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newsclips -- ARB Newsclips for July 16, 2015.
Posted: 16 Jul 2015 14:41:57
ARB Newsclips for July 16, 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. CAP AND TRADE Runner trying to halt high speed rail funding. Senator Sharon Runner, R-Antelope Valley, announced Wednesday she is authoring legislation to prohibit Cap and Trade funds from being used for high speed rail. Introduced in the First Extraordinary Session on Transportation Infrastructure, Senate Bill 1X 6 would instead require Cap and Trade dollars be used to fund existing transportation projects. http://www.desertdispatch.com/article/20150715/NEWS/150719930 Funds granted to bring solar power, jobs to ‘underserved’ areas like Vallejo. Pacific Gas & Electric Co. is giving $100,000 to Grid Alternatives to make sure solar power makes inroads in “underserved areas” in Northern and Central California, like Vallejo and other parts of Solano and Napa counties, a spokeswoman said. GRID Alternatives is a national nonprofit that makes renewable energy technology… http://www.timesheraldonline.com/general-news/20150715/funds-granted-to-bring-solar-power-jobs-to-underserved-areas-like-vallejo US Northeast Cap & Trade Has Added $1.3 Billion In Economic Activity, Saved Consumers $460 Million. A report from the Analysis Group claims the cap & trade program called the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative (RGGI) involving 9 New England and Mid-Atlantic states has added $1.3 billion in economic activity to the region since 2011, while lowering carbon emissions by 15%. http://cleantechnica.com/2015/07/16/us-northeast-cap-trade-has-added-1-3-billion-in-economic-activity-saved-consumers-460-million/ AIR POLLUTION L.A. in talks with oil producer about reopening facility near USC. AllenCo Energy is trying to negotiate a settlement with the Los Angeles city attorney's office as part of an effort to resume operations of an urban oil field that prompted hundreds of complaints of nosebleeds and respiratory ailments due to its emissions, officials confirmed Wednesday. http://www.latimes.com/local/lanow/la-me-ln-allenco-20150715-story.html CLIMATE CHANGE Hotter, Wetter, Stormier: Study Says 2014 Climate Melted Records. Global sea levels swelled to a high, tropical cyclones continued to multiply and the world’s thermometer set a record in 2014, according to a new report tracking the earth’s climate. The report, an “annual physical” for the world’s climate, found evidence of warming around the globe, from shrinking glaciers… http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2015-07-16/hotter-wetter-stormier-study-says-2014-climate-melted-records Millions more people will likely suffer a nutrient deficiency by 2050 — and you can blame our carbon emissions. Humans’ greenhouse gas emissions have caused nothing but trouble for the environment — this much is obvious. From the public health problems caused by heavy air pollution to the myriad problems associated with climate change, there have never been more reasons to cut down on our carbon emissions. http://www.washingtonpost.com/news/energy-environment/wp/2015/07/15/millions-more-people-will-likely-suffer-a-nutrient-deficiency-by-2050-and-you-can-blame-our-carbon-emissions/ Vatican keeps up eco-pressure, invites mayors to see pope. The Vatican is keeping up the pressure on world leaders to listen to Pope Francis' dual mantras of fighting climate change and human trafficking by inviting mayors to a Vatican meeting next week devoted to battling the exploitation of the Earth and its poorest people. http://www.latimes.com/nation/sns-bc-eu-rel--vatican-climate-20150715-story.html Senate rejects climate change education measure. Republican senators rejected an amendment to a No Child Left Behind reform bill Wednesday that looked to establish a federal climate change education program. The measure, from Sen. Ed Markey (D-Mass.), would have created a grant program for school districts to “develop or improve climate science curriculum… http://thehill.com/policy/energy-environment/248068-senate-rejects-climate-change-education-amendment?utm_content=buffer159df&utm_medium=social&utm_source=twitter.com&utm_campaign=buffer ExxonMobil gave millions to climate-denying lawmakers despite pledge. Under pressure from shareholders, company promised eight years ago to stop funding climate denial – but financial and tax records tell a different story. ExxonMobil gave more than $2.3m to members of Congress and a corporate lobbying group that deny climate change and block efforts to fight climate change… http://www.theguardian.com/environment/2015/jul/15/exxon-mobil-gave-millions-climate-denying-lawmakers Suck it up: Carbon capture technologies may be able to remedy climate change. Scientists are developing new devices that can literally suck carbon dioxide out of the atmosphere. They say that this carbon capture and storage is a necessary tool for avoiding catastrophic