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ARB Newsclips for December 17, 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

Consumers Union cautions of possible oil market price
manipulation. California’s regulators need to keep a close eye on
oil markets for possible price manipulation starting in January,
says Consumers Union, the policy arm of Consumer Reports. Oil
companies may spike gasoline prices next month, blaming the
increases on California’s cap-and-trade law, which they have
spent millions of dollars opposing through lobbyists and a failed
ballot initiative, CU warns.
http://www.centralvalleybusinesstimes.com/stories/001/?ID=27360 


Inslee wants carbon tax to fund transportation. Overlooking the
state Route 520 floating bridge project, Washington Gov. Jay
Inslee on Tuesday unveiled a proposal he said would address the
state's most pressing transportation needs — fixing bridges and
roads and boosting the ferry system while cleaning the air and
water. Inslee hopes to fund the $12 billion plan with bonds, fees
and a carbon charge on the state's industrial polluters.
http://www.sanluisobispo.com/2014/12/16/3401680_inslee-wants-carbon-tax-to-fund.html?sp=/99/102//&rh=1#storylink=cpy


CLIMATE CHANGE

Wash. Gov. Inslee proposes carbon fee to pay for transportation
projects. Washington Gov. Jay Inslee (D) wants to rebuild his
state's transportation infrastructure and plans to charge carbon
emitters in order to come up with the funds. The governor is
rolling out a proposed state budget in stages this week and is
expected to speak to the design and implementation of a state
carbon fee today.
http://www.eenews.net/climatewire/stories/1060010674/print 

DROUGHT

California Needs 11 Trillion Gallons of Water To End Drought. For
the first time, scientists used data from satellites to calculate
what it takes to end a drought. For California, it’s a sobering
statistic: 11 trillion gallons or about 30 million acre feet.
The finding was released at the American Geophysical Union
meeting in San Francisco.Water scientist Jay Famiglietti with
NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory says the new research can be
used to inform water management decisions in the state.
http://www.capradio.org/articles/2014/12/16/california-needs-11-trillion-gallons-of-water-to-end-drought


Drought: 4 things Southern California is doing to capture
stormwater, and 1 we're not. Billions of gallons of water have
fallen on Los Angeles County since last week. And much of that 
kept right on going — out into storm drains, lost to the sea.
Couldn’t we actually use that water? Yes, and we do. Southern
California water managers want to use more of it.
http://www.scpr.org/news/2014/12/17/48734/drought-four-things-southern-california-is-doing-t/


Drought has left state 11T gallons drier, NASA finds. The current
drought in California has accelerated losses from the state's
main water hub, NASA scientists announced yesterday. The
Sacramento-San Joaquin River basins, which supply 25 million
Californians and 3 million acres of farmland with water, are 11
trillion gallons below normal levels -- an amount that would fill
the country's largest reservoir, Lake Mead, 1.5 times.
http://www.eenews.net/climatewire/stories/1060010690/print 

Jackson's proudest moment: triggering climate rules. Lisa Jackson
left U.S. EPA almost two years ago, but she can still take credit
-- or blame -- for big new climate rules. In late 2009, the
then-EPA administrator issued a long-awaited document determining
that greenhouse gases pose a threat to public health, setting in
motion a slew of rules to curb heat-trapping emissions that are
still being crafted by the Obama administration.
http://www.eenews.net/greenwire/stories/1060010720/print 

FUELS

Keystone pipeline to top Senate agenda next year. Senate
Republican Leader Mitch McConnell declared Tuesday that approving
the Keystone XL pipeline will top the Senate agenda in January,
potentially setting up an early veto confrontation with President
Barack Obama. Congressional Republicans have been pushing for
approval of the pipeline for years. Obama has resisted because of
environmental concerns.
http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/U/US_MCCONNELL_KEYSTONE?SITE=AP&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT


U.S. to unveil plan to curb oil and gas sector methane soon:
sources. The Obama administration as soon as Wednesday will
announce its plans for curbing methane emissions from the oil and
gas sector, which the United States must do to meet its 2020
target for cutting greenhouse gas emissions, people familiar with
the issue said Tuesday. The government reaffirmed that goal last
week at U.N. climate talks in Lima.
http://www.reuters.com/article/2014/12/16/us-climatechange-epa-methane-idUSKBN0JU2LS20141216


