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ARB Newsclips for April 28, 2015. 

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

China Quickens $11 Billion Fuel Quality Upgrade Amid Smog Fight.
China, the world’s largest carbon emitter, has pushed up its
timetable for an $11 billion project to improve the quality of
fuel used by cars and trucks. China will cap sulfur content in
gasoline and diesel at 10 parts per million starting in 2017, one
year before an earlier deadline, the State Council said after a
meeting presided over by Premier Li Keqiang.
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2015-04-28/china-quickens-11-billion-fuel-quality-upgrade-amid-smog-fight


LAUSD Study Revisits Metrolink Air Quality Results in Northeast
L.A. On a chilly night, residents living by the Central
Maintenance Facility (CMF) in Northeast Los Angeles streamed into
the Cypress Park Recreation Center, curious to hear how the
historically noisy and intrusive Metrolink facility is really
affecting their health and their children's.
http://www.kcet.org/socal/departures/lariver/confluence/river-notes/lausd-study-revisits-metrolink-air-quality-results-in-nela.html


Court rejects truckers' bid for rehearing on Calif. Program. A
federal appeals court denied a request yesterday by a trucking
association to reconsider a ruling that upholds a California air
quality program. The California Dump Truck Owners Association had
asked the San Francisco-based 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals
to rehear its March decision that upheld the state's effort to
crackdown on ozone and particulate matter pollution…
http://www.eenews.net/greenwire/2015/04/28/stories/1060017570 

Carbon emissions from air conditioning set to rise dramatically.
Increased use of air conditioning worldwide could have major
climate implications, according to a new study from the
University of California, Berkeley. "People are just at the cusp
of being able to afford air conditioning," said Lucas Davis, an
associate professor at UC Berkeley and lead author of the study,
which was published in Proceedings of the National Academy of
Scienes.
http://www.eenews.net/climatewire/2015/04/28/stories/1060017549 

CLIMATE CHANGE

UN, Vatican team up for climate change agenda. The United Nations
and Vatican joined forces Tuesday to warn about the dire effects
of climate change, gathering religious leaders, Nobel laureates
and heads of state to present a united front ahead of
make-or-break environment talks later this year in Paris. U.N.
Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon praised Pope Francis for framing
the need to combat global warming as an urgent moral imperative…
http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/E/EU_REL_VATICAN_CLIMATE?SITE=AP&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT

OTHER RELATED STORIES
http://www.nytimes.com/reuters/2015/04/28/world/americas/28reuters-environment-warming-vatican.html


Pope Summons Scientists to Shape Climate Change Debate. Pope
Francis summoned scientists, government officials and religious
leaders to a villa in the manicured Vatican Gardens on Tuesday as
he stepped into the heated climate-change debate. “Climate change
is a defining issue of our time,” United Nations
Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon told attendees at the Vatican
conference. 
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2015-04-27/pope-summons-scientists-on-climate-change-seeks-to-shape-debate
 

Pope Francis Steps Up Campaign on Climate Change, to
Conservatives’ Alarm. Since his first homily in 2013, Pope
Francis has preached about the need to protect the earth and all
of creation as part of a broad message on the environment. It has
caused little controversy so far. But now, as Francis prepares to
deliver what is likely to be a highly influential encyclical this
summer on environmental degradation and the effects of
human-caused climate change on the poor…
http://www.nytimes.com/2015/04/28/world/europe/pope-francis-steps-up-campaign-on-climate-change-to-conservatives-alarm.html?action=click&contentCollection=Asia%20Pacific®ion=Footer&configSection=article&isLoggedIn=false&moduleDetail=undefined&pgtype=Multimedia&_r=0


Biggest Coal Exporter Says Climate Change Won’t Strand Assets.
Glencore Plc, the top exporter of coal used in power stations,
expects efforts to curb climate change by keeping its fossil-fuel
reserves in the ground to fail in the face of world energy
demand. Shareholders won’t be “prevented from realizing the full
value of Glencore’s fossil fuel assets…
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2015-04-28/biggest-coal-exporter-says-climate-change-won-t-strand-assets