climate change. http://www.csmonitor.com/Science/2015/0715/Suck-it-up-Carbon-capture-technologies-may-be-able-to-remedy-climate-change States are polluting less and their economies are doing just fine. Even as America’s economy started to rebound from the recession between 2008 and 2013, climate change–causing power plant emissions in the majority of American states did not, according to a new study. Earlier this year, environmentalists celebrated the news that, while the world’s economy continued to grow, CO2 emissions remained flat in 2014. http://grist.org/news/states-are-polluting-less-and-their-economies-are-doing-just-fine/ Climate change threatens fish critical to Lake Erie economy – study. The yellow perch, a fish native to North America and Canada, may not benefit from climate change after all, new research suggests. A new study in Nature Communications shows that shorter and warmer winters -- which are becoming increasingly frequent in the region -- may be detrimental to the survival of juvenile yellow perch. http://www.eenews.net/climatewire/2015/07/16/stories/1060021901 ConEd reports 45 percent drop in GHGs over 9 years. Consolidated Edison Inc. cut its greenhouse gas emissions by 45 percent between 2005 and 2014, according to its annual sustainability report. The reduction, led by a 7 percent drop in 2014, is largely due to energy efficiency programs that helped ConEd customers eliminate over 750,000 megawatt-hours of electricity demand, the company said. http://www.eenews.net/climatewire/2015/07/16/stories/1060021877 DROUGHT House passes another bill to stem California drought. The House on Thursday passed GOP-led legislation designed to bring more water to California's farm belt amid a severe and lengthy drought. Similar legislation has failed in the last two congressional sessions, and the White House and Democrats remain opposed. http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/U/US_CALIFORNIA_DROUGHT_CONGRESS?SITE=AP&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT OTHER RELATED STORIES http://www.latimes.com/nation/la-na-house-drought-bill-20150716-story.html http://www.pe.com/articles/water-773465-california-drought.html http://www.ksl.com/?nid=151&sid=35523187&title=house-passes-another-bill-to-stem-california-drought http://thehill.com/business-a-lobbying/248188-house-approves-gop-california-drought-bill State softens approach to curtailing water use in drought. State water officials on Wednesday softened their approach to telling thousands of California farmers to stop pumping from rivers to irrigate crops during the drought but warned that stiff penalties still await anybody who takes water they don't have a right to use. http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/U/US_CALIFORNIA_DROUGHT_WATER_CUTS?SITE=AP&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT California drought gives new impetus to wastewater recycling. In the sprawling Orange County suburbs south of Los Angeles, home to Disneyland and upscale beach towns, much of the drinking supply for more than 2 million people originates from the sewer. And that number is about to grow - on purpose. The recycling of wastewater for human consumption is gaining greater credence in drought-stricken California. http://uk.reuters.com/article/2015/07/16/us-usa-wastewater-california-idUKKCN0PQ12N20150716 California Drought Spurs Technology on the Farm. Growers are quicker to invest in water-saving products, once a hard sell. It has been two decades since Willie Hartman started making farm equipment that helps growers conserve water, but sales didn’t take off until the past four years. Credit goes, in part, to California’s worst drought in at least half a century. http://www.wsj.com/articles/drought-is-the-mother-of-invention-on-the-farm-1437041211 After Years of Drought, Wildfires Rage in California. The hotshot crew from Big Bear, Calif., pushed along the steep, smoky ridge after a long night battling a blaze that spread fast, burned hot and just would not die. Their beards dripped with sweat and ash. They lumbered ahead with fatigue and concern: The fire was just a few miles from their hometown. http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2015/07/15/us/california-fire-season-drought.html?ref=earth&_r=0 To save water, new California homes will have less lawn. The sprawling suburban lawn — a symbol of the good life in postwar California — moved a step closer Wednesday to being consigned to the history books. The California Water Commission, responding to a fourth year of drought, approved sharp new limits on the amount of water that can be used on landscapes surrounding newly constructed buildings… http://www.latimes.com/local/lanow/la-me-ln-lawns-20150715-story.html http://www.sacbee.com/news/state/california/water-and-drought/article27301948.html http://www.visaliatimesdelta.com/story/news/local/california/2015/07/16/california-drought-water-rules-grass-lawns-vote/30244995/ http://www.kfbk.com/articles/california-news-489209/new-landscaping-rules-adopted-during-california-13769368/ How to keep your car sparkling clean, or not, during a drought. Jake Sands drives around town in a dirty light-blue 15-year-old Honda Civic. He calls it a symbol for water conservation. Sands is one of about 14,000 drivers who have signed the #DirtyCarPledge from Los Angeles Waterkeeper, a nonprofit environmental organization. http://www.latimes.com/business/autos/la-fi-hy-drought-car-wash-20150715-story.html Experts discuss the drought and water policy at Modesto summit. A four-year drought has brought California’s monumental water challenges sharply into focus. Experts who spoke at Wednesday’s Valley Water Summit in Modesto covered most of the bases, including groundwater, the need for more storage, desalination and the proposed delta tunnels. http://www.modbee.com/news/state/california/water-and-drought/article27378292.html#storylink=cpy California Drought: Forecast To Persist, Intensify Through October. Thunderstorms during the past week helped decrease exceptional drought in one county in California as exceptional, extreme and severe drought conditions dominate the state, according to the U.S. Drought Monitor released July 16. http://www.capradio.org/articles/2015/07/16/california-drought-forecast-to-persist,-intensify-through-october/ Farmers turn to pricey technology to survive drought. Farmers once hard-pressed to adapt water-saving measures are now embracing the technology as a way to survive California's worst drought in the last half-century. Such measures can be expensive. The On Target Spray Systems, which electrically charge mists of pesticides and nutrients and cause them to stick to plants and use less water, cost between $20,000 and $50,000. http://www.eenews.net/greenwire/2015/07/16/stories/1060021912 FUELS U.K. Proposes Rules to Let Fracking Under National Parks. The U.K. proposed new rules for hydraulic fracturing that would allow drillers to frack for oil and gas under national parks and UNESCO sites, drawing criticism from environmentalists who called the plan “outrageous.” The draft regulations would ban wells at the surface in national parks while allowing explorers such as Cuadrilla Resources Ltd. to drill… http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2015-07-16/u-k-proposes-rules-to-let-fracking-under-national-parks U.S. fracking linked to higher hospitalization rates: researchers. People who live in areas near hydraulic fracturing are more likely to be hospitalized for heart conditions, neurological illnesses and cancer, according to researchers from the University of Pennsylvania and Columbia University. Fracking is an oil and gas extraction technique using a mixture of water… http://www.reuters.com/article/2015/07/16/us-usa-fracking-health-idUSKCN0PQ1IQ20150716 Shell expects oil price recovery to take several years. Royal Dutch Shell (RDSa.L) expects oil prices to recover gradually over the next five years, with progress slowed by persistent global oversupply and receding Chinese demand growth. The Anglo-Dutch energy giant is betting on crude rising to $90 a barrel by 2020… http://www.reuters.com/article/2015/07/16/us-shell-oil-prices-idUSKCN0PQ14M20150716?feedType=RSS&feedName=businessNews California gas prices up; Fresno area rises 11 cents in a week. California’s gasoline prices rose quickly in a short time, with the average price of regular unleaded in the Fresno metro area up 11 cents from a week ago. Fresno’s unleaded average rose from $3.38 to $3.49 in the last week, according to AAA of Northern California. Prices in the Visalia-Tulare-Porterville area rose 8 cents in the last week to an average of $3.42. http://www.fresnobee.com/news/local/article27319444.html#storylink=cpy VEHICLES The electric car owner's conundrum: Where are the chargers? In May 2013, Kristen House, her husband and their three children packed up their Nashville, Tenn., home, strapped their Nissan Leaf to the back of the moving truck and hit the road to foggy San Francisco. Whenever they'd stop somewhere, House would pull the Leaf off the moving truck and the family would drive it around town, running errands or grabbing a bite to eat. http://www.eenews.net/climatewire/2015/07/16/stories/1060021897 GREEN ENERGY Vestas Wind Systems Wins 26-Megawatt Wind Project in South Korea. Danish wind turbine maker Vestas Wind Systems A/S won an order to build 13 two-megawatt turbines in South Korea. The buyer and value of contract weren’t disclosed. The plant will be in South Korea’s northeastern Gangwon Province, Aarhus, Denmark-based Vestas Wind said in a statement Thursday on its website. http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2015-07-16/vestas-wind-systems-wins-26-megawatt-wind-project-in-south-korea Solar plane pilots: Rapid climb, descent stressed batteries. The pilots of a grounded solar-powered airplane say they put too much stress on the batteries of their aircraft as they were