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newsclips -- ARB Newsclips for February 20, 2015
Posted: 20 Feb 2015 13:52:32
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 Addressing Health Concerns Over the 710 Freeway Corridor. The I-710 Corridor Project, considered the largest infrastructure project in the nation, is a modernization of the freeway stretching from the ports of Long Beach and Los Angeles to the 60 Freeway. With the expanding global economy and growing impact of truck traffic on an aging freeway system, the need to improve existing infrastructure is crucial. http://www.kcet.org/socal/departures/710-corridor/addressing-health-concerns-over-the-710-freeway-corridor.html Study finds methane leaks from three large US natural gas fields in line with EPA estimates. Tens of thousands of pounds of methane leak per hour from equipment in three major natural gas basins that span Texas, Louisiana, Arkansas and Pennsylvania, according to airborne measurements, but the overall leak rate from those basins is only about 1% of gas production there——lower than leak rates measured in other gas fields, and in line with EPA estimates. The analysis appears in an open access paper in the Journal of Geophysical Research: Atmospheres, published by the American Geophysical Union. http://www.greencarcongress.com/2015/02/20150220-methane.html CLIMATE CHANGE China firms must cut CO2 intensity by 2.7pc/yr. Chinese companies have to cut their emissions intensity by up to 2.7pc/yr if the country is to deliver the level of action required to keep global warming below 2°C, says think-tank Ecofys. The emissions intensity — greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions per unit of output — of the electricity sector must fall by about 8pc/yr for China to fully decarbonise its power supply by mid-century, Ecofys said. To achieve this, companies will have to implement a combination of management and behavioural changes, boost energy efficiency and increase their use of renewable energy, according to Ecofys It's Time to Peak report, published on 17 February. http://www.argusmedia.com/pages/NewsBody.aspx?id=995618&menu=yes Is 'Net-Zero' Carbon Goal to Rescue the Climate Plausible? he most striking recent development to emerge from UN climate negotiations is the growing consensus that within a generation the whole world will have to stop spewing carbon dioxide into the air from energy use. This means that within the lifetimes of today's toddlers we would entirely eliminate CO2 emissions, unless they are offset by subtractions. http://insideclimatenews.org/news/20022015/net-zero-carbon-goal-rescue-climate-plausible NY Speaker creates climate change working group. The speaker of the New York state Assembly has created a working group to review the state's response to climate change. Speaker Carl Heastie announced the formation of the panel on Thursday. It will consist of 10 lawmakers charged with examining possible ways to reduce greenhouse emissions as well as measures that could help the state prepare for future extreme weather. http://www.sfgate.com/news/science/article/NY-Speaker-creates-climate-change-working-group-6091385.php Global Warming Could Make the Super-Rich Jealous of Rowhouse Residents. As you went spelunking through snowdrifts in recent days, pondering the moral necessity of pet-friendly ice melt and perhaps noting in horror the story of a Manhattan woman who froze to death hiking in subzero New Hampshire temperatures over the weekend, you were thinking about the future, defined in the moment as July. City functionaries were looking further ahead to a potentially more “Hunger Games” epoch. http://www.nytimes.com/2015/02/22/nyregion/global-warming-could-make-the-super-rich-jealous-of-rowhouse-residents.html?_r=0 DROUGHT California drought: Northern California getting much more rain than Southern. Lots of issues divide Southern and Northern California: The Dodgers vs. the Giants. Hollywood vs. Silicon Valley. Southern Californians say "the" before naming a freeway; northerners don't. Now, after this past weekend's soaking storms, there's a new difference emerging: the drought. http://www.montereyherald.com/general-news/20150209/california-drought-northern-california-getting-much-more-rain-than-southern DIESEL ACTIVITIES Study: natural gas heavy-duty trucking fleet could benefit economy, but has mixed environmental effects. Switching from diesel fuel to natural gas may hold advantages for the US heavy-duty trucking fleet, but more needs to be done to reach the full environmental benefits, according to a new white paper released by the Institute of Transportation Studies at the University of California, Davis, and Rice University. The recent shale-driven emergence of natural gas as an abundant, inexpensive fuel in the US has raised the possibility of a “momentous shift” in the level of natural gas used in transportation. http://www.greencarcongress.com/2015/02/20150220-jaffe.html LOW CARBON FUEL STANDARD Oil industry takes aim at California’s war on carbon. California’s effort to combat climate change was subjected to a fresh round of scrutiny Thursday as oil-industry representatives urged regulators to ease off on the state’s “low carbon fuel standard,” a centerpiece of the effort to rein in greenhouse gases. http://www.sacbee.com/news/business/article10703354.html State prepares to readopt low-carbon fuel standard as oil companies say the target can't be met. Oil companies continue to protest California's carbon policies as state regulators complete changes to their low-carbon fuel standard. Proposed amendments to the first-in-the-nation