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newsclips -- ARB Newsclips for March 2, 2015

Posted: 02 Mar 2015 15:34:51
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

Court Upholds CARB Regulations Implementing Cap and Trade Program
to Reduce Greenhouse Gas Emissions.  On February 23, 2015, the
California Court of Appeal affirmed a trial court decision
upholding regulations adopted by the California Air Resources
Board (“CARB”) under the California Global Warming Solutions Act
of 2006 (“the Act”) implementing CARB’s “Cap-and-Trade” program
for reducing greenhouse gas (“GHG”) emissions. The Court rejected
challenges to the regulations brought by the environmental
organization Our Children’s Earth Foundation (“OCEF”), which
argued that the regulations improperly allowed GHG emission
offset credits for emission reductions that would otherwise
occur, and deferred to CARB’s exercise of its statutory
authority.
http://www.jdsupra.com/legalnews/court-upholds-carb-regulations-implement-30874/

State, tribe reach multimillion-dollar deal on carbon offset
credits.  A nearly 5,600-acre swath of tribal forest land in
remote, northeastern Mendocino County will be contributing to
California’s effort to reduce greenhouse gases while generating
revenue for the Round Valley Indian Tribes under a new agreement
with state officials. 
http://www.pressdemocrat.com/home/3579122-181/state-tribe-reach-multimillion-dollar-deal
 

AIR POLLUTION

Pollution documentary attracts huge interest in China.  A slick
new documentary on China's environmental woes has racked up more
than 175 million online views in two days, underscoring growing
concern in the country over the impact of air, water and soil
pollution. Hosted by former state television reporter Chai Jing,
"Under the Dome" offers a well-produced look at the cost to the
environment of 30 years of breakneck economic development.
http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/A/AS_CHINA_POLLUTION_DOCUMENTARY?SITE=AP&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT


Related stories:
http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/2015/03/02/world/asia/ap-as-china-pollution-documentary.html?_r=0

http://www.reuters.com/article/2015/03/02/us-china-environment-idUSKBN0LY11P20150302

http://www.latimes.com/world/asia/la-fg-china-environment-movie-20150302-story.html#page=1

http://www.sfgate.com/business/technology/article/Pollution-documentary-attracts-huge-interest-in-6109633.php


ENVIRONMENT: SoCal's smog smolders on. It’s become a regular
occurrence, but is it working? Poor air quality has compelled our
regional smog-fighting agency to routinely issue fireplace
wood-burning bans to prevent fine particle pollution from
violating federal health standards. Since Nov. 1, the South Coast
Air Quality Management District has declared 25 no-burn days --
up from 16 days the same period a year ago.
http://www.pe.com/articles/air-761314-pollution-days.html 

Assemblymember Eduardo Garcia introduces bills on New River, air
pollution.  Assemblyman Eduardo Garcia is continuing the work of
his predecessor with the introduction of the Border Air and Water
Act, which is an attempt to help mitigate public health issues
because of pollution. “I’m here to introduce a series of bills
that will enhance the overall quality of life for this border
city of Calexico and create greater opportunities for funding and
address a series of issues affecting not only the economic
vitality opportunities in this region, but more importantly the
public health and well being of the people who live here,” Garcia
said during a press conference Friday. 
http://www.ivpressonline.com/news/local/assemblymember-eduardo-garcia-introduces-bills-on-new-river-air-pollution/article_3a5d9bb2-47b3-5920-866d-58fd5153de65.html


Killer Smog Tests Top Iran Woman as Pollution Sparks Action.  The
snowy peaks of the Alborz Mountains visible through Iranian
Vice-President Masoumeh Ebtekar’s Tehran office window may be
evidence that the city is finally serious about tackling its
chronic air pollution.  The capital’s factories and five million
vehicles, prevented from burning imported cleaner fuels by global
sanctions, turn the air in colder months into a suffocating smog
that shuts schools and offices.
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2015-03-02/killer-smog-tests-iran-s-top-woman-as-pollution-sparks-action


New wood-burning rules: Less smoke, possibly more confusion.  The
San Joaquin Valley’s air was cleaner this winter — maybe because
it was a little stormier, foggier and breezier. Or maybe some
people avoided their fireplaces because they were confused by the
new wood-burning rules.
http://www.fresnobee.com/2015/02/28/4400875_new-wood-burning-rules-less-smoke.html?rh=1