leaving Japan for a five-day record-breaking flight to Hawaii. The pilots then discovered they had too much insulation around the batteries for them to adequately cool down during the flight through tropical skies. http://www.latimes.com/nation/sns-bc-us--solar-plane-20150716-story.html Small Power Providers Are Going Renewable Much Faster Than Their Bigger Rivals. Here’s Why. The top electricity providers in the country are going renewable much more slowly than smaller companies, according to data reported Tuesday by sustainability group Ceres. The biggest 100 companies account for 85 percent of America’s electricity — and emissions are even more consolidated… http://thinkprogress.org/climate/2015/07/16/3680943/benchmarking-emissions-2015-report/ Amid a solar boom, batteries draw attention and dollars. As the market for energy storage emerges, startups, Valley investors, big solar companies and Tesla are looking for a way in. Enough solar panels are now bolted to rooftops and installed on the ground in the deserts of the Southwest to supply solar energy for over 4 million American homes. http://fortune.com/2015/07/16/batteries-solar-funding/ OPINIONS Cheap Oil Is Bad for the Economy (at Least, So Far). Goldman finds that a decline in energy investment has outweighed gains from consumer spending. It's been about a year since oil prices started their historic drop, falling from above $100 a barrel to a bottom of about $45 in March. After creeping back to around $60, prices are shaky again amid news of a nuclear deal with Iran and record Saudi production. http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2015-07-15/cheap-oil-is-bad-for-the-economy-at-least-so-far- Is it wise to give regulators the power to impose cuts in state's gasoline use? The biggest bill still moving through the state Legislature this summer is backed by the Senate leader, the governor and essentially the pope. So opponents — mainly oil companies — don't have a prayer. The measure, which attempts to fight global warming by significantly reducing greenhouse gas emissions in California… http://www.latimes.com/local/politics/la-me-cap-climate-change-20150716-column.html Op-Ed Who should pay the price of clean energy? It's an environmental truism — the coal industry must be shut down to save the planet. But shuttering mines and coal-fired power plants carries with it a heavy human toll: It will crush the livelihoods of hundreds of thousands of people and impoverish scores of communities. http://www.latimes.com/opinion/op-ed/la-oe-tasini-the-realistic-cost-of-ending-the-carbon-economy-20150716-story.html Campaign to stop fracking sacrifices nature for ideology: Column. It is hard to remember now, but it wasn't so long ago that natural gas was seen as one of the most important solutions to global warming and a cleaner environment. That's one reason a new report released this month shows that natural gas has eclipsed coal as the largest U.S. source of electricity for the first time. http://www.usatoday.com/story/opinion/2015/07/16/natural-gas-renewable-fuels-fracking-column/27089397/ Editorial: A Pothole Strategy to Raise Taxes? Call me a conspiracy theorist, but something is rotten with road funding in California. Sacramento is flush with billions in unanticipated revenue. Yet a record $115 billion budget spending plan signed by Gov. Jerry Brown shortchanges the state’s transportation and infrastructure needs. The only real funding boost goes to high-speed rail. http://www.hometownstation.com/santa-clarita-news/editorials/editorial-a-pothole-strategy-to-raise-taxes-156823 Canada no carbon paragon. Re: Don’t be a sucker, Canada, Letter July 13. Re: Making climate a common cause, Letter July 9. Don’t be a sucker, Canada, Letter July 13. I agree with reader Warren Adamson that cap-and-trade is wrong. However, from there, Mr. Adamson has everything wrong. A carbon tax “fee-and-dividend” would be faster, more effective, cheaper to institute and operate… http://www.thestar.com/opinion/letters_to_the_editors/2015/07/16/canada-no-carbon-paragon.html BLOGS It's Not Just You: 2014 Was The Hottest Year On Record. A report published today has determined what climate scientists already suspected: 2014 was the warmest year since such records have been kept. This report, put together by the National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), is based on the work of 413 researchers in 58 nations. http://www.forbes.com/sites/matthewfrancis/2015/07/16/2014-was-the-hottest-year-on-record/ Humans’ Rising Impact on the Oceans. A new global study identifies areas of promise but also many more areas of concern. Human impacts on the oceans have increased in more than two-thirds of the world during the past five years. Some areas remain lightly impacted; others are improving. http://www.news.ucsb.edu/2015/015761/humans-rising-impact-oceans#sthash.vWP3678U.dpuf California is in a drought emergency. Visit www.SaveOurH2O.org for water conservation tips.