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newsclips -- ARB Newsclips for November 12, 2013.
Posted: 12 Nov 2013 16:05:11
ARB Newsclips for November 12, 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 New York Looks to Cut Emissions by Private Trash Haulers. As aging garbage trucks rumble down the streets of New York, their fumes draw protests from residents and environmental advocates and raise concerns about asthma and other health effects. The administration of Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg, which has made cleaner air a priority, has taken steps to modernize the city’s fleet of diesel-powered vehicles —Posted. http://www.nytimes.com/2013/11/12/nyregion/new-york-looks-to-cut-emissions-by-private-trash-haulers.html?_r=0&pagewanted=print EPA officers sickened by fumes at South L.A. oil field. The inspectors suffered sore throats and headaches during a visit to Allenco Energy Co. Sen. Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.) urges a temporary shutdown pending an investigation. Federal environmental officers were sickened by toxic vapors as they toured a south Los Angeles urban oil field whose emissions are blamed by neighbors for a variety of ailments, an EPA official said Friday. Posted. http://www.latimes.com/local/la-me-1109-fumes-20131109,0,3711063.story#axzz2kSjSjncy http://www.mercurynews.com/california/ci_24483626/sen-boxer-asks-halt-oil-operations-la Redwood City fire: Dirty air expected to linger, metal yard re-opens after huge blaze. Authorities said it was safe to be outside after firefighters finished putting out a billowing metal-yard fire that spread an acrid metal-plastic smell over the Bay Area, renewing attention on an auto-recycling plant with a history of reprimands for polluting. Posted. http://www.mercurynews.com/crime-courts/ci_24498551/redwood-city-seaport-blvd-open-fire-crews-continue Global deaths from vehicle emissions will grow without new rules – report. With vehicle use on the rise worldwide, the number of premature deaths linked to air pollution from cars and buses could rise without policies to control emissions, according to a new report from an international transportation think tank. While several countries and regions -- including the United States and European Union -- have adopted stricter tailpipe emission and fuel economy standards…Posted. http://www.eenews.net/greenwire/stories/1059990269/print BY SUBSCRIPTION ONLY CLIMATE CHANGE Report on climate change depicts a planet in peril. Climate change will disrupt not only the natural world but society, posing risks to resources and fomenting conflict, panel says. Climate change will disrupt not only the natural world but also society, posing risks to the world's economy and the food and water supply and contributing to violent conflict, an international panel of scientists says. The warnings came in a report drafted by the United Nations-backed Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. Posted. http://www.latimes.com/local/la-me-climate-change-20131112,0,6958165.story#axzz2kSjSjncy California on course for driest year on record. Thirsty California may get a smidgen of rain this coming week, but it is not likely to change what, so far, has been the driest calendar year in recorded history. No rain at all fell in San Francisco in October and only 3.95 inches has fallen since Jan. 1, the smallest amount of precipitation to date since record keeping began 164 years ago, according to the National Weather Service. Posted. http://www.sfgate.com/science/article/California-on-course-for-driest-year-on-record-4971192.php Cloud seeding, no longer magical thinking, is poised for use this winter. As California concludes a second drought year and water managers hope eagerly to avoid a third, utilities across the state are poised for that first mass of pillowy gray clouds to drift ashore from the Pacific Ocean. When it arrives, if conditions are right, they’ll be ready with cloud-seeding tools to squeeze out every extra snowflake, with the goal of boosting the snowpack that ultimately feeds the state’s water-storage reservoirs. Posted. http://www.sacbee.com/2013/11/11/5898983/cloud-seeding-no-longer-magical.html#storylink=cpy Worlds apart: Indigenous leaders abandon faith in UN to find climate solution. As United Nations delegates gather in Warsaw in the 19th annual effort to craft a global climate treaty, indigenous leaders from across North America met half a world away and offered a prophecy: The solution to climate change will never come via the UN talks. Tribal elders from the United States, Greenland and Mexico spoke of the need for individual action