Canadian premiers speak out against government stance on climate
change. In a joint statement, premiers from Ontario and Quebec
said Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper's latest comments on
climate change do not reflect the stance of most premiers. Last
week, the prime minister stated he would not implement carbon
taxes ahead of the international climate change conference later
this year.
http://www.eenews.net/climatewire/2015/04/28/stories/1060017528 

Research cautions states against shortsighted plans for EPA
carbon rule. States implementing U.S. EPA's Clean Power Plan run
the risk of writing plans that limit short-term costs and impacts
on the coal industry but make carbon reductions more difficult
down the line, according to a new study. The draft rule sets
different carbon dioxide emission rates for each state's power
sector and tasks state officials with deciding how to reach those
levels.
http://www.eenews.net/climatewire/2015/04/28/stories/1060017546 

House Dems back NEPA guidance, urge use of social cost of carbon.
Dozens of House Democrats yesterday said they strongly support
the Obama administration's draft guidance for how federal
agencies should account for climate change in their environmental
reviews, but they they also recommended CEQ direct agencies to
account for the social cost of carbon emissions in their
decisions.
http://www.eenews.net/greenwire/2015/04/28/stories/1060017575 

Rubio's billionaire donor on climate change: 'I don't know'.
Miami businessman Norman Braman believes that Sen. Marco Rubio's
skepticism about climate change won't damage his appeal among
young and moderate voters, adding that there's a lot of
"conjecture" around the idea of man-made warming. Braman stands
to be one of the nation's largest donors leading up to the 2016
presidential election…
http://www.eenews.net/climatewire/2015/04/28/stories/1060017537 

DROUGHT

Experiment in Irvine takes crops' water use to new lows. On a
recent afternoon, Santa Ana winds swept through a sunny, 200-acre
swath of Irvine where a quiet experiment could have a major
impact in the blueberry world. Darren Haver, director of the
South Coast Research and Extension Center, pointed to a patchwork
of the berries. For three years, five pipes have been applying
varying amounts of water to sections of the crop.
http://touch.latimes.com/#section/-1/article/p2p-83402094/ 

California drought water-reduction mandates set for revision.
State water regulators are set to release on Tuesday an updated
plan for conservation during the drought after their previous
water-use reduction targets have come under fire from some local
water departments. The mandates for water savings by the State
Water Resources Control Board are in response to Gov. Jerry
Brown's order to slash statewide water use in cities…
http://www.sfgate.com/news/science/article/California-drought-water-reduction-mandates-set-6228018.php

http://www.pasadenastarnews.com/general-news/20150428/california-water-regulators-to-release-new-water-reduction-plan-tuesday


'The real problem is our shortsightedness' – Schwarzenegger. 
California must push for broad-based reforms on water and not
treat the state's drought as a short-term crisis, former Gov.
Arnold Schwarzenegger said yesterday. Speaking at a forum put on
by the USC Schwarzenegger Institute, the Republican said,
"California is known as the place where things are happening." In
the state's private sector -- with entertainment, high technology
and green tech -- he said, "It's huge. There's nothing little.
http://www.eenews.net/greenwire/stories/1060017565/search?keyword=california


Water rights place neighbors at odds. A squabble among neighbors
unfolding just outside Visalia illustrates just how ambiguous
water law in California is. Specifically, what can you do when a
neighbor punches a deeper well and you start losing water
pressure? The answer — for now — is not much. Harold and Angie
Carter live off Road 160 on the way to Ivanhoe. They have upward
of 30 walnut trees that help pay the taxes on their property;
otherwise…
http://www.visaliatimesdelta.com/story/news/local/2015/04/27/drought-causing-neighborhood-water-squabbles/26493863/


Top-four myths of the California drought. Sacramento, California
- One of the unfortunate byproducts of the current drought are
the myths circulating regarding water use and the means for
addressing the water crisis in the state.  Some are perpetuations
of myths developed during past water crises.  Others build upon
misinformation that has a more recent origin.  Below are four
myths that you may see in media accounts of the drought.
http://www.imperialvalleynews.com/index.php/news/california-news/3014-top-four-myths-of-the-california-drought.html