CLIMATE CHANGE

Exposing the Doubt-Mongers Trying to Convince You Climate Change
Isn’t Real.  In Merchants of Doubt, their 2010 book that
vivisects bad science and industrial cynicism, science historians
Naomi Oreskes and Erik M. Conway decried the uneven battle for
the popular imagination fought, on one side, by scientists
ill-equipped for high-volume cable-TV tussles and, on the other,
by the “well-financed contrarians” bent on dismantling whatever
lab results, peer-reviewed theories and settled science might
lead to even the most benign corporate regulations.
http://www.newsweek.com/exposing-doubt-mongers-trying-convince-you-climate-change-isnt-real-310372

What Is Apple Really Doing About Climate Change?  Apple likes to
say it's on the cutting edge of the fight against climate change.
Over the past two weeks, the company has boasted about the $848
million solar farm it's building to power its new headquarters in
Silicon Valley and two new European data centers that will be its
"lowest impact" yet. But projects like this barely scratch the
surface of Apple's impact on the environment. Only 2 percent of
the company's greenhouse gas emissions have anything to do with
facilities like its headquarters and data centers, according to
the company's 2014 report on its climate change efforts. 
http://www.bloombergview.com/articles/2015-03-01/what-is-apple-really-doing-about-climate-change-

DIESEL ACTIVITIES

School bus filtration system cuts pollution by 88%.  Los Angeles
freeways are a benefit to Angelenos, but they are also often
congested and smoggy. Children riding school buses on LA roads
and freeways are exposed to high levels of pollution, resulting
in respiratory problems such as asthma and bronchitis. A new
study by researchers at the UCLA Fielding School of Public Health
found that an on-board air filtration system developed
specifically for school buses can reduce exposure to vehicular
pollutants by up to 88%. The findings were published online on
March 2 in the journal Environmental Science & Technology.
http://www.examiner.com/article/school-bus-filtration-system-cuts-pollution-by-88


DROUGHT

California drought likely a fixture of the future, says Stanford
study.  Human-caused climate change is increasing drought risk in
California -- boosting the odds that our current crisis will
become a fixture of the future, according to a major report
Stanford scientists released Monday morning. The new study looked
at data -- both backward and forwards, in time -- to understand
the influence of greenhouse gases on California's past, present
and future.
http://www.insidebayarea.com/breaking-news/ci_27625259/california-drought-likely-fixture-says-stanford-study


VEHICLES

Resale Prices Tumble on Electric Cars. Nissan Motor Co. ’s Leaf
electric car has been a big seller for Atlanta car dealer Pat
Hoban over the past three years, thanks to its low monthly lease
price. But as those car leases are beginning to expire amid cheap
gasoline, the vehicle is becoming a bit of a headache. Mr. Hoban
expects between 100 and 150 of the leased vehicles to be returned
to his Capitol City Nissan dealership on a monthly basis over the
next two years as their leases expire. The problem: used Leafs
aren’t attracting much demand.
http://www.wsj.com/articles/resale-prices-tumble-on-electric-cars-1424977378?tesla=y


California bill would reduce sales tax on green cars.  The
California Legislature is considering a bill that would cut the
state sales tax on green cars by more than half in an effort to
spur sales of clean vehicles. The bill, sponsored by Assemblyman
Phil Ting (D-San Francisco), would reduce the sales tax on new
clean vehicles to 3.06%, down from the current 7.5%. The
reduction would apply to electric cars, hydrogen fuel cell
vehicles, plug-in hybrids and compressed natural gas vehicles.
http://www.latimes.com/business/autos/la-fi-green-car-sales-tax-20150228-story.html


Lawmaker calls to expand rebates for electric cars, renewable
diesel stations.  California Assemblyman Henry Perea has
introduced legislation to expand rebates for clean vehicles and
increase pump stations for renewable diesel. The Clean Vehicle
Rebate Project, funded by the California Air Resources Board,
offers rebates of up to $5,000 for new electric and hybrid
vehicles such as the Tesla Model S and Nissan Leaf. Under
Assembly Bill 904, Perea would expand the program to used
vehicles that are more accessible to lower income Californians.
http://www.bizjournals.com/sacramento/news/2015/03/02/lawmaker-calls-to-expand-rebates-for-electric-cars.html