regulation would tweak the compliance targets through 2020 and adjust emissions scores for various fuels, as well as set the program on course to extend to 2030. That raised industry's ire at a California Air Resources Board hearing yesterday in Sacramento. http://www.eenews.net/climatewire/stories/1060013738/feed FUELS California refinery unit was down with problems before blast. A California oil refinery unit that was damaged by an explosion was already offline for unplanned maintenance when the fire occurred, industry analysts said Thursday. The so-called fluid catalytic cracker unit refines gasoline and is critical to producing California-grade fuel. http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/U/US_REFINERY_EXPLOSION?SITE=AP&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT http://www.times-standard.com/general-news/20150220/california-refinery-unit-was-down-with-problems-before-blast No easy fixes for California's isolated fuel market. The explosion that shut a major Los Angeles oil refinery on Wednesday sent shockwaves through the local gasoline market, sparking higher prices, largely because California's fuel infrastructure is isolated by geography and environmental rules. Despite the shortage of easy fixes for a state that is seeing fewer refineries provide gasoline for millions, analysts believe pump prices will remain steady due to healthy stockpiles. http://www.reuters.com/article/2015/02/20/refinery-blast-california-idUSL1N0VT0FH20150220 Focus tightens on 2016 US biofuel mandates. egulators and the biofuel industry have turned their focus to 2016 ahead of a three-year package of mandates setting minimum US biofuel consumption levels expected by June 22. The mid-2015 target for biofuel mandates would make 2016 the more likely year to address difficult questions on how to drive increased US biofuels consumption that have bedeviled the federal program for two years, Environmental Protection Agency director of the office of transportation and air quality Chris Grundler said. http://www.argusmedia.com/pages/NewsBody.aspx?id=995535&menu=yes VEHICLES Gas Prices Don't Affect Electric-Car Sales: Finally The Word Gets Out. When it comes to electric cars, conventional wisdom states that sales will inevitably decrease alongside gas prices. After all, the argument goes, if buyers can't expect to save as much by cutting fuel costs, they'll be less inclined to buy a plug-in, right? Not exactly. In fact, not at all: The conventional wisdom is simply wrong. Many more factors influence the decision to buy an electric car than gas prices at any given moment. http://www.greencarreports.com/news/1096878_gas-prices-dont-affect-electric-car-sales-finally-the-word-gets-out GREEN ENERGY Appraising Solar Energy’s Value. New research sponsored by the Department of Energy shows that buyers are willing to pay more for homes with rooftop solar panels — a finding that may strengthen the case for factoring the value of sustainable features into home appraisals. The study, conducted by the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory in California, examined sales data for almost 23,000 homes in eight states from 2002 to 2013. http://www.nytimes.com/2015/02/22/realestate/solar-panels-and-home-values.html MISCELLANEOUS Harvard’s Star Alumni Urge Week of Protests Against Fossil Fuels. Actress Natalie Portman, environmentalist Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., and other high-profile Harvard University alumni are calling for demonstrations to urge divestment from fossil fuels. Organizers of “Harvard Heat Week” are planning events of “highly civil civil disobedience,” including daily sit-ins for the week of April 13, according to a letter released Friday asking alumni to come to the campus in Cambridge, Massachusetts, to join the effort. http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2015-02-20/harvard-s-star-alumni-urge-week-of-protests-against-fossil-fuels OPINIONS What If We Lost the Sky? What is the sky worth? This sounds like a philosophical question, but it might become a more concrete one. A report released last week by the National Research Council called for research into reversing climate change through a process called albedo modification: reflecting sunlight away from earth by, for instance, spraying aerosols into the atmosphere. Such a process could, some say, change the appearance of the sky — and that in turn could affect everything from our physical health to the way we see ourselves. http://op-talk.blogs.nytimes.com/2015/02/20/what-if-we-lost-the-sky/ State must spend smarter on roads and ‘fix it first’. Potholed roads, crumbling bridges, crowded buses and trains, collisions between cars and bicyclists. In short, California’s transportation infrastructure is in dire need of improvement. Every year, the state, regional agencies and local governments spend about $28 billion. But are we spending that money effectively? http://www.sacbee.com/opinion/op-ed/soapbox/article10706075.html BLOGS E-bikes: Inspiring new commuters and changing how we move. How do we know the dawn of e-bikes is upon us? Well there’s always the numbers (and I’ll get to those in a sec). But the ubiquity of a product may also be measured by its many iterations and imitations. Since we’re now seeing wonders like the world’s tiniest e-bike, wooden e-bikes, and “the 1987 Honda Civic” of e-bikes, I think it’s safe to call it: E-bikes have arrived. http://blog.sfgate.com/bicycle/2015/02/19/e-bikes-inspiring-new-commuters-and-changing-how-we-move/ California is in a drought emergency. Visit www.SaveOurH2O.org for water conservation tips.