Pacific Northwest’s ‘Wet Drought’ Possible Sign of Future. The
desiccated soils and barren slopes of California have grabbed
news headlines for months on end as the state is in its fourth
year of a crippling drought that has forced unprecedented
statewide water restrictions and billions of dollars in
agricultural losses. But while most eyes have been trained on the
plight of the Golden State, its neighbors to the north are also
facing a dearth of water…
http://www.climatecentral.org/news/northwest-wet-drought-climate-future-18910


FUELS

Groups want review of Shell's Arctic regulatory filings. Two
groups petitioned the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission on
Monday for an investigation of Royal Dutch Shell PLC and what the
groups call misstatements in regulatory filings regarding the
risk of a catastrophic oil spill from Arctic offshore drilling.
http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/U/US_ARCTIC_OFFSHORE_DRILLING_SEC_CHALLENGE?SITE=AP&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT


Obama Expects Climate Change To Be on Agenda When Pope Visits.
When Pope Francis visits Washington later this year, the man who
will host him at the White House expects a meeting of the minds
on at least one topic: climate change. President Barack Obama, in
a Wall Street Journal interview on Monday, called the pope “an
extraordinary individual, a transformative leader, not just
within the Catholic Church, but globally.”
http://www.wsj.com/articles/obama-expects-climate-change-to-be-on-agenda-when-pope-visits-1430182614?KEYWORDS=climate+change


Bills addressing earthquakes, methane pass Calif. Assembly
committee. California lawmakers approved bills yesterday dealing
with hydraulic fracturing's effect on seismic activity and
methane emissions. The Assembly Natural Resources Committee
passed A.B. 1490 and A.B. 1501, both by Assemblymember Anthony
Rendon (D), who represents part of Los Angeles.
http://www.eenews.net/energywire/2015/04/28/stories/1060017551 

API wants in on offshore fracking lawsuit. The oil and gas
industry's biggest trade group is again jumping into a lawsuit
that challenges oil and gas drilling off the coast of California.
The American Petroleum Institute on Saturday asked a federal
court to allow it to join Department of the Interior regulators
in defending against a Center for Biological Diversity lawsuit…
http://www.eenews.net/energywire/2015/04/28/stories/1060017521 

VEHICLES

Toyota Tests Unique Stock to Draw Long-Term Investors. To develop
the cars of tomorrow, Toyota Motor Corp. is trying to create a
new security aimed at investors willing to stick around for the
ride. Toyota said Tuesday it will sell as much as 500 billion yen
($4.2 billion) of new “Model AA” shares, named after its first
passenger car. The unlisted stock will be sold for at least a 20
percent premium over common equity and restricted from trading
for five years.
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2015-04-28/toyota-plans-4-2-billion-share-sale-to-develop-fuel-cell-cars


BMW, GM sites in top 5 US generators of onsite green power.
According to the latest Top 30 list for organizations generating
and consuming the most green power on-site within the EPA Green
Power Partnership, BMW Manufacturing in Spartanburg, SC and
General Motors’ Fort Wayne Assembly Plant rank fourth and fifth,
respectively, with both using biogas. BMW.
http://www.greencarcongress.com/2015/04/20150428-bmwgm.html 

China To Force Toyota To Build Electric Cars It Loathes. Toyota
has been more than abundantly clear in its belief that the best
approach to reducing fuel consumption and offering zero-emission
vehicles lies in a combination of its present-day hybrids and
future hydrogen fuel-cell cars. It no longer sells the RAV4 EV
electric SUV whose powertrain was developed by then-partner Tesla
Motors.
http://www.greencarreports.com/news/1098048_china-to-force-toyota-to-build-electric-cars-it-loathes


Electric Car 'Do Not Unplug' Notices: Public Education At Its
Best. The arrival of modern electric cars and public charging
infrastructure has brought a whole range of etiquette issues to
the fore. Electric cars' long charging times, and the limited
availability of parking spaces with access to charging stations,
can sometimes create a bit of tension. It's not unheard of for
drivers to unplug other cars when they can't find a charging
station of their own…
http://www.greencarreports.com/news/1098003_electric-car-do-not-unplug-notices-public-education-at-its-best