OPINIONS

Is the Environment a Moral Cause?  According to a recent poll, a
large majority of Americans, and roughly half of Republicans, say
they support governmental action to address global warming. The
poll, conducted by The New York Times, Stanford and the research
organization Resources for the Future, stands in stark contrast
to the vast partisan gulf in political efforts to address climate
change.
http://www.nytimes.com/2015/03/01/opinion/sunday/is-the-environment-a-moral-cause.html


Doctors should take lead in push to curb climate change.  Doctors
should take the lead in supporting political efforts to cut the
pace of climate change and encouraging more people to see the
problem as a crucial issue for public health, experts say. With
the 68th World Health Assembly coming up in May in Geneva,
countries are poised to adopt the world's first resolution on air
pollution and health, in an effort to reduce premature deaths
linked to air pollution. Studies have found that air pollution
can worsen a variety of health problems, from heart disease to
strokes, said Carlos Dora, coordinator of public health and the
environment at the World Health Organization (WHO).
http://www.reuters.com/article/2015/02/28/climate-health-doctors-idUSL5N0W204Q20150228

China, California collaborate on electric vehicle market. 
China’s market for electric vehicles took off last year. Sales of
electric vehicles, including pure battery electric and plug-in
electric vehicles, or PEVs, grew fourfold, from 19,713 in 2013 to
84,900 in 2014. China may leapfrog the U.S. this year to become
the world’s largest PEV market – largely due to a mix of new and
strengthened policies. The motivation is clean air, as well as
energy security and enhancing the domestic auto industry.
http://www.sacbee.com/opinion/op-ed/soapbox/article11089439.html


Cap and trade financing will aid trains.  Last week’s column on
more trains rolling into Salinas got some strong responses. Dear
Goya: Where (on earth) will we get the money? (this is
paraphrased from a longer and more hostile message about trains)
— anonymous
Dear Anon: Part of the answer is Cap and Trade-generated money —
also known as “the only new money in Sacramento.”
http://www.thecalifornian.com/story/news/2015/03/01/cap-trade-financing-will-aid-trains/24241135/


Forget About Climate Change, America's Refineries Make Keystone
XL A Bad Idea.  When I filled up my hybrid’s gasoline tank last
week, the pump price had jumped 30 cents from my last fill-up. I
said to myself, “Hmmm…something’s going on.” Gasoline prices
don’t just move up and down on a whim. So when I found out about
the refinery woes going on across the country, I wasn’t
surprised. A devastating explosion destroyed much of Exxon Mobil
XOM -0.88%’s Torrance refinery in California two weeks ago and
severely cut into America’s ability to make gasoline. Residents
for miles around had to cope with ash, gaseous fumes and really
unhealthy air quality.
http://www.forbes.com/sites/jamesconca/2015/03/02/forget-about-climate-change-americas-refineries-make-keystone-xl-a-bad-idea/

Watch 'Meet the Press' treat climate change as a big joke.  As
you may have heard, Sen. James Inhofe (R-Okla.), who
astonishingly enough is chairman of the Senate's Environment and
Public Works Committee, brought a snowball to the floor of the
U.S. Senate last week to debunk "all this hysteria about global
warming." 
http://www.latimes.com/business/hiltzik/la-fi-mh-watch-meet-the-press-because-20150301-column.html

BLOGS

CNN’s Bill Weir Explores the World’s Threatened Wonders. 
Something interesting, and encouraging, is happening on
television these days. As I wrote recently, PBS is running “Earth
a New Wild,” a engaging series in which the conservation
biologist M. Sanjayan reveals opportunities for sustaining
biological diversity and dynamics even as human population and
consumption pressures rise.
http://dotearth.blogs.nytimes.com/2015/02/27/cnns-bill-weir-explores-the-worlds-threatened-wonders/?module=BlogPost-Title&version=Blog%20Main&contentCollection=Geography&action=Click&pgtype=Blogs®ion=Body


Here's How NYC Says It's Saving 800 Lives A Year By Cleaning Up
The Air.  It’s been a cold winter in New York City, which means a
lot of building owners are turning up the heat -- and pumping
more pollutants into the city’s air. But the amount of black
smoke billowing above the five boroughs is dramatically less than
it was just four years ago. Since 2011, according to city
figures, soot pollution in the city's air has plummeted by 50
percent, which amounts to 375 tons of airborne soot that isn’t
lodging itself inside the lungs of New Yorkers, or helping to
hasten the effects of climate change.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2015/02/27/nyc-clean-heat_n_6769462.html



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

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