Cuomo to Ban Fracking in New York State, Citing Health Risks. The
Cuomo administration announced Wednesday that it would ban
hydraulic fracturing in New York State, ending years of
uncertainty by concluding that the controversial method of
extracting gas from deep underground could contaminate the
state’s air and water and pose inestimable public-health risks.
http://www.nytimes.com/2014/12/18/nyregion/cuomo-to-ban-fracking-in-new-york-state-citing-health-risks.html?_r=1


Methane spike on Mars? Curiosity rover reignites mystery. Methane
is making a comeback on Mars. NASA’s Curiosity rover has detected
a tenfold spike in the gas that lasted for several weeks,
scientists announced Tuesday. On Earth, most methane is produced
by living things, and a healthy dose of this organic molecule on
Mars may give scientists new hope of finding signs of life there.
http://www.latimes.com/science/sciencenow/la-sci-sn-mars-methane-curiosity-20141216-story.html


Rain could spell trouble for Calif. water conservation. After
California's driest three years on record, there have been few
sounds as disturbing to water conservationists as the
whisk-whisk-whisk of automatic lawn sprinklers kicking on
directly behind TV reporters covering some of the state's first
heavy downpours in years. Recent storms eased the drought
somewhat, but there's a long way to go.
http://www.sacbee.com/news/nation-world/article4523609.html#storylink=cpy


Falling Gas Prices Benefit Drivers, Businesses. California gas
prices are down about 75 cents a gallon compared to this time
last year. Allison Mac is an analyst with GasBuddy.com. She says
lower worldwide demand and higher supplies have resulted in lower
prices across the board. Mac expects California to see an average
price around $2.80 a gallon next year. She says lower prices are
translating into profits for gas stations.
http://www.capradio.org/articles/2014/12/16/falling-gas-prices-benefit-drivers,-businesses/


Master limited partnerships pricing suffers inordinately from
unanticipated oil plunge. While the global oil markets have
experienced the most dramatic plunge of oil prices in years,
derivatives such as petrochemicals and many end-use products such
as gasoline, heating oil, jet fuel, diesel, etc. have benefitted
from this price drop in a relatively short period of time.
http://www.desertsun.com/story/morrisbeschlosseconomics/2014/12/16/morris-beschloss-oil-prices-gasoline-derivatives/20509313/


Senate leader plans bill to force state pension funds to divest
from coal. The head of California's Senate plans to introduce
legislation to require the state's public pension funds to get
rid of their investments in coal equities. State Senate President
Pro Tem Kevin de León (D) said yesterday that he would introduce
a bill next month targeting the state's pension funds…
http://www.eenews.net/climatewire/stories/1060010619/print 

Ethanol groups, oil industry pan RFS 'middle ground’ A team of
biofuel experts has released recommendations on how to reform the
contentious federal renewable fuel standard, after years of
turmoil between vested interests. The report by the Bipartisan
Policy Center, titled "Options for Reforming the Renewable Fuel
Standard," lays out 40 recommendations, with pros and cons, for
updating the RFS and promoting biofuels generally.
http://www.eenews.net/eenewspm/stories/1060010663/print 

GREEN ENERGY

Boeing 737 factory to move to clean energy.  Boeing said Tuesday
it plans to buy renewable energy credits to replace fossil-fuel
power at the factory in Washington state where it assembles its
737 commercial airplanes. The aerospace company and the utility,
Puget Sound Energy, said the plan will move the Renton factory
near Seattle toward an all-renewable energy mix.
http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/U/US_BOEING_ENERGY?SITE=AP&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT


No More Faking It: Companies Ditch Green Credits, Clean Up
Instead. It has been a near-magical tool allowing corporations to
claim massive reductions in greenhouse gas emissions for very
little cost. For years, thousands of companies have purchased
renewable energy credits, known as RECs, to say they use green
power and to shrink their carbon footprints.
http://www.businessweek.com/articles/2014-12-17/renewable-energy-credits-losing-luster-with-mcdonalds-whole-foods-pepsico


Congress extends wind tax credit, but only for 2 weeks. Congress
revived a key tax credit for wind energy Tuesday — but only for
two weeks. Wind advocates had urged legislators to pass a
multi-year extension of the tax credit, which expired at the end
of last year. Under the bill passed overwhelmingly by the Senate
late Tuesday…
http://www.desertsun.com/story/tech/science/energy/2014/12/16/congress-wind-tax-credit-extension/20509777/