 
GREEN ENERGY

Japan Sees Clean Energy Edging Out Nuclear Power in 2030. Japan
anticipates that by 2030 clean energy such as solar and hydro
will generate slightly more of the nation’s electricity than
nuclear power plants. Clean energy sources will supply as much as
24 percent of Japan’s electricity in 15 years, while atomic power
will account for as much as 22 percent, according to a draft
report from the Ministry of Economy…
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2015-04-28/japan-expects-renewable-energy-to-edge-out-nuclear-power-by-2030


Strong Future Forecast for Renewable Energy. Wind, solar and
other forms of renewable energy could be the fastest growing
power sources over the next few decades. In its forward-looking
report for the year, the U.S. Energy Information Administration
forecasts renewable energy will be the fastest-growing power
source through 2040.
http://www.scientificamerican.com/article/strong-future-forecast-for-renewable-energy/


Big energy-storing batteries make rapid inroads in Europe to
support power grid. Grid-scale battery storage solutions have
arrived in Europe, despite a lingering controversy. No longer a
distant dream, projects in Germany are already feeding energy
into the grid, while in the United Kingdom and Italy, commercial
projects are close to coming online. Yet their breakthrough
potential -- for the quick balancing of intermittent
renewables…http://www.eenews.net/climatewire/2015/04/28/stories/1060017529


Audi sets sights on 'blue crude'. German car manufacturer Audi
has teamed up with alternative fuels company Sunfire to produce a
synthetic diesel fuel from air, water and green electrical
energy. Dubbed "blue crude," the fuel does not contain any sulfur
or fossil oil but has an overall energy efficiency of 70 percent.
The fuel is created by harnessing renewable energy to split water
into oxygen and pure hydrogen.
http://www.eenews.net/greenwire/2015/04/28/stories/1060017552 

New funding promotes 'fuels from sunlight,' geothermal. The
Energy Department today announced $75 million to advance efforts
to turn sunlight into transportation fuel and another $2 million
for enhanced geothermal systems. DOE will provide additional
funding to the Joint Center for Artificial Photosynthesis over
five years -- subject to congressional appropriations…
http://www.eenews.net/greenwire/2015/04/28/stories/1060017568  

Researchers seek 'commodity-style grading system for biomass'.
The national laboratories are discovering that not all biofuel
inputs are created equal. Some non-food crops that are being
explored for biofuels production have higher yields on the farm
field, while others yield more fuel at the end of the biofuels
production process.
http://www.eenews.net/greenwire/2015/04/28/stories/1060017567 

'Solar gardens' could meet half of U.S. PV power by decade's end
– NREL. A new analysis from the National Renewable Energy
Laboratory finds that shared photovoltaic (PV) solar systems --
also called community solar projects or "solar gardens" -- could
account for one-third to one-half of all solar PV power in the
United States by 2020.
http://www.eenews.net/climatewire/2015/04/28/stories/1060017530 

MISCELLANEOUS

Keys to the Highway of the Future: Smart Cars, Smarter Networks.
David T. Hartgen says innovative road design will help improve
transportation and the environment. For 3,000 years, people lived
close to the land or in cities, their worlds limited to walking
distance. Just 100 years ago, Henry Ford’s Model T changed all
that, and America’s highways have strained to keep up ever since.
http://www.wsj.com/articles/keys-to-the-highway-of-the-future-smart-cars-smarter-networks-1430104847?KEYWORDS=emissions


OPINIONS

The Pope, the Poor and God’s Intent. In many poor countries much
of those future generations may not be around because the earlier
ones died off because of a lack of energy. Regarding William
McGurn’s “The Pope, the Poor and Climate Change” (Main Street,
April 21): In a country like India, around 350 million people
(more than the population of the U.S.) go to bed early because
there is no electric light...
http://www.wsj.com/articles/the-pope-the-poor-and-gods-intent-letters-to-the-editor-1430168723?KEYWORDS=climate+change


