative in which voters approved initial funding for the
project in 2008. "It's not a setback," Brown told reporters at
the Lake Tahoe Summit. He said the ruling "didn't stop our
spending, so we're continuing. Posted.
http://blogs.sacbee.com/capitolalertlatest/2013/08/jerry-brown-says-high-speed-rail-ruling-wont-stop-project-spending.html#storylink=cpy


These 20 cities have the most to lose from rising sea levels. 
The world’s coastal cities will change a lot between now and
2050. They’ll get wealthier, for one. Many of them will add
millions more people. And some, like New Orleans, will continue
sinking into the ground, thanks to erosion and groundwater
pumping.  On top of all that, there’s sea-level rise to consider.
As the world gets warmer, climate scientists expect the seas to
rise somewhere around one foot by 2050.  Posted. 
http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/wonkblog/wp/2013/08/20/these-20-cities-have-the-most-to-lose-from-rising-sea-levels/
 

Cal business group warns of another energy crisis. California’s
fight against climate change has, so far, proved popular with
voters. But among businesses, it’s a very different story. While
some support the state’s policies to rein in greenhouse gas
emissions, others emphatically don’t. Manufacturers and oil
companies in particular have sought to delay…Posted.
http://blog.sfgate.com/energy/2013/08/19/cal-business-group-warns-of-another-energy-crisis/
 

AM Alert: California examines renewable energy industry.  With
California on a timeline to steadily reduce carbon emissions -- a
push buttressed by measures like last year's energy-efficiency
boosting Proposition 39 -- the renewable energy industry is
looking to expand its market share. An event today hosted by the
trade organization Advanced Energy Economy will examine what lies
ahead.  Posted. 
http://blogs.sacbee.com/capitolalertlatest/2013/08/am-alert-california-examines-renewable-energy-industry.html
  

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