rather than government edicts, and of the difficulty – and urgency – of replacing economic questions with moral ones. Posted. http://wwwp.dailyclimate.org/tdc-newsroom/2013/11/ancient-voices-climate-change Climate change is shifting global rainfall trends – study. Global precipitation patterns are being moved in new directions by climate change, a new study has found. The research, published yesterday in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, is the first study to find the signal of climate change in global precipitation shifts across land and ocean. "It's worth saying that this is another grain of sand on that vast pile of evidence that climate change is real and is occurring…Posted. http://www.eenews.net/climatewire/stories/1059990242/print BY SUBSCRIPTION ONLY CFC ban linked to global warming 'pause' – study. A new study suggests that a ban on ozone-depleting gases may have also affected the rise in global temperatures. Chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs) were responsible for a massive hole in the ozone layer, but they also had a powerful greenhouse effect. The authors link a ban on their use to a "pause" or slowdown in temperature increases since the mid-1990s. Posted. http://www.eenews.net/climatewire/stories/1059990293/print BY SUBSCRIPTION ONLY DIESEL EMISSIONS CARB examines change that could help out-of-state truckers. The California Air Resources Board is considering a move that would help out-of-state truck drivers be able to make limited trips through California even if their trucks don’t meet the state’s most expensive emissions regulation. In its original form, CARB’s On-Road Truck and Bus Regulation was predicted to cost the trucking industry billions of dollars in truck replacement or retrofit work. Posted. http://www.landlinemag.com/Story.aspx?StoryID=26174#.UoJXSBDsDzA Port of Oakland goes electric to reduce diesel pollution. The Port of Oakland celebrated a clean air milestone Friday with the completion of a power system that will allow vessels docked at berths to power up on electricity instead of diesel fuel. The $70 million project is expected to eliminate 11 tons of diesel particulate and further improve air quality in West Oakland where prior studies have shown higher-than-average levels of asthma and cancer. Posted. http://www.contracostatimes.com/news/ci_24486230/port-oakland-goes-electric-reduce-diesel-pollution Container Ships to "Plug-In" at Oakland Port to Reduce Pollution. The massive container ships pulling in and out of the busy Port of Oakland will now be plugging-in, in an effort to curb pollution. On Friday, port officials celebrated the completion of its new electrical grid, which will provide electrical power to docking ships, allowing them to plug-in and switch off idling engines while loading and unloading cargo. Posted. http://www.nbcbayarea.com/news/local/Container-Ships-to-Plug-In-at-Oakland-Port-to-Reduce-Pollution-231229541.html Propane proves promising for aging school bus fleet. Down in the cities, riding to school isn't nearly as stinky as it used to be. California air pollution rules and concerns over the toxic compounds in diesel exhaust have already prompted school districts from Los Angeles to Lodi to switch to either alternative fuels or highly filtered diesel systems. Out in rural areas, such as Calaveras County, however, there are still some decades-old diesels that offer a whiff of old times. Posted. http://www.recordnet.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20131110/A_NEWS/311100314 Shore power project complete at the Port of Oakland. The completed four-year, 60 million dollar shore power project was celebrated at a press conference Friday by the Port of Oakland, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, California Air Resources Board, Bay Area Air Quality Management District, City of Oakland, Pacific Merchant Shipping Association and West Oakland Neighbors at Middle Harbor Shoreline Park in Oakland. The project includes installation of infrastructure that provides shore power to maritime tenants at 11 berths on six terminals to replace the vessel’s diesel-fueled auxiliary engines…Posted. (PHOTOS) http://photos.mercurynews.com/2013/11/08/shore-power-project-complete-at-the-port-of-oakland/ FUELS 7 things to know about ethanol. President Barack Obama has called corn-based ethanol "the most successful alternative fuel we have ever developed." Billed as a green replacement for billions of gallons of gasoline, ethanol has enjoyed widespread political support. But the results of America's ethanol policy have not been as green as advertised. Here's what you need to know: Posted. http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/U/US_ETHANOL_7_THINGS?SITE=AP&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT Industry takes aim at AP ethanol investigation. A new Associated Press investigation, which found that ethanol hasn't lived up to some of the government's clean-energy promises, is drawing a fierce response from the ethanol industry. In an unusual campaign, ethanol producers, corn growers and its lobbying and public relations firms have criticized and sought to alter the story, which was released to some outlets earlier and is being published online and in newspapers Tuesday. Posted. http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/U/US_ETHANOLS_ENVIRONMENTAL_DAMAGE_PUSHBACK?SITE=AP&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT Q&A: Ethanol, oil and what it means to be green Q: What is the ethanol mandate? A: In 2007, Congress passed a law requiring oil companies to blend corn ethanol into the gasoline supply. That requirement started at 9 billion gallons and has risen each year since. This year, it's about 13 billion gallons. Barack Obama, who was running for president against a crowded field of Democrats in the Iowa caucuses, was a champion for this law. Posted. http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/U/US_ETHANOL_QA?SITE=AP&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT A timeline of recent ethanol events. President George W. Bush signs the Energy Policy Act of 2005, requiring oil companies to add ethanol to their gasoline. Called the Renewable Fuels Standard, this mandate begins with a 4-billion-gallon requirement in 2006 and doubles by 2012. Corn is selling for $1.95 a bushel. January 2007 - In his State of the Union speech, President Bush calls on Congress to require production of 35 billion gallons of renewable and alternative fuels in 2017. Posted. http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/U/US_ETHANOL_TIMELINE?SITE=AP&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT Oil industry calls for weaker regulations in Alberta. Alberta's proposed oil and gas regulations are too ambitious and will hobble the Canadian industry's ability to compete, an industry association says in Alberta government documents obtained through provincial freedom of information laws. The Canadian Association of Petroleum Producers (CAPP) says the proposed regulations won't buy any goodwill and that the government should delay their introduction. Posted. http://www.eenews.net/climatewire/stories/1059990295/print BY SUBSCRIPTION ONLY VEHICLES Diesel, Fuel Cells Get Spotlight as Plug-Ins Lose Favor. With U.S. sales of plug-in electric vehicles on pace to reach half of President Barack Obama’s goal, regulators are following customers and automakers to vehicles powered by other fuels, from hydrogen to diesel. California, which leads 10 states that require automakers to sell zero-emission vehicles, may alter its system of tradable credits to stop favoring plug-ins over hydrogen-powered cars. Posted. http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2013-11-11/diesels-to-fuel-cells-join-spotlight-dimming-on-plug-ins-cars.html Fire victim backs Tesla as Feds deepen probe. A Tennessee physician whose Tesla became the third to catch on fire after an accident says he stands by the car even as federal investigators say they are working with the electric car maker over the incidents. Tesla posted an account of the accident on its website from the driver, which the automaker identifies as Juris Shibayama, whose car caught on fire near Smyrna, Tenn. Posted. http://www.usatoday.com/story/money/cars/2013/11/10/tesla-accident-fire/3488405/ HIGH-SPEED RAIL Low-speed land buys for high-speed rail. The body overseeing plans to build California's bullet train has started the daunting and expensive process of acquiring thousands of acres in the Central Valley, where the rail line's proposed path would slice through farms, stores and motels. But months after shovels were supposed to be in the ground, the California High-Speed Rail Authority is in escrow on just one parcel of the 370 it needs to buy or seize through eminent domain for the first 30 miles of construction. Posted. http://www.sfgate.com/default/article/Low-speed-land-buys-for-high-speed-rail-4975624.php GREEN ENERGY The secret, dirty cost of Obama's green power push. The hills of southern Iowa bear the scars of America's push for green energy: The brown gashes where rain has washed away the soil. The polluted streams that dump fertilizer into the water supply. Even the cemetery that disappeared like an apparition into a cornfield. It wasn't supposed to be this