Thawing Ice and Chilly Diplomacy in the Arctic. So long as the
Arctic was mostly frozen solid, the biennial meetings of the
eight-nation Arctic Council attracted relatively little attention
with their discussions on ways to cooperate on environmental
protection, search-and-rescue operations and the like. But with
melting ice opening up northern shipping lanes and access to vast
troves of oil, gas and minerals…
http://www.nytimes.com/2015/04/28/opinion/thawing-ice-and-chilly-diplomacy-in-the-arctic.html


LETTERS: Alternative to solar energy. Re: “Renewable energy on
the rise” [Front page, April 17]: There are serious concerns
about taxpayers subsidizing large solar power plants. President
Obama is investing billions of tax dollars on solar farms without
the benefit of a national energy plan or certainty that the money
is well-spent. The Ivanpah solar plant produced 419,085 megawatt
hours of electricity last year – less than half its expected
output. http://www.pe.com/articles/solar-765881-fuel-cells.html 

California Focus: Both logic and illogic in Brown’s drought
plans. There is both sense and nonsense in the $1 billion drought
relief package announced by Gov. Jerry Brown in a parched Sierra
Nevada Mountains meadow that usually is covered in deep snow on
the date Brown walked through it. But the rationale behind the
single largest part of the package is fundamentally
contradictory.
http://www.ukiahdailyjournal.com/opinion/20150428/california-focus-both-logic-and-illogic-in-browns-drought-plans


BLOGS

Why Future Oil Demand Could Be Very Low. IVAN MARTEN: The
conventional wisdom among a number of leading energy companies,
OPEC and the International Energy Agency is that global oil
demand will continue to rise strongly over the next two decades.
Indeed, one particularly bullish projection is for demand to
reach 115 million barrels a day in 2035, 25% above 2014′s
92 million barrels a day.
http://blogs.wsj.com/experts/2015/04/28/why-future-oil-demand-could-be-very-low/?KEYWORDS=climate+change


Climate Change Activists Ramp Up Legal Strategy Versus Funds. A
pair of not-for-profit agencies with some well-funded backers is
ramping up a legal strategy to goad big investment funds to
offload their holdings of fossil fuel-dependent companies – a
move that, if successful, could profoundly disrupt world asset
markets. The London-based Asset Owners Disclosure Project…
http://blogs.wsj.com/moneybeat/2015/04/27/climate-change-activists-ramp-up-legal-strategy-versus-funds/?KEYWORDS=climate+change


Air Pollution Tied to Brain Aging. Air pollution is known to
increase the risk for stroke and other cerebrovascular disorders.
But now researchers have found it is also linked to premature
aging of the brain. The study, in the May issue of Stroke, used
data on 943 men and women over 60 who were participants in a
larger health study. Researchers did M.R.I. examinations and
gathered data on how close the people lived to major highways.
http://well.blogs.nytimes.com/2015/04/28/air-pollution-tied-to-brain-aging/?_r=0


With Pope Francis’s Encyclical on Climate Change Done, Now a
Vatican Sales Push – and Pushback. The much-anticipated
environmental encyclical that Pope Francis plans to issue this
summer is already being translated into the world’s major
languages from the Latin final draft, so there’s no more tweaking
to be done, several people close to the process have told me in
recent weeks.
http://dotearth.blogs.nytimes.com/2015/04/28/spin-substance-and-pope-franciss-environmental-encyclical/


What Do Tigers Have in Common With Poverty and Climate Change? In
November last year I travelled with a photographer to the
Sundarbans, on the north east Indian coastline, to investigate
the impact of climate change in an area at particular risk from
global warming. The story could have begun with rising sea
levels, which are twice the global average.
http://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/emma-wigley/climate-change-poverty_b_7150770.html


How the Fukushima Disaster Crippled Japan's Climate Plans.
Japan's climate strategy is broken. Can President Obama help fix
it? Japan used to have a pretty good reputation on climate
change. Thanks to its robust industrial economy, it has the
fourth-largest carbon footprint in the G20 nations. But it gets a
sizable chunk of its power from zero-carbon sources like hydro
dams…
http://www.motherjones.com/environment/2015/04/fukushima-climate-shinzo-abe-obama
 




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