Solar prices fall, but researchers find puzzling price
variations. While prices for solar photovoltaic (PV) energy
systems have fallen over the last two years, there remains a wide
disparity in what U.S. consumers are paying for solar based on
geography and other market factors, according to new findings
from the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory and several
research universities.
http://www.eenews.net/climatewire/stories/1060010594/print 

Baffled by how to invest in clean energy abroad? Here's a road
map. As investment targets, the world's emerging markets -- often
represented by the BRIC acronym and its constituent nations of
Brazil, Russia, India and China -- have played significant roles
in global finance in recent years. Simultaneously, demand for
renewable energy has increased…
http://www.eenews.net/climatewire/stories/1060010691/print 

GOP lawmakers draft ways to attack EPA's Clean Power Plan.
Republicans on the House Energy and Commerce Committee settled on
the strategy yesterday for bitter congressional fights over U.S.
EPA's proposal to limit greenhouse gas emissions from the power
sector. A report prepared by GOP staff charges that the
administration's Clean Power Plan oversteps federal authority,
sets unrealistic requirements and would provide no measurable
climate benefits.
http://www.eenews.net/climatewire/stories/1060010688/print 

MISCELLANEOUS

Urban Miners Drill Under London to Keep Your Tesla Going.
London’s cluttered network of subways, sewers and secret passages
is getting two more tunnels to meet electricity use growing
faster than in Paris and New York. Demand for power in the
British capital will climb more than 5 percent by the end of this
decade, versus 2 percent in Paris and a drop of 1 percent in New
York.
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2014-12-17/urban-miners-drill-under-london-to-keep-your-tesla-going.html


OPINIONS

Re-thinking how we talk about California's drought. To the
editor: George Skelton rightfully harangues California officials
for their framing of the water issues facing the state.
("Government is being a drip on the drought," Dec. 14). Perhaps a
more uplifting approach by those writing about and dealing with
the drought would be to look at the reservoirs, long described as
perilously growing more and more empty…
http://www.latimes.com/opinion/readersreact/la-le-1217-wednesday-drought-20141217-story.html


Plastic bags, chemicals, climate change, torture. Why charge 10
cents for paper bag? Re “A sea of plastic bags upon an ocean of
trash” (Editorials, Dec. 12): Remember that California’s plastic
bag ban requires grocers to charge 10 cents per paper bag if you
forget your reusable bags. I know a couple who store their
reusable bags in their car. When I asked if they ever sanitized
them, their answer was no.
http://www.sacbee.com/opinion/letters-to-the-editor/article4503022.html#storylink=cpy


Cheap gas is not good news for those who worry about climate
change.  It seems as though low gas prices should be good news.
When the cost of a gallon of gas dips well below $3 in most of
the country, everybody smiles, right? Not necessarily. Wall
Street is frowning. Frackers are fuming. Electric-car
manufacturers are fretting. And environmentalists are freaking
out.
http://www.latimes.com/opinion/topoftheticket/la-na-tt-cheap-gas-not-good-news-20141216-story.html


Dana Milbank: Energy industry says carbon is good for us. For
years, the fossil-fuel industries have been telling us that
global warming is a hoax based on junk science. But now these
industries are floating an intriguing new argument: They’re
admitting that human use of coal, oil and gas is causing carbon
dioxide in the atmosphere to rise – but they’re saying this is a
good thing. We need more CO2 in our lives, not less.
http://www.sacbee.com/opinion/op-ed/article4527403.html#storylink=cpy


Gas price decline has a side benefit. Plunging gas prices are a
gift in more ways than one. They mean more cash in people’s
pockets during the holiday shopping season, so hopefully local
retail will get a boost. They will soften the blow next month for
any price spike when fuels come under California’s cap-and-trade
system to combat climate change.
http://www.sacbee.com/opinion/editorials/article4532145.html#storylink=cpy


Fracking undercuts climate change, water advances. Gov. Jerry
Brown and the other West Coast leaders – Oregon Gov. John
Kitzhaber, Washington Gov. Jay Inslee and British Columbia
Premier Christy Clark – who have pledged to solve global warming
deserve a heartfelt “thank you” from the people of California and
around the world, especially as Congress stalls on climate
change.
http://www.sacbee.com/opinion/op-ed/soapbox/article4530609.html#storylink=cpy