way. With the Iowa political caucuses on the horizon in 2007, presidential candidate Barack Obama made homegrown corn a centerpiece of his plan to slow global warming. Posted. http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/U/US_ETHANOLS_ENVIRONMENTAL_DAMAGE?SITE=AP&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2013-11-12-09-35-22 CleanPowerSF remains mired in politics. In September 2012, San Francisco's Board of Supervisors approved a new program to deliver renewable power to city residents, potentially breaking Pacific Gas and Electric Co.'s long-standing monopoly. The program, a decade in the making, would be up and running by October 2013, supervisors said. But it still hasn't launched. And it won't anytime soon. Posted. http://www.sfgate.com/science/article/CleanPowerSF-remains-mired-in-politics-4975691.php San Jose biogas facility will turn food waste into energy. The nation's largest facility for turning food scraps into biogas is about to go online in north San Jose. The project is a unique partnership between GreenWaste, which collects garbage, recycled materials and compostable, and Zanker Road Resource Management, which operates recycling facilities. The two firms formed the Zero Waste Energy Development Company in 2011 to take organic recycling to the next level: extracting energy. Posted. http://www.mercurynews.com/business/ci_24500983/greenwaste-biogas-san-jose-food-scraps-energy-zero-waste-green http://www.modbee.com/2013/11/12/3026119/large-waste-to-biogas-plant-to.html Calif. Energy Commission Chairman Weisenmiller discusses impact of EPA power plant regs on his state. How could U.S. EPA's proposed new source regulations and anticipated existing source standards affect the climate and energy policies already in place in California? During today's OnPoint, Robert Weisenmiller, chairman of the California Energy Commission, explains how EPA has engaged California on the agency's air regulations. Posted. http://www.eenews.net/tv/2013/11/12 BY SUBSCRIPTION Green groups urge extension of clean energy credits. With just over six weeks remaining in the year -- and, hence, in the current life cycle of some key clean energy tax credits -- a coalition of environmental groups is calling on Congress to not let those incentives lapse. It seems a long shot to expect congressional tax writers to turn their attention from the intensifying discussion of an overhaul of the tax code to deliver an extension of the expiring provisions before the end of this year. Posted. http://www.eenews.net/greenwire/stories/1059990261/print BY SUBSCRIPTION ONLY To bridge gaps in wind and solar generation, aging grid learns flexibility. At 2 p.m. on a sunny afternoon in June of this year, solar power in California surged to a new milestone. Over the course of an hour, photovoltaic panels and other arrays generated more than 2,000 megawatts of electricity -- a record for the Golden State and for California ISO, its systems operator. Posted. http://www.eenews.net/climatewire/stories/1059990270/print BY SUBSCRIPTION ONLY IEA sees world headed for 3.6 C rise in average temperatures. A dramatic expansion of renewable energy production worldwide, combined with government and private-sector incentives to move away from carbon-intensive fossil fuels, will be the key driver of the world's energy economy over the next two decades, a report issued today by the International Energy Agency says. Yet even with a substantial expansion of wind, solar, geothermal and other clean energy sources…Posted. http://www.eenews.net/climatewire/stories/1059990298/print BY SUBSCRIPTION ONLY Denmark will help Md. develop offshore wind. Maryland has asked for Denmark's help in developing offshore wind farms, officials said. Denmark is the home of the world's biggest offshore wind farm developer, DONG Energy, and of the top two offshore wind turbine manufacturers, Siemens Wind Power and Vestas Wind Systems, both of which also have factories in the United States. Posted. http://www.eenews.net/climatewire/stories/1059990268/print BY SUBSCRIPTION ONLY GE partners with industry on environmental technology initiative. General Electric Co. is partnering with a Canadian energy innovation group to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and water consumption from oil sands development. GE Power & Water will hire 15 process and solution engineers to work on technology to improve the environmental performance of the Alberta energy industry. Posted. http://www.eenews.net/energywire/stories/1059990236/print BY SUSCRIPTON ONLY MISCELLANEOUS L.A. Now Live: Ask questions about the new climate change report. Join Times staff