What's New List Serve Post Display

ARB Newsclips for August 27, 2014. 

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

Perea Says Cap And Trade Plan Will Hurt San Joaquin Valley. 
California's landmark anti-global warming law will reach a new
milestone in January 2015. That's when the state's cap and trade
regulations begin to apply to transportation fuels like gas and
diesel. It's part of an effort to reduce the state's CO2
emissions to 1990 levels by the year 2020. But industry groups
and the state's non-partisan Legislative Analyst's Office say the
regulations could also drive up prices at the pump. Posted.
http://kvpr.org/post/perea-says-cap-and-trade-plan-will-hurt-san-joaquin-valley


OTHER RELATED STORIES

http://www.eenews.net/greenwire/stories/1060004913/feed 

UK to give airlines 26.4 mln free CO2 permits for 2013-2016.
Britain will hand its airlines 6.6 million free carbon allowances
a year to help reduce the cost of meeting their obligations under
Europe's Emissions Trading Scheme (ETS) from 2013-2016, the
government said on Wednesday. The European Union's ETS caps the
emissions of over 12,000 power plants, factories and airlines,
requiring them to surrender one carbon permit for every tonne of
CO2 emitted annually by April of the following year. Posted.
http://www.reuters.com/article/2014/08/27/britain-airlines-carbon-idUSL5N0QX2M720140827


AIR POLLUTION

Fighting smog with gas masks.  Los Angeles’ smoggiest day
occurred on Sept. 13, 1955, when ozone levels reached 0.85 parts
per million in downtown Los Angeles and 0.90 ppm in Vernon. Many
residents reported problems with burning eyes – a problem for
motorcycle riders. The smog was almost as bad on Sept. 14, but as
reported in the next day’s Los Angeles Times, one company found a
solution. Posted.
http://framework.latimes.com/2014/08/26/fighting-smog-with-gas-masks/


Global trash burning more polluting than expected.  Rampant
trash-burning is throwing more pollution and toxic particles into
the air than governments are reporting, according to a scientific
study estimating more than 40 percent of the world's garbage is
burned. The study published Tuesday in the journal Environmental
Science and Technology attempts the first comprehensive
assessment of global trash-burning data, including carbon
dioxide, carbon monoxide, mercury and tiny particulate matter
that can dim the sun's rays or clog human lungs. Posted.
http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/A/AS_INDIA_BURNING_TRASH?SITE=AP&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT

http://www.sfgate.com/default/article/Global-trash-burning-more-polluting-than-expected-5715018.php


U.N. Draft Report Lists Unchecked Emissions’ Risks.  Runaway
growth in the emission of greenhouse gases is swamping all
political efforts to deal with the problem, raising the risk of
“severe, pervasive and irreversible impacts” over the coming
decades, according to a draft of a major new United Nations
report. Global warming is already cutting grain production by
several percentage points, the report found, and that could grow
much worse if emissions continue unchecked. Posted.
http://www.nytimes.com/2014/08/27/science/earth/greenhouse-gas-emissions-are-growing-and-growing-more-dangerous-draft-of-un-report-says.html?ref=science&_r=5

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/U/US_SCI_CLIMATE_REPORT?SITE=AP&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT


Earth Log: Already 16 good-air days in August.  We've already had
the best August on record since I started following air quality
closely in 1995.  Every year since the mid-1990s there have been
more dirty-air days than clean-air days. Not this time. The
clean-day count was 16 early this week. To clarify, I'm referring
to days when the ozone in the San Joaquin Valley's air does not
exceed the federal eight-hour health standard. Posted.
http://www.fresnobee.com/2014/08/26/4088697/earth-log-already-16-good-air.html?sp=%2f99%2f406%2f#storylink=cpy


CLIMATE CHANGE

Obama pursuing climate accord in lieu of treaty. The Obama
administration is working to forge a sweeping international
climate change agreement to compel nations to cut their
planet-warming fossil fuel emissions but without ratification
from Congress.
In preparation for this agreement, to be signed at a U.N. summit
meeting in 2015 in Paris, the negotiators are meeting with
diplomats from other countries to broker a deal to commit some of
the world’s largest economies to enact laws to reduce their
carbon pollution. Posted.
http://www.fresnobee.com/2014/08/27/4090398_obama-pursuing-climate-accord.html?rh=1#storylink=cpy

http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2014/aug/26/obama-seeks-bypass-congress-un-climate-change-deal/?utm_source=RSS_Feed&utm_medium=RSS


Mexican president praises California policies. His visit followed
Brown's trade mission to Mexico earlier this summer. The
Democratic governor wants to promote greater cross-border
cooperation with the country that is California's largest export
market, most notably on alternative energy projects that could
help combat climate change. In his own remarks to lawmakers,
Brown said California was leading the way on such issues.Posted.
http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/U/US_MEXICO_PRESIDENT_CALIFORNIA_VISIT?SITE=AP&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT


Angry over climate change talks, tea party group says: ‘Tell a
Prius driver how you feel.’ Responding to the news that the Obama
administration is working on an international climate change
agreement that would not need the support of Congress, a tea
party group is urging its members to tell Prius drivers how they
feel by buying bumper stickers that say: “America Love it or
Leave It.” Posted. 
http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2014/aug/27/angry-over-climate-change-talks-tea-party-group-sa/#ixzz3BcagRCKh