BLOGS

HBO’s Saving My Tomorrow Is Too Boring & Gloomy To Instill Global
Warming Alarmism in Kids. Monday night marked the debut of Saving
My Tomorrow, a new HBO documentary described thusly in
promotional materials*: From the children who will inherit the
planet comes a collection of songs, activism and heartfelt tips
for protecting the earth …
http://www.globalwarming.org/2014/12/17/hbos-saving-my-tomorrow-is-too-boring-gloomy-to-instill-global-warming-alarmism-in-kids/


Climate change: the Readers' Choice winner.  A still from a video
that said global warming is a hoax. We rated the statement Pants
on Fire. Climate change was in the news this year, starting with
the polar vortex at the beginning of 2014 and continuing with the
Keystone XL pipeline and proposed carbon-cutting regulations on
power plants.
http://www.politifact.com/truth-o-meter/article/2014/dec/17/climate-change-year-fact-checking/


Inslee announces slate of proposals to curb pollution, transition
Washington to cleaner sources of energy. Gov. Jay Inslee today
announced a set of proposals to transition Washington to cleaner
sources of energy and meet carbon pollution limits adopted by the
state Legislature in 2008. The proposals build on a comprehensive
executive order issued by the governor in April.
http://www.governor.wa.gov/ 
 
These Cities Might Be Seeing More Power Outages, Thanks To
Climate Change. How likely is it that climate change will leave
your city in the dark? Researchers at Johns Hopkins University
asked just this question, analyzing which cities will be more
likely to suffer from hurricane-related power outages in the
future. Using historical data and a range of potential future
storm scenarios…
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/12/16/power-outages-climate-change_n_6335280.html
 

California Officials Ready to Spank Oil Companies. I have been
watching oil companies get away with price gouging for so many
years that it was refreshing to see California's top political
leaders let the oil companies know that they're going to be on
the hot seat if they try to undermine California's landmark
environmental laws taking effect in January.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/jamie-court/california-officials-read_b_6335140.html?utm_hp_ref=green

 
EIA: US household gasoline expenditures in 2015 tracking to be
lowest in 11 years. The average US household will spend about
$550 less on gasoline in 2015 compared with 2014, as annual motor
fuel expenditures are on track to fall to their lowest level in
11 years, according to projections by the US Energy Information
Administration (EIA).
http://www.greencarcongress.com/2014/12/20141217-eia.html 

Are Diesels Cheaper To Own Than Gas Cars? Varies By Model, Study
Says. People buy green cars for many reasons: to save money
and/or to save the planet. But fuel savings don't automatically
translate into cash savings. Diesel vehicles typically cost more
than comparable gasoline models, and their fuel costs more per
gallon than gasoline in most North American locations.
http://www.greencarreports.com/news/1095926_are-diesels-cheaper-to-own-than-gas-cars-varies-by-model-study-says


New Study Doesn't Say 'Electric Cars Aren't Green' (Headlines To
The Contrary). Brace yourself, electric-car fans and advocates.
It may be a bumpy ride for the next few days. Yesterday
afternoon, the Associated Press covered a new study put out by
the University of Minnesota that calculates the environmental
impact of manufacturing and refueling vehicles with various
powerplants.
http://www.greencarreports.com/news/1095936_new-study-doesnt-say-electric-cars-arent-green-headlines-to-the-contrary


Here’s how electric cars could be cheaper than gas guzzlers
within a decade. One thing confounding the much-delayed electric
car revolution is that its antagonist—the gasoline engine—is a
moving target. Under dogged pressure from electric competitors
and government emissions standards, the combustion engine keeps
becoming more efficient, making it harder for electrics to
compete on price.
http://qz.com/313162/heres-how-electric-cars-could-be-cheaper-than-gas-guzzlers-within-a-decade/#


Electric Cars a Mixed Bag For Health, Climate. Plug a new
electric Nissan Leaf into a charging station, and it’s easy to
feel good that the vehicle’s environmental and climate impacts
may be small compared to all the cars on the road running on
gasoline. But driving an electric car could be worse for both the
climate and public health if the electricity that runs it was
generated at a coal-fired power plant.
http://www.climatecentral.org/news/electric-cars-mixed-bag-for-climate-18447



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