writer Tony Barboza for a L.A. Now Live chat Tuesday morning at 9 a.m. about the newest findings on climate change. In his latest piece, Barboza reported that an international panel of scientists says climate change will disrupt not only the natural world but also society, posing risks to the world's economy and the food and water supply and contributing to violent conflict. Posted. http://www.latimes.com/local/lanow/la-me-ln-la-now-live-20131112-dto,0,2334059.story#axzz2kSjSjncy Home Depot will trade in your energy-wasting Christmas lights for LEDs. Alright guys, we’re on board, as much as anyone else, with the idea that Christmas comes after Thanksgiving and that maybe we don’t need to think about shopping and decorating for another few weeks. But American retailers are not — they want you to start thinking about Christmas now. Which means we have to go against our better instincts and tell you to start thinking ahead. Posted. http://grist.org/list/home-depot-will-trade-in-your-energy-wasting-christmas-lights-for-leds/ OPINIONS California's Green Reality Check. Governor Jerry Brown ought to be canonized as the patron saint of hopeless environmental causes. Consider a new U.S. Department of Energy study that finds that California will fall far short of its 2050 emissions goal even under the most ambitious (i.e., unrealistic) policies. The California Air Resources Board asked the Energy Department's Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory to analyze how various environmental policies help achieve the state's goal of reducing statewide emissions to 80% below 1990 levels by 2050. Posted. http://online.wsj.com/news/articles/SB10001424052702304448204579182154135387652?mod=WSJ_Opinion_AboveLEFTTop BY SUBSCRIPTION 'Green' paving helps the bay, human health. Every time it rains, San Francisco Bay gets a little sicker. But it doesn't have to be that way. Asphalt streets collect pollutants from motor oil to metals from brake pads to nutrients from garden fertilizers. Rains quickly wash it all into storm drains, local streams and the bay. When combined with decades of industrial pollution, storm-water runoff damages marine life and kills fish, leaving those that survive too toxic to eat. Posted. http://www.sfgate.com/opinion/openforum/article/Green-paving-helps-the-bay-human-health-4975717.php BLOGS The Inequality of Climate Change. Typhoon Haiyan has left at least 10,000 dead and hundreds of thousands homeless in the Philippines. And it has once again underscored for many development experts a cruel truth about climate change: It will hit the world’s poorest the hardest. “No nation will be immune to the impacts of climate change,” said a major World Bank report on the issue last year. “However, the distribution of impacts is likely to be inherently unequal and tilted against many of the world’s poorest regions, which have the least economic …Posted. http://economix.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/11/12/the-inequality-of-climate-change/ Eight States With Big ZEV Plans Meet With Automakers, Feds. Recently, the governors of eight states pledged to cooperate toward putting 3.3 million zero-emission vehicles on their roads by 2025. Now, representatives of those eight states are meeting with car companies and policy makers to hash out exactly how they will do that. The two-day meeting was this past Thursday and Friday, including representatives from those states, the California Air Resources Board, the Environmental Protection Agency, and car makers, the Detroit News reports. Posted. http://www.greencarreports.com/news/1088239_eight-states-with-big-zev-plans-meet-with-automakers-feds Look what’s slowing down global warming. Climate deniers like to point to the so-called global warming “hiatus” as evidence that humans aren’t changing the climate. But according to a new study, exactly the opposite is true: The recent slowdown in global temperature increases is partially the result of one of the few successful international crackdowns on greenhouse gases. Posted. http://grist.org/climate-energy/look-whats-slowing-down-global-warming/ Town Council adopts updated air plan. Twenty-some years ago, Mammoth Lakes used to choke through major air pollution in winter months. Wood-burning stoves and road cinders clouded the air and violated national and state air quality standards. The Town adopted an Air Quality Management Plan in 1990 and stayed within national standards four years later. With some state standard violations on occasion, the Town Council voted to approve an updated plan with an eye on complete compliance. Posted. http://www.sierrawave.net/27316/updated-air-plan/