Feds protect 20 species of coral as threatened.  The federal
government is protecting 20 types of colorful coral by putting
them on the list of threatened species, partly because of climate
change. Five species can be found off the Atlantic and Gulf of
Mexico coasts of Florida, Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands. The
other 15 are in the Pacific Ocean area near Guam and American
Samoa. Posted.
http://www.modbee.com/2014/08/27/3506910_feds-protect-20-species-of-coral.html?rh=1#storylink=cpy


DROUGHT

Drought: Tough Choices For California Water Managers. A federal
agency is releasing water from a northern California reservoir to
help a salmon run on the Klamath River. The extreme drought
conditions are making for tough choices.  The added water flowing
into the Klamath River comes from the Trinity Reservoir. The U.S.
Bureau of Reclamation water release is intended to help the fall
run of adult Chinook salmon, which has entered the lower Klamath
to spawn earlier than normal.  Posted.
http://www.capradio.org/30938 

Updated: Deja vu: Irrigators ask judge to cut off water for
salmon.  Agricultural water providers in the Central Valley of
California asked a federal judge to stop releases of extra water
intended to help salmon in the Klamath Basin survive the drought.
The petition for a temporary injunction was filed late Monday in
U.S. District Court in Fresno by Westlands Water District and the
San Luis & Delta-Mendota Water Authority, which supply farmers.
Posted.
http://www.contracostatimes.com/california/ci_26409592/deja-vu-irrigators-ask-judge-cut-off-water


Congress running out of time to reach compromise on drought
relief legislation.  It's summer recess in Washington. Congress
has been gone all month, but talks continue behind the scenes to
try to find a compromise on drought legislation.  The House and
Senate each passed their own version of drought legislation
earlier this year; but the two measures are very different and
members left town before reaching a compromise. Posted.
http://www.scpr.org/news/2014/08/26/46289/congress-running-out-of-time-to-reach-compromise-o/


California drought: San Jose declares water shortage, but won't
fine wasters.  More than seven months into the California
drought, San Jose has officially declared a city-wide water
shortage, asking the city's 1 million residents to cut their
water use by 20 percent -- but there will be no new consequences
for those who don't. The drought declaration, which the San Jose
City Council unanimously approved Tuesday, makes it illegal for
property owners to use potable water to irrigate their lawns or
landscaping between 8 a.m. and 8 p.m. through April 2015. Posted.
http://www.mercurynews.com/drought/ci_26411227/california-drought-san-jose-declares-water-shortage-but?source=rss


FUELS

GE opens fuel cell facility in upstate New York.  General
Electric Co. has a new facility north of Albany devoted to the
development of fuel cells. The facility in Malta that opened
Tuesday will be devoted to the development of high-efficiency
fuel cells that take in natural gas. GE believes these so-called
oxide fuel cells could generate from one to 10 megawatts of
power. Posted.
http://www.vcstar.com/news/ge-opens-fuel-cell-facility-in-upstate-new-york_84228279


GREEN ENERGY

Germany's Expensive Gamble on Renewable Energy. In a sandy marsh
on the outskirts of this medieval hamlet, Germany's next autobahn
will soon take shape. The Stromautobahn, as locals call it, won't
carry Audis and BMW's, but high-voltage electricity over hundreds
of miles of aluminum and steel cables stretching from the North
Sea to Germany's industrial corridor in the south. The project is
the linchpin of Germany's Energiewende, or energy revolution, a
mammoth, trillion-euro plan to wean the country off nuclear and
fossil fuels by midcentury and the top domestic priority of
Chancellor Angela Merkel. Posted.
http://online.wsj.com/articles/germanys-expensive-gamble-on-renewable-energy-1409106602?KEYWORDS=green+energy


OPINIONS

Water is California's buried treasure that no one's watching. 
California is pumping itself dry. As the drought deepens,
desperate farmers are turning to groundwater, using the supply at
nearly double the normal rate. It's a short-sighted practice that
needs thought and planning, not the open-tap treatment
groundwater now gets. Two bills on the topic are before the
Legislature in its final days of lawmaking. The measures require
local water agencies to manage - not ignore - the underground
water supplies and make sure the supply lasts for the future.
Posted.
http://www.sfgate.com/opinion/editorials/article/Water-is-California-s-buried-treasure-that-no-5714462.php


BLOGS 

Green Palm Takes Off. The effort to ensure palm oil is
sustainably produced is gaining traction with sales of so-called
green palm seeing strong sales this year. Palm oil is the world’s
most widely used vegetable oil, yet there’s mounting criticism
against the industry because it leads to deforestation of
tropical rainforests and destruction of peatland in Indonesia and
Malaysia, which account for 85% of production. Posted.
http://blogs.wsj.com/moneybeat/2014/08/26/green-palm-takes-off/?KEYWORDS=air+pollution


Rhode Island approves EV-specific license plates.  OK, so it only
took a couple of years for Rhode Island to get the hang of
electric vehicle-specific license plates, like its New England
neighbors. Now that the smallest state in the union has caught
on, it's nice to see that Rhode Island has upped the game by
including hybrids in that strategy.
Last month, Rhode Island Gov. Lincoln Chafee gave the go-ahead to
have a special hybrid and electric vehicle demarcation, Rhode
Island publication the Valley Breeze says. Posted.
http://green.autoblog.com/2014/08/26/rhode-island-approves-ev-specific-license-plates/




California is in a drought emergency.
Visit www.SaveOurH2O.org for water conservation tips.